NASBP Membership Has Its Privileges: Access to Cutting Edge Knowledge About Our Industry

I am honored to be the NASBP President at a time when NASBP is providing the membership access to cutting-edge educational opportunities, industry analyses and perspectives, and technology advancements.

New NASBP Commercial Surety School Level II Class Provided

Earlier this month, NASBP held its Summer Session of the Surety School in Chicago, and, for the first time ever, provided a Commercial Surety School Level II Class! Thanks to the Commercial Surety School Faculty who had the vision and determination to develop this Level II class, which meets a growing need. That Commercial Surety Level II class as well as the two classrooms of each of the Contract Surety Levels I and II were nearly to full capacity. I had the privilege to meet the Contract Surety School Level II students and present on the topic of ethics, which is something the NASBP President does every year. Their thoughtful questions and comments make me confident that the surety industry’s future is going to be in excellent hands. While there, I had the chance to speak to some of them. Each had a passion for our industry that resembled my own and fellow NASBP colleagues. If our NASBP School students are any indicator, a great group of people are entering our industry with enthusiasm and determination to do their job well. Let’s not hesitate to send those on our staff to the NASBP Surety School and encourage their involvement in NASBP. For more information about the 2023 NASBP Summer Session of the Surety School, see the related article in this issue of Pipeline.

New NASBP Fall Meetings Presentations Focus on Lessons Learned from the Enron Crisis

In a few weeks, we will be in Nashville at our 2023 NASBP Fall Meeting, September 13-15, which will be soon followed by the Las Vegas Fall Meeting, October 18-20. The programs for both Fall Meetings offer something new—a deep dive into the Enron crisis and its interface with surety. My hope is that everyone who attends will walk away with important, new insights that they can take back home with them to use when evaluating prospective accounts. I’m also excited about the individuals who will be presenting this information to us. We’ll hear from the Enron Whistleblower Sherron Watkins, who will discuss ethics and leadership as well as the lessons to be learned from the historic financial collapse. Prepare your questions for Watkins! Her presentation will be followed by a panel of NASBP surety professionals you will recognize and realize collectively represent years of experience and knowledge about the relationship of the surety industry in Enron events. This panel will include the viewpoints of underwriters, reinsurers, producers, and attorneys. All who hear these presentations will have the benefit of the hindsight of the presenters as they speak about the signals and red flags that warrant greater underwriting discernment.

Also, new this year at the Fall Meetings are the free “SHE Golfs” clinics for each meeting. Visit the meeting websites at https://nasbp.org/events/fallmeetings. The SHE Golfs Clinics are aimed to introduce the game of golf to newcomers to the sport, in order to expand networking and business opportunities. The clinics represent a joint effort between NASBP and Women in Surety (WIS), which is generously sponsored by Travelers Bond.

New Benchmarks Reached in Digital Bonding

RiskStream developments have reached a new benchmark in digital bonding. Sandy Hampel, Director of Products of the RiskStream Collaborative, whom you may have met at our recent NASBP Annual Meeting & Expo, offered a state-of-the-art demonstration of a technology that enables digital bonds to be verified and authenticated on a blockchain network. Today, industry participation in the RiskStream Collaborative surety initiative is extensive with nearly all major sureties, representing over 75% market share globally, assisting in its work. Find out more by reading the soon-to-be-published, 2023 fall issue of the NASBP Surety Bond Quarterly magazine that will feature a web exclusive article with interviews with Hampel, NASBP Second Vice President Robert Coon, and Greg Davenport of NASBP Affiliate Liberty Mutual Surety. NASBP has been active in shaping this digital bonding initiative and in promoting it, and that will continue throughout my term to help our industry get from concept to production and to promote adoption of the blockchain solution once it’s available.

I know many members have been working hard over the last year or years to develop these items listed above. On behalf of the NASBP membership, I thank you. We all benefit from these cutting-edge educational opportunities, industry analyses and perspectives, and technology advancements and so, in turn, does our industry.

#AllIn4NASBP #AllIn4Surety

Patrick Pribyl is National Surety Team Leader, Lockton Companies, LLC, Kansas City, MO. He can be reached at ppribyl@lockton.com or 816.960.9017.