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Special Section—PLUS 2006 Under the microscope in 2006 Outgoing PLUS president reflects on the challenges that faced the industry this year By Phil Zinkewicz Last year, when Jeffrey P. Klenk, senior vice president of executive liability for Travelers Bond, a division of St. Paul Travelers, took over as president and conference chair of the PLUS annual meeting, the theme was “Under the Microscope: Navigating the Political, Economic and Regulatory Issues Facing the Professional Liability Industry.” It was a time when the property and casualty insurance industry overall was becoming the subject of extreme regulatory and legislative scrutiny. Allegations of bid rigging and unfair contingent compensation were being levied against the major brokers by New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, now a New York State gubernatorial candi-date, and state and federal legislators were jumping onto the bandwagon to conduct their own investiga-tions into these practices. Last year, Klenk told Rough Notes: “We felt that if everyone else was looking into how the insurance industry operates, we should too.” And, that’s exactly what last year’s PLUS annual conference did, calling not only on industry people to explore the issues but also on “outsiders,” such as legislators and regulators. Now, a year later, Klenk says that the property and casualty insurance industry is “still under the microscope.” He says: “There are attorneys general, legislators and regulators around the country who are continuing their investigations into the insurance industry’s operations relative to full disclosure to insureds of industry compensation systems. The industry is working through its problems slowly, with periodic settlements reached. PLUS will continue to monitor the situation and address the issues via our conference and seminars. That’s what PLUS is all about. We conduct educational seminars to address the issues that are most important to our members. We don’t take sides. We are not a lobbying organization.” This year’s conference will focus on controversial proposals to bring the federal government into the regulation of insurance. “Will there ever be a point in time when the federal government regulates the business of insurance as opposed to regulation in 50 states?” Klenk says. “That’s the question we’re exploring this year but, again, these will be educational sessions. While our members may feel one way or the other in the matter, PLUS does not take a position.” Klenk emphasizes that education is the mission of PLUS and, during his term as PLUS president, he has tried to guide the organization in efforts to increase the effectiveness of the organization’s educational programs. “We have made great strides,” Klenk says. “We are in the process of completely revamping our educational materials. This represents several years of significant capital investment. We began last year by establishing modules for education in the areas of general insurance, EPLI and medical malpractice. We intend to build on that. We have made moves into offering educational sessions online to make it easier for our members to obtain the information they need. “This month,” continues Klenk, “we held our PLUS European D&O liability forum in London, England. This was a new event for industry professionals who deal in the European market to help them gain insight into the hot issues that are currently taking place in the European D&O market. Issues discussed included: how the D&O product has evolved in the European community; emerging trends of foreign shareholders being brought into U.S. class action suits; and possible solutions to problems that exist in the European D&O market.” Klenk is particularly proud of the PLUS Foundation, a community outreach and philanthropic endeavor where PLUS conference leaders work with local chapters in the cities where PLUS holds its annual meetings to address the needs of a particular charitable organization or event. At this year’s conference, PLUS is contributing and is encouraging its members to contribute to the Chicago Special Olympics. “The entire Special Olympics movement, now an international phenomenon, all started in Chicago nearly 30 years ago,” says Klenk. “We are proud to support the original organization, Special Olympics Chicago, which assists thousands of disabled children and adults, utilizes hundreds of volunteers and works with numerous civic, public and private partners. Special Olympics Chicago is one of the largest and most fiscally challenged chapters in the country. PLUS is donating $10,000 to Special Olympics Chicago. When we come to a city for our conference, we want to leave that city a little better off than when we got there.” * |
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