The NASBP & SFAA Surety Industry Awards recognize surety professionals and local surety associations for promoting the value and protections of contract surety bonds in construction to non-surety audiences and for advocating on behalf of the surety industry to obligees and legislators.
Winners of the Tiger Trust Award, the Gold Award, and Advocacy Award were recently announced. The winners will be recognized at the 2024 NASBP Annual Meeting & Expo and the 2024 SFAA Annual Meeting.
The Tiger Trust Award is given to an individual who persuades private owners or lenders to require contract surety bonds on their projects. This year the Tiger Trust was awarded to Kevin Garrity, Vice President, Surety & Construction Services of NFP in Albany, NY. Garrity succeeded in persuading a college to require a performance bond on a $35 million construction project at the college. He met with the college's Risk Officer and VP of Finance to discuss the differences between SDI and a performance bond, and the leaders decided that the performance bond would work better for the owner (the college), which was working with multiple stakeholders. Congratulations, Kevin!
The Gold Award is given to Local Surety Associations (LSAs) that conduct at least ten public relations and educational activities in a calendar year that promote the use of contract surety bonds in construction to non-surety, non-insurance, or non-lawyer audiences. Two LSAs were honored this year:
Florida Surety Association presented to contractors and government officials on the basics of bonding. Other educational presentations to contractors included a webinar series for government contractors, growing bonding capacity, prequalifying subcontractors, and the benefits of surety bonds.
The Surety Association of Ohio made educational presentations about the value of surety bonding to minority contractor groups, construction management students, and multiple community groups. They also educated these groups on the lifecycle of a bond request and the differences between private and public construction.
The Advocacy Award recognizes LSAs that conduct significant activities advocating for suretyship, other than public relations or educational activities, such as fighting legislative efforts to waive bonds or increase bond thresholds or advocating for reasonable bond forms. One LSA was honored this year:
Florida Surety Association met with multiple legislators on Legislative Day in January 2023. The Association wrote letters to government entities regarding member concerns and led a Zoom call with a community-owned utility to discuss onerous bond forms.
No submissions were received for the Platinum or Silver Awards this year.
The judges for the Surety Industry Awards this year were:
From NASBP:
- Monica Donatelli (IMA, Inc.)
- Robert Coon (Scott Insurance)
- Mark McCallum (NASBP)
From SFAA:
- Michael Gross (CNA Surety Corporation)
- Steve Ruschak (Arch Insurance Group)
- Peter Roth (SFAA)
Congratulations to all the winners! Now is the time to be thinking about submissions for Surety Industry Awards in 2024!