NASBP Elects Greensboro, NC Executive As President for 2025-2026

Bethesda, MD—During the April 27-30 NASBP Annual Meeting & Expo, the National Association of Surety Bond Producers (NASBP) elected Robert Coon, Vice President – Surety at Scott Insurance in Greensboro, NC, as the 2025-2026 NASBP President. NASBP is a national trade association headquartered in Bethesda, MD, serving a membership of firms employing licensed surety bond producers.

“Robert’s over 40 years of experience in the surety industry working as an underwriter and a surety agent together with his industry volunteerism and activism make him well prepared to lead the Association in the months ahead,” related Mark H. McCallum, NASBP Chief Executive Officer. “Robert has an enviable record as a strong leader in the surety and construction industries and someone who is committed to accomplish his company’s and clients’ goals and to advance their interests,” added McCallum.

Coon’s theme for his presidential year, “Building Better,” ties in with several of the Association’s initiatives, including promoting surety as a career, building the NASBP membership community, and advancing NASBP and the industry through digital bonding technology.

During his term, through the promotion of the Association’s new “Make Surety A Career” Program, Coon plans to raise the industry’s profile and make more young people aware of the many advantages of a surety career. “It’s vital to our success as an industry to get people interested in a surety career, which for me has been an extraordinary career,” Coon said. The Program is designed to acquaint college students with surety through a special curriculum that can be used as part of college-level insurance or risk management courses. A pilot of the course is already underway at the University of Kansas, and NASBP is talking with several colleges and universities about incorporating it into their curricula. The Program also enables educators to reach out to NASBP if they are interested in having a guest speaker. NASBP can provide names of surety professionals in their area.

Another component of the Program is a free, on-demand, interactive eLearning course for students available 24/7. Once they complete the online course, they are eligible to request, through the Program, internship experiences with bonding agencies and with surety companies.

Coon also wants to spur member engagement to advance knowledge of the importance of surety. He believes it is more important than ever for the surety industry to continue to work with legislators on both national and state levels to ensure they understand the benefits that surety provides to their constituencies. “NASBP will need to make sure that members and potential members understand how Association activities, like the Federal Legislative Fly-in, are invaluable to their work,” Coon stated. “It’s particularly important that younger producers, who may be more protective of their personal time than previous generations, understand the value of participating in NASBP meetings and how engagement will help them, as producers, succeed,” he explained.

Coon believes another way to build the industry better is to advance NASBP and surety industry technology initiatives. “We’ve been working on automation projects for years, and while it’s been slow going, we are making progress,” Coon said. With its surety partners and The RiskStream Collaborative, NASBP continues to support efforts to digitize the bond process using blockchain technology. “If the surety industry wants to stay relevant, then we need to move away from paper and become much more efficient. That’s an achievement I would count as the pinnacle of my career,” he said.

NASBP also elected other NASBP officers at the meeting. Monica Donatelli was elected as NASBP First Vice President. Donatelli is Vice President, Surety Department Manager at IMA, Inc. in Overland Park, KS. Christian B. Downey was elected NASBP Second Vice President. Downey is President of Downey and Company in Albuquerque, NM. Sheila Thompson was elected NASBP Third Vice President. Thompson is President of Rosenberg & Parker of Canada, Inc. in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In addition, Zach Mendelson will serve as NASBP Immediate Past President. Mendelson is Principal of Bonds, Insurance, Construction at EPIC in Pittsburgh, PA. The NASBP Executive Committee is comprised of the officers listed above.

Founded in 1942, the National Association of Surety Bond Producers (NASBP), www.nasbp.org, is the association of and resource for surety bond producers and allied professionals. NASBP member firms specialize in providing surety bonds for construction contracts and other purposes to companies and individuals needing the assurance offered by surety bonds.