2008 Spotlight Winners

Barbara L. Evans, CPCU,vice president of the CPCU Society’s Utica Chapter, spread the word in late September to some of her business counterparts. Evans is a BI procedure analyst for The Hartford in New Hartford, NY, where she works remotely.

In late September, Evans went to Southington, CT, for a team meeting. She made the visit a location for spreading the word!

“I decided it would be a great opportunity to give a presentation on the CPCU designation,” she said. “I outlined the program and the benefits, and handed out materials to the 15-member personal lines quality improvement team. After, I fielded questions and spoke to two individuals who are very interested in pursuing their designation.”

As a Champion, said Evans, she did this to encourage others within The Hartford to pursue their designation. She plans to do another presentation for her own department soon, she said, explaining that she only visits this office three or four times a year.

Evans says she plans to reach out to front-line managers in her local office by giving a short presentation on the benefits of the designation and how others may begin their CPCU. She plans to do this during each of their monthly meetings.

“I am also encouraging others in my own office by handing out literature and talking it up. It is encouraging to see others become excited!”

February Visibility Spotlight Winner “Spreads the Word!” During Oktoberfest

Birgit Sontheim, CPCU, is legal counsel for Munich Re, a German reinsurance company based in Munich, Germany. A member of the Society’s Europe Chapter, Birgit recently spread the word during Oktoberfest.

“Our second half-year chapter meeting took place in Munich, and since it was Oktoberfest time, we decided to go there for early dinner,” said Birgit. “It has been the last Oktoberfest weekend, and it was nice and sunny, so thousands of people were having the same idea, and it was very crowded. I decided to bring my CPCU Society-branded folder with me and was holding it up the whole time during our stroll over the field where the Oktoberfest takes place (103.79 acres) so that everybody would find their way back to the group and wouldn’t get lost. Besides, people were curious about our little group and me holding up a folder and asked about it,” she added.

As for other opportunities to spread the word, Birgit says she has already brought her folder to work and to clients’ meetings.

“Since it doesn’t hold a Munich Re brand sign on it but the CPCU Society brand, people keep asking me about it, and I explain to them about CPCU. CPCU is not very well known outside of the U.S,” she says.

Birgit says she is also trying to make CPCU more visible in Munich. 

March Visibility Spotlight Winner “Spreads the Word!”
to Association Members

Harold “Hal” Weston, J.D., CPCU, a consultant for Weston Consultancy, a fee-based risk management and insurance consulting firm in San Francisco, Calif., spread the word to more than 6,000 people when he co-authored an article entitled “Private-Company D&O Insurance; ‘Too Broad’ Coverage Can Be Risky,” in October’s PLUS Journal, a publication of the Professional Liability Underwriting Society.

In the article, a joint educational program with PLUS and the CPCU Society is mentioned. The program was a panel discussion that took place in San Francisco last April entitled, “Directors and Officers Insurance for Private Companies.”

“We did two programs with PLUS last year,” said Weston, who is also the Golden Gate Chapter’s vice president for education, serving his second year in the position.

“Partnering with PLUS was an easy decision. There is a lot of overlap between the two organizations because many members of the CPCU Society are also members of PLUS, and both groups focus on the casualty side of insurance, each with a different emphasis. We thought that group programs could pull from both memberships, affording better programs with better attendance.”

Weston says that his article arose from the first program, which was about D&O insurance for private companies. “I was moderator and had spent a lot of time with the panelists in advance to develop the structure and specific topics that could fit within one hour.” During the course of that program, he realized that there was a second issue surrounding the topic, which was how so-called “all-risk” D&O insurance related to the other coverages a company should have. He approached one of the lawyers on the panel who agreed with Weston. From that conversation, the two decided to write the article.

Weston has also taken great strides to get his chapter’s events publicized. He explains his process: “The San Francisco Bay Area is big, with three CPCU Society chapters here and two RIMS chapters. And, PLUS-Northern California is based here. Since I became vice president of education for the chapter, I’ve sent our program announcements to these other chapters and organizations, and asked that they either put the information or a link on their web site, or send it to their members. We think that a program in San Francisco may be of interest and accessible to other insurance professionals and risk managers. If we receive a request from a sister chap­ter, we send out an e-mail blast about their program. I’ve also made it a practice to send out a press release to the local insurance publica­tions.”

