Educating, Advocating, and Participating with Passion and Purpose!

Greetings from the frozen tundra of Minnesota/Wisconsin! It has been a very snowy winter so far, with what are traditionally our snowiest months yet to come.

I was blessed to escape the cold and participate in instructing again at the NASBP William J. Angell Surety School in Houston last month. Education remains one of our Association’s main missions, and our crown jewel is the NASBP Surety School. Once again, all sessions were sold out with two three-day Level I classes, two five-day Level II classes, and the three-day NASBP Commercial Surety School. The classes are populated by both agency and surety personnel, and I want to congratulate the students once again, as well as the employers who see the value in sending their employees for this training. We truly offer “best-in-class” surety education, all due to the efforts of our Professional Development Committee and its dedicated volunteer faculty, who personify Passion and Purpose. The week is physically and mentally exhausting, but tremendously rewarding.

While the in-person schools are only presented twice a year, it is gratifying to know that we provide many more educational offerings. We currently have four on-line CE courses available through WebCE, our new Contractor Bonding Education & Mentoring Program, one-hour NASBP Virtual Seminars offered twice a month, several other educational opportunities at suretylearn.org, our own NASBP Podcast–Let’s Get Surety–Let Me Hear Your Bonding Talk, and a skills workshop on producer sales that is being scheduled for 2024.

Our next opportunity to display our Passion and Purpose for this industry is coming up soon when we convene in Washington, DC, for our Federal Legislative Fly-in March 29-30, 2023. There is no better time for all of us to come and educate our federal elected officials on the benefits of bonding. It will be the first time in three years that we will be able to do this in person. In conjunction with SFAA, we expect to have a record number of agents and surety personnel on hand to capitalize on the momentum we have from our recent legislative victories; and we will be armed with SFAA’s recently released Ernst & Young study on the economic value of bonded projects. If you’ve never attended, or haven’t in a while, now is the time for you to join us! It’s easy to register—Welcome – 2023 Fly-In (nasbp.org). Every member’s voice is needed. I look forward to seeing you there!

Until then, thank you for your professionalism as NASBP members and your continued grass roots efforts to promote our industry in your home states.

Nick Newton is Senior Vice President-Surety, AssuredPartners of Minnesota, LLC, St. Paul, MN. He can be reached at nicholas.newton@assuredpartners.com or 651.369.9946.