NASBP Annual Meeting & Expo in San Francisco Celebrated the Membership’s Accomplishments

The NASBP Annual Meeting & Expo held in April at the Fairmont San Francisco in San Francisco, California was a celebration of how NASBP Members, Affiliates, Associates, and staff “Raised the Bar” this past year with unprecedented and bench-marking events.

NASBP President Carl Dohn welcomed the crowd and described many of the accomplishments that “Raised the Bar” this past year including launching the Level III School, testifying before federal and state legislators, recording outstanding attendance of the 5-15 Leadership Circle members, and, generating traffic to naspb.org and to NASBP SmartBrief, among many others.

Dohn thanked his Annual Meeting Program Committee co-chairs Brian Deimerly and Kurt Lundblad and the Annual Meeting Program Committee members including Lynne Cook, Sarah Finn, Susan Hecker, Novica Prekpala, and John Sanders, for their hard work in organizing the program for the meeting that reported increased member registration — up by 10% in comparison to last year’s meeting.

Dohn presented both Ralph Pulver of Travelers Bond and Jim Lareau of Travelers Bond with the John “Jack” J. Curtin, Jr. President’s Award for their outstanding service to the Association.

Pulver and Lareau each received a framed certificate (pictured here) personally inscribed in two-toned color calligraphy highlighted in gold and signed by the NASBP President, as well as, a specifically minted NASBP President’s medallion customized with the NASBP logo and made of 2-troy oz. .999 fine silver.

Dohn said he chose Pulver and Lareau as the recipients for this award because of their outstanding service and dedication as faculty members of the NASBP William J. Angell Surety School.

NASBP First Vice President Thomas Padilla agreed both are deserving of this special recognition. “Both have not only taught, but have been heavily involved in the development of the course curriculum itself. When we need curriculum, they are willing and eager to contribute anything they have developed on their own and never ask for credit or recognition. In fact, they go to great lengths to see that any perspective they give is fair and balanced.

Ralph is always on the lookout for new ideas and subjects for the Schools, Virtual Seminars, etc. and he lends a detailed and thoughtful perspective to the process. He is one of our most technical members of the team. Jim has always been in the field and brings a great perspective to underwriters’ relationships with both agents and contractors. Also, Jim was key in developing the learning games for both Levels I and II.”

The award, named the “John ‘Jack’ J. Curtin, Jr. President’s Award,” honors an individual, who is chosen by the NASBP President for outstanding service contributions during the President’s term to the Association and to the surety industry. The award was first presented in 2007 to John ‘Jack’ J. Curtin, Jr., for whom the award is named.

Dohn awarded the prestigious Bruce T. Wallace Award to Matt Cashion of The Cashion Company, Inc. and to Harry Crowell of Insco Dico Group. Walter Crowell accepted the award on behalf of his father.

“Matt Cashion was given this award as an appreciation for his performance in many positions of responsibility at NASBP,” Dohn said. “He is the epitome of what we should all strive to be as members of this Association, always willing to do what is asked of him and do it exceedingly well. He is a role model our young members should emulate.”

Dohn said, “Harry is an amazing insurance industry veteran who directed the expansion of his company into national recognition.” “Harry has been steadfast in his commitment to educating obligees and principals about bonding and to working with surety professionals and colleagues to improve the surety product,” he said. “He has been instrumental in the development of many of our most active members and a consummate supporter of NASBP throughout his career.”

The Bruce T. Wallace Award, established in 1990 in memory of the Association’s first executive vice president, who served for over 29 years, is awarded by the Executive Committee to an individual who has distinguished themselves through years of exceptional service to NASBP and to the surety industry.

It is noteworthy that the Bruce T. Wallace Award is not necessarily presented every year, but rather, only when a candidate meeting these high standards is nominated. In fact, since its establishment, the Bruce T. Wallace Award has now been presented seventeen times. Recipients of the Bruce T. Wallace Award receive a framed certificate personally inscribed in three-toned color calligraphy and signed by the NASBP President. The recipients’ name is emblazoned on a plaque and added to the tomb of recipients of the award which is displayed at NASBP headquarters.

Then, Dohn introduced NASBP’s Keynote Speaker, John Mauldin of Mauldin Economics, who is a renowned financial expert. Mauldin’s presentation was titled “Where Are We on the Road to the End of the Debt Super-Cycle?”

Later that morning, breakout sessions were held. Kelly Riggs of Vmax Performance Group presented on “Coaching For Leaders: Transforming Potential into Performance.”

At the same time, a session titled, “Commercial Surety: Understanding Complex Risks in a Changing World” was moderated by Lynne Cook and presented by Ken Berk of Liberty Mutual Surety, John Boulton of Swiss Re America Holding Corporation, Matthew Haydon of Arch Insurance Group, Brian Steele of HCC Surety Group, and Chris Parker of Chubb & Son. Click here to access this session’s PowerPoint presentation and click here to access this session’s handouts.

Midday, Lori Bosshart, Geoff Delisio, and Courtney Walker, all from Zurich Surety, presented the seminar titled “Bonding and Public-Private Partnerships” that offered continuing education credits for bond producers. Click here to access the PowerPoint presentation.

On Tuesday, NASBP CEO Mark McCallum reported on the state of the industry and shared results from NASBP surveys of members and affiliates and from interviews with surety industry executives. Four industry executives (pictured) provided their perspective and predictions of what the surety industry will present in the next few years and reacted to the results of the NASBP surveys and interviews. The panelists included Susan Hecker of Gallagher Construction Services, Timothy Mikolajewski of Liberty Mutual Surety, Ross Fisher of The Hartford, and Rick Ciullo of Chubb Surety.

The following breakout sessions were held later that morning. Vivian Katsantonis of Watt, Tieder, Hoffar & Fitzgerald, LLP moderated a panel of experts including Brian Labbe of Perini Management Services, Rick Levesque of Hartford Bond, Robert Niesley of Watt, Tider, Hoffer & Fitzgerald, and Michael Timpane of Salamirad Morrow PC. The breakout session was titled “Federal Shades of Gray Government Contracting Practices and Pitfalls.” Click here to access the PowerPoint from the session.

Wayne Newton of Linksys Brand/Cisco Systems presented on “Mobile Technology, What’s Out There & How it is Being Used.”  Click here to access the PowerPoint from the presentation.

To view the registration list from Annual Meeting & Expo, click here.
Click here to view the 2013 Annual Meeting & Expo highlights in a slideshow.