Another thing the chapter is trying is a Google-shared calendar with other insurance organizations in the area to coordinate events and avoid conflicts, he said.

Weston said that March 6 is the Golden Gate Chapter’s 59th All Industry Day. “We will promote this to our fellow insurance and risk organizations here in the San Francisco Bay area,” he added. 

April Visibility Spotlight Winner “Spreads the Word!” in Association Magazine

Laura M. Kelly, CPCU, is a director of best practice compliance/insurance industry liaison for Goldberg Segalla Attorneys at Law in Albany, N.Y. She is also a member of the CPCU Society’s Total Quality Interest Group and the Society’s Northeastern New York Chapter. As part of Laura’s work with the Total Quality Interest Group, she partnered with the American Society for Quality (ASQ), and wrote an article for the organization’s publication, Quality Progress, spreading the word to 96,000!

The full-length version of Laura’s article was also posted on ASQ’s insurance industry network web site.

“We have been exploring ways in which the Total Quality Interest Group and ASQ can partner together to increase the value to both of our memberships. Submitting articles to the other organization’s publications is one of many ways that we are exploring working with ASQ,” she says. 

Laura, who is actively involved in ASQ, recently earned the ASQ Certified Quality Improvement Associate certification. She also moderates ASQ’s insurance industry network discussion board, giving her another opportunity to foster an active dialogue between insurance professionals in both the CPCU Society and ASQ, she says.

Laura says she tries to “spread the word” whenever she can and always encourages other insurance professionals to pursue their designation and become active members in the CPCU Society. For the future, she says she would like to explore a joint meeting of her local chapter and the local ASQ section. 

“I’m proud to be a CPCU and enjoy being actively involved in the CPCU Society. The CPCU experience has been such a valuable part of my career, and I have learned so much more than I ever anticipated that I would when I began studying for my first exam! I hope that I can motivate others to work toward earning their designation and to become involved in the Society. I’m confident that they will find the entire CPCU experience to be as rewarding for them as it has been for me.”

May Visibility Spotlight Winner “Spreads the Word!” on AIG Intranet

Bart Shachnow, CPCU, CFP, CLU, ChFC, associate director of the Broker Outreach Program for the AIG Insurance School, recently wrote an article about the CPCU designation for AIG’s intranet, which reaches employees around the world. The article, entitled “The AIG Insurance School and the CPCU: Advancing Careers in Insurance,” was posted in December.

“My boss at the time, Carol Mauro, director of Corporate Training, asked me to do it, given her awareness of my active involvement in the New York Chapter. Carol is also a CPCU and a member of our chapter. Frank Baron, director of the Insurance School and my current boss, has been just as supportive.

It should also be noted that Martin Sullivan, our CEO, has made it clear to his senior management team that there needs to be renewed and consistent support for professional designation programs. This senior management support has certainly helped our efforts,” Shachnow said.

Since the article was published, Shachnow has developed several tactics to increase awareness and interest in the CPCU designation through a collaboration between AIG’s Insurance School, the Human Resources Department, and the Office of Diversity. A major initiative involves a regional rollout in May of the Professional Designation Task Force, comprised of AIG employees in the 10 major Commercial Insurance Group’s offices throughout the United States. The task force’s objectives include raising interest and awareness in the CPCU and other professional designation programs, and emphasizing the importance of career development both to AIG and individual employees.

Response to these visibility efforts has exceeded expectations, he said. “Our Atlanta office ran an informational program on designations with little advance notice and planning, and 40 people still showed up. Clearly there is an interest here; we need to respond to that interest and need for support effectively,” he said.

From a personal perspective, Shachnow believes he has a responsibility to educate all audiences about the importance of insurance. “Insurance is a vital social tool that helps lubricate the economy and protects individuals, families, and organizations of all sizes from financial catastrophe. At the risk of sounding ‘corny,’ what we do is noble, good, and heroic, but you wouldn’t know that from the way the industry gets bashed in the media. We need to change this negative perception. When people don’t believe in insurance, or trust those who practice in this field, then they invariably don’t buy the right type or amount—at great risk to themselves and damage to the industry,” he said.

