All posts by Maria Sassian

Insurance Industry

I.I.I. Joint Industry Forum: CEO Conversations

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Pictured left to right: Sampson, McChrystal, Parrillo, Watkins

 

One of the most interesting parts of I.I.I.’s Joint Industry Forum conference was the CEO Conversations, a panel discussion moderated by David Sampson, President and CEO of American Property Casualty Insurance Association. The panelists were: Sandy Parrillo, President and CEO, Providence Mutual; Hank Watkins, President, Lloyd’s America and four-star General Stanley McChrystal who was also the event’s  keynote speaker.

The panel discussed some of the top challenges and opportunities facing the insurance industry today. It’s well known that insurers are concentrating on recruiting new talent, but Sandy Parrillo also pointed out the value of keeping “vintage workers” engaged and helping them adapt to different styles of work. Parrillo also spoke about the need to involve and get buy-in from all levels of employees when rolling out a new product.

Hank Watkins spoke about the insurance gap which poses a significant threat to global prosperity, especially in developing nations such as earthquake-prone Ecuador, as one of the top challenges to our industry. And on the positive side, Watkins gave Jumpstart Recovery’s earthquake coverage as an example of an innovative new product. Jumpstart is a surplus lines insurance broker using Lloyd’s capacity. It offers earthquake insurance in California with payment that’s triggered by an earthquake of a pre-specified intensity without the traditional claims handling process.

General McChrystal brought the conversation back to leadership. He recalled the characteristics of one of the most important leaders in his career – a tough commander who did not have much positive feedback to give when his subordinates did a good job. However, when McCrystal failed at a task, the commander surprised him by saying “I thought you did great!” Being given the freedom to fail means you can try different things and ultimately succeed.

Careers and Employment, Insurance Industry

I.I.I. Joint Industry Forum: Talent and leadership keynote

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Gen. McChrystal delivers JIF keynote speech

Each year the I.I.I. hosts a conference called the Property/Casualty Joint Industry Forum. This unique event assembles key figures from the business, policymaking and media spheres to explore topics of vital interest to our industry.

This year we were fortunate to have four-star General Stanley McChrystal as keynote speaker. General McChrystal was the commander of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) and International Security Assistance Force.  He shared crucial lessons on leadership which he acquired while leading the effort against Al Qaeda in Iraq.

Al Qaeda used smartphones and the internet to coordinate attacks; they were “lightning fast and constantly changing.” The elite JSOC was daunted by the terror group; “we were losing” said McChrystal. In order to beat Al Qaeda some of the old rules had to be thrown out, and radical new leadership techniques had to take root. Here are some of the lessons corporate leaders can take away:

  • Violate the chain of command. Giving everyone in your organization the information you normally only give the C-suite leads to “empowered execution”. In our fast-paced world there is not always time to let everything trickle down a long chain of command.
  • Give employees the freedom to use their own judgement. “Execute the order, but if the order is wrong, execute the order we should have given you.” Don’t allow “just following procedure” to be an excuse for actions that are wildly inappropriate for the situation.
  • Think of the role of leader as akin to that of a gardener. A gardener does not grow plants, only plants can do that. Instead, a gardener feeds, weeds and protects the plants thereby allowing them to do what they do best. By enabling the organization you will be sure to see a positive outcome, concluded McChrystal.
Insurance Industry, Workers Compensation

WCRI Annual Issues and Research Conference

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The Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) is holding its 35th Annual Issues and Research Conference on February 28th at the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown in Phoenix, AZ. Anyone working to improve workers’ compensation systems or seeking to manage a changing environment would benefit from attending.

Some of the highlights from the conference agenda include:

  • A keynote address by world-renowned economist Alan Krueger on the future of work, the impact of technology on the economy, and how the opioid epidemic has affected the labor force participation rate
  • The latest research on opioid prescribing to injured workers
  • A panel discussion of Washington State’s community-based program that brings together medical providers, employers, and injured workers to help ensure timely, effective, and coordinated services
  • The challenges and opportunities of telemedicine
  • A discussion of some of the latest findings and trends seen across WCRI’s core benchmark studies, including WCRI’s 18-State CompScope™ Benchmarks reports, a multistate benchmarking program that measures the performance of a growing number of state workers’ compensation systems

Past attendees have said that the WCRI’s is the one conference that offers an “independent point of view that covers the entire spectrum of works compensation” and that it is “a great place to learn and a great place to network.”

