Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. announced that it has acquired McElveen Insurance Agency, Inc., of Lake Charles, Louisiana, and Pickard, Tate & Allen, Inc., of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Terms of the transactions were not disclosed.
Organized in 1952, McElveen Insurance Agency, the largest agency in Southwest Louisiana, specializes in construction industry coverages and surety bonding. George A. McElveen, Jr., president, and his 28 employees will continue to operate in Lake Charles under the direction of Mitch Brashier, area president of Gallagher's Louisiana operations.
Pickard, Tate & Allen, established in 1987, specializes in pipeline construction insurance and bonds. Daniel Pickard, president, and his employees will be merged with Arthur J. Gallagher's Bryce Insurance Agency in Tulsa under the direction of Walter Bryce, Jr., area president.
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co, an international insurance brokerage and risk management services firm, is headquartered in Itasca, Illinois, has offices in seven countries and does business in more than 80 countries around the world through a network of correspondent brokers and consultants. Gallagher is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AJG.
Oklahoma
OAIA seminars
The Oklahoma Association of Insurance Agents (OAIA) is offering an Advanced Errors and Omissions Loss Control Seminar which is specifically designed for agency owners, producers and office managers. Advanced E&O has been approved for 8 hours of C.E. and includes 1 hour of Ethics within its 8 hours.
John Dismukes, Jr., CPCU, AAI, CIC, will facilitate the seminar. He will examine what causes E&O claims and discuss how procedures can be implemented to prevent or reduce future E&O losses. Among the topics to be discussed are: legal responsibility of agents and brokers; management's control of business and processing procedures; loss prevention through automation; life and health E&O claims and a case study scenario.
Dates and locations are:
August 19, 1998-Tulsa
August 20, 1998-Oklahoma City
Cost of registration is $60 for OAIA members; $85 for non-members.
For more information, call OAIA at (405) 840-4426 or (800) 324-4426.
Texas
Central Insurance Companies endorses new program
Central Insurance Companies President F.W. Purmort announced the company's endorsement of the Texas Association of Insurance Agents' new Producer Development Program as a resource available to Central's agency force. (See "Regional News," May, page 94.)
Central will provide tuition scholarships to selected agents to participate in the program.
For information on the TAIA Producer Development Program, call TAIA at (800) 880-7428, or visit TAIA's Web site (www.taia.com).
Missouri
Compliance seminar to be offered at MAIA convention
Lew Melahn, a partner in Polsinelli, White, Vandeman & Shalton, will present a legal compliance and licensing seminar at this year's MAIA annual convention which will be held in Osage Beach August 27-29. The seminar will cover what authority is granted by each type of license; the types of activities that require licensure; the appointment process; proper licensure reporting; excess and surplus lines reporting and compensation arrangements.
Compliance issues to be addressed during the seminar include an agency's potential role in market conduct examinations; handling Department complaints and investigations; advertising, rebating issues; continuing education and record keeping suggestions.
The seminar is scheduled for August 29, 1998, at 9:30 a.m. at the Tan-Tar-A Resort, Lake Ozark, Missouri.
For more information regarding the MAIA 1998 Convention, call MAIA's fax-on-request service at (800) 814-3329 and request document 6143.
Missouri
MAIA plans producer development series
In response to member requests, the Missouri Association of Independent Agents (MAIA) created the Producer Development Committee. The committee will provide the best possible resources to those Missouri independent agents who have a strong desire to help their agencies grow and develop, and also to enable them to reach their financial goals.
The efforts of the Producer Development Committee will culminate in two agency self-help seminars.
The first session will be conducted at the MAIA Annual Convention, August 27-29, at Tan-Tar-A Resort, Lake Ozark. The seminar, called "Is My Agency Ready for a New Producer?", will help agencies determine if they have the mechanics in place to help a new producer succeed. This can range from something as simple as having adequate office space to something more complex, such as having a good mentoring system in place.
The second session will be an all-day workshop titled "Identifying, Recruiting, Training and Retaining a Winning Producer." To be held in late October, this session will bring together the strongest proven teachers on the subject of producer development.
For more information, call Carol Dulle at the MAIA office: (800) 617-3658. *
©COPYRIGHT: The Rough Notes Magazine, 1998