June Visibility Spotlight Winner “Spreads the Word!” in PowerPoint Presentations

Mary Roth, CPCU, LUTCF, owner of Staff Training Programs in Arlington, Texas, spreads the word during her PowerPoint presentations at continuing education (CE) events for licensed insurance professionals. She has developed several slides explaining the benefits of earning a CPCU designation. 

She began using the slides in May 2007, when she was asked to give a presentation to the graduating seniors majoring in insurance at the University of North Texas. “I made up a seven-page handout that not only told about CPCU but the other ‘Initials Behind Your Name’ using the information from the CPCU website and from the AICPCU website. This year, I realized that I could take a couple of the slides from that presentation and insert them in my other 29 classes I have registered for CE,” said Roth, a past president and candidate development chairperson of the Fort Worth Chapter.

More than 125 people have seen the slides, Roth estimated. “One of my questions when I begin class is ‘How many of you have your CPCU?’ Depending on what I have with me and how many there are, the ones who have their CPCU get a prize,” she said. Feedback from attendees has been positive. Some people who have “started and stopped the CPCU have given consideration to starting again. They thanked me because they were not sure they would get credit for the old courses. Some of the students have said that they always wondered about it but never looked it up. People new to the business are excited because there is a professional designation that they can work towards,” she said.

Roth, who recently joined the Fort Worth Claims Association, plans to promote the CPCU designation to its members. She also wants to add information about the CPCU designation to her web site. “To me, the CPCU curriculum gives the ‘big picture’ of what the insurance industry is all about. I fell in love with the insurance industry and what it does not only for the people it employs but the people we insure. My personal statement to people is: If you are going to have a career in insurance, be a professional in insurance, and get your CPCU,” she said.

Having her CPCU designation has made a difference in her career. When she was an agent, she landed her largest account because the client knew she was a CPCU. “When I was first in sales, I was prospecting by telephone. I called a large plumbing company and got to talk to the decision maker. I had no idea of how large this account was going to be. He asked me why he should let me quote on his business.  I told him I had my CPCU, and he knew what that was. It opened the door,” she said.

July Visibility Spotlight Winner “Spreads the Word!” Through Online Communities

As visibility chair for the Mt. Diablo California Chapter, Thanh Hoang, CPCU, WCCP, a senior underwriter at Liberty Mutual, uses the power of social media to spread the word about the CPCU designation. By reaching out through online communities across the Web, such as Craigslist and SF Gate, the chapter readily connects with young insurance professionals, a segment that otherwise might be difficult to reach through more traditional channels.

“Web 2.0 continues to change the way people connect and communicate, and more and more users of different ages and backgrounds are beginning to network in online communities, such as Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn, to name a few,” Hoang says. “Our CPCU chapter embraces online technology and utilizes the new social media to reach out to the insurance community to spread the word!”

Hoang gives an example of one event the Mt. Diablo California Chapter markets online: “Our chapter president, Dean Seiji, suggested we host a happy hour, organized as an informal, noneducational, regularly held icebreaker, to target prospective CPCU candidates as well as CPCU Society nonmembers. After the happy hour was advertised via the Web through various online communities, we received many inquiries, including questions specifically about CPCU, from potential career switchers, students looking at the insurance field as a possible profession, and even insurance company professionals in various operational areas. I was proud to personally attest to the benefits and the doors that were opened to me by my earning the CPCU designation.” Hoang added, “After two years as a workers’ compensation claims adjuster, I made a career switch to underwriting. Taking a couple of CPCU classes, passing a few exams and networking with other insurance professionals were instrumental in helping me make this switch.”

And the chapter’s online success is tangible, Hoang explains: “One very enthusiastic new member, who initially found the chapter through our Web marketing, was so impressed with the organization she immediately helped spread the word about CPCU and shared her excitement about attending future happy hours and CPCU seminar luncheons with co-workers and friends.” Visibility is also achieved through more conventional ways, such as the chapter’s Web site, its sister chapter, various Society interest groups, local newspapers and volunteer community activities. “Our chapter is keenly aware of the importance of spreading the word about CPCU and uses all available means to reach as many people as possible,” Hoang said.

On a personal note, he added, “The CPCU designation acts as a compass in navigating the complex, volatile and competitive times in which we operate. The minute you become a CPCU and part of a supportive professional community that learns, grows and works together, you can confidently move forward in today’s challenging property-casualty insurance marketplace.”