Click here to learn more about the conference agenda or to register.

 

Disaster Preparedness

I.I.I. Joint Industry Forum Town Hall: How Insurance Can Help Build Resilient Communities

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By Sean Kevelighan, CEO, the Insurance Information Institute

 

For centuries, the insurance industry has helped communities and individuals rebuild after losses and catastrophes. But as the threats of natural catastrophes grow, the industry is well-positioned to do more than just help rebuild shattered lives. We can help lessen the impacts of natural catastrophes before they even happen. At the I.I.I. we call it “resilience” – stronger homes, better emergency response, better risk management tools.

I am pleased to say that the insurance industry is already leading the way forward in helping to build resilient communities. At this year’s I.I.I. Joint Industry Forum, Mitch Landrieu, former lieutenant governor of Louisiana and two-term mayor of New Orleans, led a townhall discussion on resilience – what it means and how insurance can help.

Landrieu was joined by some of the top insurance experts in this space: Phil Klotzbach, research scientist, Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University and I.I.I. non-resident scholar; John Rollins, FCAS, MAAA, actuary, Milliman; Keith Wolfe, president, U.S. Property & Casualty, Swiss Re; Roy Wright, president and CEO, Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety; and Rohit Verma, global chief operating officer at Crawford & Company.

Landrieu himself knows a thing or two about the power of resilience. He was on the ground when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and he helped lead the effort to rebuild the city in the aftermath.

I was especially struck by how the storm changed his entire mindset around preparedness and resilience. “It shifted from hoping something bad wasn’t going to happen to expecting it to happen, and to building social and physical resilience and to prepare ourselves, so that if something happens we’re stronger and in a better position to respond.”

Unfortunately, this story is all too common: people often only appreciate the need for resilience after the disaster. The insurance industry can and should change that.  Our panelists pointed out several ways insurance can help build community resilience:

  • Improving catastrophe modeling to identify and quantify exposures to help insurers, policymakers, and consumers make resilience-focused decisions.
  • Educating consumers to better understand the risks they’re exposed to – and what kind of insurance they need to protect themselves.
  • Encouraging consumers to invest in mitigation through premium discounts and other incentives.
  • Working in public/private partnerships with local and state governments for insurance affordability and community mitigation initiatives, including better building codes to create a more resilient built environment.

But there are many hurdles still to overcome.

  • Mitigation can be expensive for some risks. For example, installing wind-resistant roofs is relatively affordable and easy to do. But elevating already-built houses above flood levels is another story entirely.
  • Catastrophe models are increasingly viable for some risks (like flood), but not others (like wildfires).
  • Many consumers are still in the dark about how their insurance works. Take flood: 43 percent of homeowners incorrectly think they’re covered for floods. And only 15 percent of homeowners had flood insurance.

A resilient America won’t be built in a day. But the insurance industry will be a crucial player in making our communities ready – so that when the next hurricane hits, the next wildfire breaks out, or the next earthquake strikes, there is less that needs to be rebuilt and more people whose lives and livelihoods were saved from destruction.

Everyone wins – insurers, insurance customers, and society – in a more resilient world.

Insurance Industry

From the I.I.I. Daily: Our most popular content, January 4 to January 10

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Here are the 5 most clicked on articles from this week’s I.I.I. Daily newsletter.

To subscribe to the I.I.I. Daily email daily@iii.org.

 

Business Risk, Catastrophes

Roundup: How the federal government shutdown is affecting its agencies

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By Jennifer Ha,  Head of Editorial and Publications, Insurance Information Institute

According to the New York Times, the current shutdown is one of the longest ever. While there have been 21 gaps in government funding since 1976, the level of shutdown has varied. Before 1981 most agencies could continue operations by cutting non-essential functions. In the media, various reports have emerged how different agencies have been affected.

