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VCIA conference preview By Michael J. Moody, MBA, ARM While there are a number of captive-specific conferences scheduled each year, by far the largest and most popular is the Vermont Captive Insurance Association’s (VCIA) annual educational event. This year marks the 22nd annual conference which is scheduled for August 7 - 9 in Burlington, Vermont. The theme is “Growing Your Captive Knowledge with VCIA,” and it promises to be yet another first-class educational and networking event. Molly Lambert, VCIA’s president and chief operating officer, says that the association has been working all year to provide the best program available. The conference offers a variety of captive-specific topics via 17 formal educational sessions and roundtable discussions for the expected 1,200 to 1,300 attendees. First things first “One of the issues that always concerns us is whether everyone has a good grasp of the basics of captive insurance operations,” Lambert says. This concern led to the introduction of a Captive 101 session on the opening day of last year’s conference. Lambert says that VCIA received some excellent feedback about the session and will provide it again this year. This year, however, “We have modified the session to two-and-a-half hours and have targeted the information to specifics with more focus on related issues.” She says this session fills a vital role so that all participants can have a basic understanding of captives and the remaining sessions can be designed for intermediate level or above. Also on the schedule for the opening day is the 17th annual Vermont Captive Open Golf Tournament, which will be held at the Vermont National Country Club. The “Newcomers Orientation Session” is also scheduled for the opening day. The opening day activities conclude with the Opening Reception. It should be noted that, in a break with tradition, the Opening Reception will be held at the Shelburne Farms. The second day of the conference starts with a “for members only” VCIA annual membership meeting. Shortly thereafter, the Opening General Session is scheduled to begin. As in the past, the session will feature a presentation by Vermont’s Governor Jim Douglas. Additionally, Vermont’s new insurance commissioner, Paulette Thabault, will provide some brief remarks during the Opening Session. Lambert also says that Thabault will be on hand for the remainder of the conference to meet interested parties. And as usual, what would the Opening Session be without a keynote speaker? This year’s keynoter is Ned Hallowell. According to Lambert, Hallowell, who has recently written a book titled “Crazy Busy—Overstretched, Overbooked and About to Snap,” will present some ideas about “how to successfully manage our high-speed lives.” Educational sessions One of the trademarks of the VCIA conference is the quality of the presentations, and this year’s event promises to continue that tradition. Lambert says that while there are some industry concerns around the current softening in the traditional insurance market, “many of the sessions this year are designed to highlight the additional value of captives.” For example, she says that the session “Adding Value: A Fresh Perspective on Risk Retention” directly relates to the soft market concerns. The session features James East from Walt Disney who will explain how to take maximum advantage of your captive while achieving further acceptance in the boardroom. Another noteworthy, session according to Lambert, is “New Ideas for Covering Employee Benefits.” Lambert notes that Vermont has eight of the current nine captives that have been approved by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to include employee benefits in their captives. She adds that there continues to be a significant amount of interest in including employee benefits within a captive. The session will have several individuals who have first-hand knowledge about this topic. These include a speaker from H.J. Heinz & Co., which recently obtained approval from the DOL to use their captive for employee benefits. Another presenter comes from the DuPont Company, which is pushing the envelope with regard to using captives for pension financing. Other session topics include invest-ment income, claims management, actuarial projections, reinsurance, and collateral requirements. In addition, there are specific roundtable discussions for health care captives and captive owners. As with any of the conferences, emphasis is always placed on taking maximum advantage of networking opportunities throughout the conference. Other issues To some extent, the VCIA conference is a victim of its own success. With size limits on the conference center, Lambert points out that “the exhibit hall becomes the pinch point.” And she notes that the exhibitors have set a record this year with 95 confirmed, so it will require the use of the second floor exhibit space. She says that VCIA has worked to make the second floor more useful and draw more people to those exhibit spaces. Some of the things planned include additional food stations on the second floor, book signings, and a massage station as well. In addition, most of the domicile booths will be located on the second floor, she says. Lambert also reports some good news regarding hotel space, with several major changes in the downtown hotels. The hotel that was formerly the Wyndham has been changed to a Hilton and has recently undergone more than $11 million in improvements. In addition, a new Marriott Hotel is located next door to the Hilton. This should provide an “adequate number of sleeping rooms within a reasonable distance from the conference center,” according to Lambert. One of the new items that is getting a significant amount of attention in Vermont is the change in the captive law regarding securitizations. Lambert says this is an important step in the development of captives in Vermont since life insurers are struggling to find ways to comply with Regulation XXX and AXXX. As a result, they are turning to captives to help to fund these redundant reserves issues. Lambert points out that securitization via a captive allows the life carriers access to the capital markets. She also says, “This is a great way to expand the capital markets involvement with captives.” Since the law was just recently passed, it did not allow time to prepare a specific session at the conference; however, Lambert did say that a separate stand-alone session was recently presented, and the results were excellent. She says that more than 100 people participated in the event. While there is no session at the conference, Lambert says it will still be discussed informally during the conference. Lambert also points out the popularity of the association’s “road shows.” She indicates that they have now “become not only accepted, but an occasion in high demand.” She says one only has to look at the backlog of sponsors that are waiting for additional shows to be added to see the value of these programs. As a result, the VCIA is continually updating the information to keep it fresh and has added a “captive owners only” luncheon. And, as she points out, “It has become as much of a membership retention tool as it is a prospecting tool for new business.” The VCIA conferences are always a big event in the captive industry and this year should be no different; however, it did not get to this position by accident. As Lambert points out, much of the thanks goes to the tireless work of both the VCIA staff and the volunteers who help put the program together each year. In addition, she says it would not be possible without the efforts of the regulators. “They are very supportive and involved on many different levels,” she notes. Lambert says that as the captive market changes, so does Vermont. “Innovation continues in Vermont,” she observes, and “the conference reflects these changes.” * The Author |
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