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AAMGA Special Section Leading into the future Under Forty Organization's strategy to prepare leaders includes in-depth training and networking with international groups By Phil Zinkewicz It seems like just yesterday that the Under Forty Organization (UFO) started up with its membership consisting only of young insurance executives, under 40, of course, who were relatives of managing general agents. UFO was conceived as an opportunity for these young people to meet with older members of the AAMGA and learn from them. It was that simple. However, the enthusiasm that the initial group brought to the UFO caused AAMGA leadership to rethink its philosophy and, soon, membership was opened to anyone under 40 who was employed by a partner or owner of an MGA, not just to managing general agents’ relatives. Starting with a handful, today there are more than 300 members of the UFO, both domestic and international. Not only does the UFO hold its own annual meeting, but it conducts leadership, perpetuation and management training sessions throughout the year. The UFO has facilitated relationships with Lloyd’s of London and Bermuda’s “under 35 groups.” And, UFO members spend the year networking with one another at meetings and through an online chat room and bulletin board on the AAMGA Web site. It is also significant to note that two of AAMGA’s past presidents—Francis Johnson of the Charleston, South Carolina-based Johnson and Johnson, and Scott Anderson of the Fargo, North Dakota-based Concorde General Insurance Agency—came out of the Under Forty Organization. Seth Johnson, senior vice president of Atlantic Specialty, Richmond, Virginia, and chairman of the Under Forty Organization, says the UFO has grown in spirit and determination. “We take the word ‘networking’ very seriously,” he says. “We don’t just have polite conversations, we discuss important trends in the surplus lines industry—what the next cycle will be like, and what effects proposed legislative and regulatory changes will have on the industry. Our sojourns to London and Bermuda weren’t junkets. UFO leaders have studied the workings of these international markets. When UFO members visited Lloyd’s, for example, they spent time sitting in the underwriting boxes at Lloyd’s and following brokers around the floor of Lloyd’s to get a first-hand feeling about how the market works. In March of 2005, the UFO held an international seminar in Bermuda to find out what’s going on in the offshore arena, particularly with respect to catastrophic reinsurance developments.” Last year, says Johnson, the UFO created four new subcommittees—a Membership Committee, an Education Committee, a New Membership Committee and a Web Site Committee. “The Membership Committee is responsible for keeping our current membership up to date. We have to know when some members pass the age of 40, for example, and leave the organization. Also, our members need to know how to get in touch with each other. The Education Committee works to secure speakers for certain industry events. The committee makes certain that these speakers are qualified to address particular subjects. Our New Membership Committee deals with recruitment. Recruiting is of paramount importance to us,” says Johnson. “We are constantly updating our Web site to make certain our members have easy access to AAMGA contact information. In terms of recruitment, the Web site also provides information for those who are not yet members to learn about the organization. And, our Web Site Committee is working with the AAMGA to keep our portion of the Web site up to date.” As for recruiting, Johnson says that, in general, the AAMGA is seeking to attract college students to the insurance industry and to the organization. The UFO is playing a part in this attempt. “We look for students who have shown an interest in the insurance industry and talk to them about careers in the excess surplus lines industry,” says Johnson. Johnson says that the UFO is also working with the AAMGA in writing and publishing a “leadership book,” which will include the names of 40 or 50 people in the insurance industry who have success stories to tell. “The purpose of this book will be to encourage young members of the organization to follow in their footsteps.” Finally, last year, the UFO spent a good deal of its time constructing bylaws for the organization. “Since last year, we have had conference calls the first Thursday of every month working on these bylaws,” says Johnson. “The bylaws will specify what our purposes are, what the responsibilities of our officers are, how the election process works, how we conduct our meetings and what our goals are. We are an organization that has matured, and we need our own bylaws.” * |
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