Salute to Service A BRIGHT CAREER FOR VETERANS Focus on teamwork, discipline and assisting others preps ex-military for agency ownership By Christopher W. Cook What a strange year 2020 has been, and the bizarreness continues as we enter November. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. presidential election. The invasion of the crab people—I wouldn’t eliminate that as a possibility quite yet. While we’ll soon be starting the holiday season and
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Public Policy Analysis & Opinion By Kevin P. Hennosy 2020: A RISK ODYSSEY Have producers reached a John Henry moment, and does the NAIC care? Late this summer, the always timely, credible, and unimpeachably disciplined National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) unanimously adopted “guiding principles” for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) by the business of insurance. What will this historic proclamation mean to the insurance sector and its varied
NURTURING THE NETWORKS How three women are leading their respective networks—and insurance—toward a stronger, more collaborative industry approach By Lori Widmer In the beginning, Rene Swan was one of very few executives at the table who was a woman. Swan, president of United Valley Insurance Services, a Fresno-based independent agency network, has represented her firm at various carrier and industry meetings since she joined United Valley in 2011. While being
AGENTS, NETWORKS, AND CARRIERS: A PARTNERSHIP FOR GROWTH Helping industry organizations derive value greater than the sum of their parts By Joseph S. Harrington, CPCU “Two’s company; three’s a crowd,” goes the old saying. Done right, however, a relationship among three entities or groups—in this case, independent agents, agency networks, and insurance carriers—can produce value greater than the sum of its parts. Agency networks are in the business of delivering
AGENCY NETWORKS MUST—AND DO—ADD VALUE More than just a premium pass-through, networks drive agency growth and more By Joseph S. Harrington, CPCU Since they originated nearly 50 years ago, independent agency networks have faced the very real challenge of adding value, and not just bringing another layer into the independent agency/insurance carrier distribution chain. Networks today are meeting that challenge, according to Neal Stanley, a former carrier chief executive officer
