When the curtain was raised on the Target Markets Program Administrators Association’s inaugural 2001 national meeting in Arizona, William Kronenberg III was one of that first session’s featured speakers.

Next month at Westin Kierland Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona, where the association will officially celebrate its first decade of promoting excellence in program administration, the Tenth Annual TMPAA Summit’s opening ceremony gavel will be in the hands of a familiar TMPAA veteran leader—Bill Kronenberg.

As he completes handling the association’s tradi­tional two-year term, Bill will turn over the banner of president to Jeremy R. Hitzig, CFA, CPCU, longtime TMPAA board member and currently chief executive officer of Distinguished Programs, an active program administrator participant for several years.

Kronenberg recently reflected on the “state of the TMPAA”—its current status, key developments during his two-year presidency, and its continual growth over this past decade:

“It’s truly exciting to have achieved an active membership of 200 program administrators, 55 carrier partners, and some 65 vendor category members over these initial 10 years. Even with the tough economy in recent years the association continues to grow steadily.

“When I took over the presidency we talked about creating Target Markets University. Now, I’m happy to announce that it’s a reality. It will open in 2011 with 12 different courses designed by and for program administrators. It will be Internet based.

“Another initiative that’s going very well is Leadership 2.0. We’re getting more of the industry’s young men and young women, from both the program administration and carrier sides, actively involved. They’re taking our Target Markets stories back to their own companies. And equally important, it’s an excellent give-and-take opportunity because these younger professionals are bringing great ideas back to us, too. Participants must be under age 40 when entering the Leadership 2.0 program.”

Kronenberg also expressed great pride in the strides achieved by TMPAA Charities, a movement with which he was one of the major organizers. “Every year we refine and further formalize our charity efforts,” he says. “Now we’re happy to have longtime association member Karen Trudel as a Charities co-chairman.”

The charitable arm of the TMPAA has been reorganized to give members a greater voice in deciding what organizations TMPAA funds will support. The Charities Board is now accepting funding applications submitted by TMPAA members to choose beneficiaries. Funding requests must fall into two areas: 1) Education; 2) Business Incubation.

In addition to the annual TMPAA Charities Networking Golf Tournament, the association will organize a silent auction at this year’s Summit. Members can contribute a piece of valuable sports memorabilia, or vacation time at a beach house. The auction will enable these additional funds to support the member-driven charity beneficiaries.

“Also new this year,” adds Kronenberg, “is a service activity in which Summit attendees can participate. The TMPAA Charities Board has chosen to assist a Phoenix-area group by using the manpower of our Tenth Annual Summit attendees. The group’s name is ‘Packages From Home.’ Its mission statement is ‘…to send care and comfort packages to deployed American military heroes who are stationed in active duty theaters around the world, as well as to facilitate activities that elevate morale of all veterans. ’”

Kronenberg continues, “TMPAA Charities will purchase the contents of 300 packages that our group will pack and secure in boxes to be shipped to our servicemen and women around the world. We will ask our attendees to take some time out of their three days at our Summit to stop by our location in the event hotel and either pack a box for shipping, or write a note to a service person who will be receiving the package.

“So many of our members, and our companies, have done well over the years, and we realize that it’s our obligation to help other nonprofit organizations that are in great need of the monies we can raise for them,” Kronenberg explains. “Personally, one of the ways in which I’ll continue to be especially active with Target Markets after this presidency is with the Charities section.”

In concluding his review of these past two years, and during the TMPAA’s overall decade, Bill Kronenberg offers these observations:

“While the economy’s been tough on everybody—yes, business hasn’t grown as in the past—many companies in the program territory, doing specialty business with specialty products, seem to be doing slightly better than other industries are. The construction area’s been hurt. Others, too.

“No question there’s been a slowdown. But program admini­strators and carriers are smart people. I think we’ll come out of this just fine—as an industry, as an association, and as a country.

“I’m particularly confident that our Target Markets Association will continue to have a bright future,” Kronenberg concludes. “I’m so proud to have been a member here these 10 years, and proud to be turning over the mantle now to Jeremy Hitzig. He’s a fine man, a real gentleman who will bring fresh ideas as to where the organization will be going over the next two years.”

Hitzig carries to his new leadership position a positive, optimistic outlook similar to his predecessor’s.

“With our record number of members—PAs, carriers, vendors—the health of our association has never been stronger,” he observes. “It’s interesting in context with what’s going on broadly in the industry and the overall economy. Generally there’s a bit of a decline elsewhere, but we can be proud of the record attendances at our mid-year and Summit meetings. The programs we offer will remain critical to our membership.

“I would hope we can add emphasis to our education and the Best Practices areas. I’d like to see our Best Practices achievers, now at 15 companies, doubled in the next few years. Target Markets University will be a significant new addition with its 2011 opening. We’ve committed substantial resources to it, and we’ll feature a dozen or so specific courses such as leadership and ethics, operations, financial management, actuarial matters, and others.

“The faculty will be drawn largely from association members—peers who have demonstrated excellence in particular areas,” Hitzig continues. “The initiative here is designed to deal specifically with program administration. As for Leadership 2.0, I think it’s an exciting extension of our development mission to really attract and develop a forum for our next generation of leaders. We’ve seen an increasing number of younger participants at our meetings, and they seem to strongly agree that networking is a fantastic element of our two annual meetings.”

Regarding his assessment of the TMPAA within today’s economic climate, the incoming president delivers these comments:

“Overall, of course, the insurance industry has suffered consecutive years of decline in premiums. Everyone feels some effects of that, and program administrators are a microcosm of the resulting challenges. But I firmly believe that our Target Markets Association is a powerful force in dealing with these various challenges. We’ve grown and strengthened over this past decade, and I know we’ll continue along that path.”

Every two years a new president takes the TMPAA’s helm. “Changing of the guard” is also a continual function within the organization’s board membership and various officer assignments. But the one constant, during this past decade of Target Markets Program Administrators Association’s growth and success, is the management, overseeing, and the experienced guidance of Executive Director Ray Scotto.

Ray and his Delaware-based staff have an inside view of the association’s operation on a daily basis. They work closely with all of those 200 program administrators, 55 carriers, and more than five dozen vendor members regularly. To supplement the foregoing observations of the outgoing and incoming TMPAA presidents, Ray Scotto also remarks on the state of the association:

“The real strength of this association continues to be the program expertise and innovative spirit that exists in our membership and on the board of directors. Our initiatives, designed to address the unique challenges of program administration, all come directly from the members themselves. This has allowed the TMPAA to provide tangible resources to our members and keeps our meetings focused on the relevant issues that impact their program business operations. We expect to accomplish big things for our members in our next 10 years of operation.”