While some agencies also receive funding from elsewhere, and have limited operations, others have mandated employee furloughs. On January 9 Dr. Scott Gottlieb, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, announced that the agency had ceased routine food safety inspections of seafood, fruits, vegetables and many other foods at high risk of contamination, such as clams, mussels, oysters and other bivalves. The seafood inspection program is run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, whose inspectors are working without pay, as are meat and poultry inspectors. 

The National Transportation Safety Board has been unable to investigate 10 new crashes in which 22 people died, and the circumstances of seven plane crashes in which 13 people were killed, two fatal railroad crashes, a highway crash in which seven people died and an incident in which a school bus collided with a tractor-trailer, injuring 15. According to the Transportation Security Administration, there has been “no degradation in security effectiveness” and staffing is adequate, amid warnings from U.S. airport security workers and air traffic controllers that security and safety could be compromised and employee call-outs.

On Dec. 28 the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reversed its decision to halt the issuing and renewal of federal flood insurance plans, which could have disrupted up to 40,000 new home sales each month, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). However, rural and suburban homebuyers who depend on mortgage loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture through private lenders have been stymied by the shutdown. The post-Hurricane Maria recovery will be unaffected, according to a FEMA spokesperson.

The newly created Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency will be unable to protect against cyber and physical threats to infrastructure, according to a report. Another report from NBC News provides an overview of how other agencies are being affected.

 

Insurance Industry

The Insurance Information Institute’s 37th Annual Property/Casualty Joint Industry Forum

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Next Thursday (1/17) the I.I.I. will be proud to host the 37th Annual Property/Casualty Joint Industry Forum, an annual gathering of insurers, reinsurers and other industry leaders.

The event allows top executives in the insurance industry to network, exchange vital knowledge, and discuss emerging trends that will impact the future of the industry.

With this year’s theme of ‘Leading the Way Forward,’ insurance leaders will provide helpful insight on how the industry is paving the way into the future.

JIF 2019’s formal agenda will feature panel discussions, keynote addresses and the first-ever JIF Town Hall addressing flood and catastrophe resilience.

We will be hosting retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal and former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu as speakers to discuss their personal experiences with adversity and resilience. Additionally, Randal Quarles, a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, will join Sean Kevelighan, CEO of the I.I.I., to discuss current issues of the day.

Panel discussions will cover a wide array of insurance topics, including:

  • Economic Impact – How a charged political environment will affect regulatory environments, international alliances and trade partnerships, and the likely ramifications of heightened political risk for insurers and reinsurers.
  • Artificial Intelligence’s Risks, Ethics, and Opportunities – The benefits, drawbacks and ethical concerns as insurance seeks to manage risk in what some are calling the “Fifth Industrial Revolution.”
  • Talent and Leadership – McChrystal will share candid observations on innovative leadership and insights he gained while developing and implementing successful strategies including the creation of a comprehensive counterterrorism organization that has revolutionized the way military agencies interact and collaborate.
  • Resilience Town Hall – In this inaugural JIF Town Hall session, experts share perspectives on national and regional efforts to build community resilience in disaster-prone areas.

 

 EVENT DETAILS:

WHEN:

Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019 from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. ET

  • Registration: 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. ET
  • Forum: 10:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. ET
  • Reception: 5:30 pm – 7:00 p.m. ET

 

WHERE:

Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square, 9th Floor, New York City, NY

Media room will be in the “Jolson Room” on the 9th floor

 

For more information visit https://iii.swoogo.com/2019jif/registration. Registration is open to executives at P/C and life insurance companies, reinsurance companies, intermediaries and other related service organizations, including: CEOs; presidents; public and government affairs executives; insurance trade association leaders; regulators; and state and federal government representatives. Interviews with I.I.I. spokespeople and panelists are available upon request.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Insurance Industry

From the I.I.I. Daily: Our most popular content, December 28 to January 3

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Here are the 5 most clicked on articles from this week’s I.I.I. Daily newsletter.

 

To subscribe to the I.I.I. Daily email daily@iii.org.