Are you Ready for Some NASBP?

As the summer winds down for all of us, this football fan starts to get excited for the upcoming season (Skol Vikings!). I feel the same way about our Association. It is impressive witnessing everything NASBP is doing during the traditional “break” of summer–a “pre-season” of sorts leading up to this fall. We continue to educate, advocate, and promote–all with passion and purpose. It’s easy to get fired up when considering everything going on.

The NASBP William J. Angell Surety School had a successful week of education and networking the first week of August in downtown Phoenix, AZ. NASBP Levels I and II and the Commercial Surety School all sold out, with lengthy waiting lists for each that will transfer to our 2023 Winter Session in Houston in late January, and a good-sized Level III attendance enjoyed our most advanced training, which was held for the first time in several years. I have participated as a faculty member for almost a decade now, and the NASBP Surety School remains a source of amazement and pride. It’s hard not to be a fan of the level and extent of passion and dedication I have seen from the volunteer faculty; it has served as an inspiration for me personally to do the same.

A huge “thank you” goes out to all the faculty, as well as the members of the Professional Development Committee, who tirelessly work to ensure the education offered to the students remains relevant and topnotch. Of course, the School couldn’t function without the exemplary work of NASBP Director of Professional Development Kat Shamapande and Meeting Planning Consultant Bethany Jones. They keep everything operating smoothly and somehow accomplish the difficult task of managing all the faculty–a true “herding of cats” if there ever was one! For more information, see the article about the 2022 Summer School in this issue.

Meanwhile, our NASBP Government Relations Advocacy efforts do not take a break. NASBP CEO Mark McCallum and NASBP Director of Government Relations Larry LeClair are tirelessly working on surety bond language for inclusion with WIFIA legislation and Rural Broadband project award requirements. Partnering with SFAA staff, they are negotiating with all stakeholders to draft language that will address concerns or objections to our goal of including performance and payment bond protections. There is no “off season” to advocacy!

Our new “season” of NASBP Public Relations, the Be Guaranteed To Succeed Campaign, is kicking off as well! NASBP Communications Director Kathy Hoffman is leading our efforts in pushing out a new series of short videos highlighting surety bonding, called NASBP Surety Shorts. Please be on the lookout on all NASBP social media channels for these videos. We encourage you to like, comment, and share whenever possible.

Continuing the football analogy, the whistle has blown on my first quarter as President. I’m very happy with the Association’s efforts, and I’m thrilled about how we will finish the second quarter–the NASBP Fall Meetings in Boston, MA, September 21-13, and in San Antonio, TX, October 12-14. The planning for both meetings is complete, and I’m pleased about the quality and diversity of the presentations and offerings attendees will experience. I urge you to register and reserve your hotel rooms. Both venues will provide unique experiences that you will not want to miss. We appropriately kick off the “second half” of my year with our NASBP Mid-Year Board Meeting, November 10-12, at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, CO, to closeout 2022.

All our NASBP committees are hard at work preparing to convene in November. A few highlights: We are working on leadership expansion in Professional Development. Our Membership Committee is considering an additional membership category for retired members, contemplating creating a Mentorship Committee, and exploring an initiative to attract college students to our industry. I will be tasking our committees to explore additional diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts–perhaps forming a new committee or sub-committee devoted to this, as well.

The recent economic change continues to be felt by us in many ways. For instance, we are seeing massive inflationary increases in costs being quoted to us for our upcoming meetings. We are examining all of this closely, and at the 2022 Mid-Year Board Meeting we will conduct our annual dues assessment. There hasn’t been an increase for our membership since 2018; it may be time to make a small adjustment.

I hope all of you have had a chance to enjoy the summer months and are as excited as I am to renew our in-person connections at the upcoming meetings. Before we all know it, we will be at our “Super Bowl”–the 2023 Annual Conference in Marco Island, FL. My Annual Meeting Program Committee is planning something amazing for all of you! Until then, we continue to encourage your passionate and purposeful involvement, and thank you for everything you volunteers do for NASBP.

“Aspire to Inspire before you Expire”–as seen on a rural Wisconsin church roadside sign.

Nick Newton is President of Newton Bonding, an AssuredPartners Agency in St. Paul, MN. He can be reached at nick@newtonbonding.com or 651.369.9946.