The NCIGF Fall Workshop was held on November 13-14, 2024. The event took place in the charming city of Savannah, Georgia at the historic DeSoto Hotel nestled between city squares in the heart of downtown. It quickly became clear that the theme of the event would be focused on the positive, respectful, and inclusive culture within the community. Tim Schotke (IL) emceed the first day of the workshop and kicked off the event by sharing that the NCIGF Board of Directors had adopted and approved a Kindness & Respect Statement the day before. Mr. Schotke then shared a brief excerpt from that larger statement.
The audience received a true Southern hospitality welcome from the home state Executive Director, Frank Knighton (Georgia Insolvency Pool). Mr. Knighton not only added his own comments about hospitality and the beautiful state, but also included comments about mutual respect within the community, wrapping up with this sentiment, “Let’s all settle in and enjoy this great workshop.” The kindness sentiment continued when our current board vice chair, Brad Roeber (CA), welcomed the community, reflecting on the policyholders we serve and added, “We need to be serving each other, too.”
The day moved on with the first panel from the NCIGF DEI Subcommittee entitled Leveraging Training and Vendor Relationships. This panel was centered around including DEI efforts when utilizing vendors and building those important vendor relationships. The panelists also focused on building a deeper bench within guaranty fund offices throughout the country via training efforts – creating a deeper bench of insurance professionals and even looking at cross-training employees to create well-rounded employment opportunities.
Deemed “Law and Order: SIU” by emcee Tim Schotke, the second panel featured several insurance investigators sharing about how the community can better serve policyholders by weeding out bad actors who may be taking advantage of the system.
Next, a speaker specializing in leadership coaching, Alyssa Dueck, spoke on a relevant topic to the group: Leading and Growing Leaders in Small to Mid-Sized Organizations where she discussed “closing the growth gap” for leaders and their employees. An interactive session with much feedback from audience participants, Ms. Dueck wrapped up with several reflection questions.
The second half of the day featured Roger Schmelzer’s President’s Report focused on business and budgetary plans for 2025. Mr. Schmelzer then introduced his long-time friend, Neil Alldredge, President & CEO of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) in a friendly conversation between former colleagues. Mr. Alldredge presented the simple facts about the challenging and ever-changing insurance industry. Along with price increases, population growth and those taking advantage of the system, he covered all topics that have contributed to what he deemed A New Era of Risk. He stated, “The risks that insurers are underwriting is changing… Everything we insure is more expensive.”
The day then wrapped with Mike Ulmer and Roger Schmelzer discussing the creation of a NCIGF claims system, taking much time for Q&A from the audience. Mr. Ulmer noted that the claims system would be FOR the guaranty fund system specifically and would include cloud-based resilience and security with a long-term vendor commitment via GSI. “Member participation is essential to the success of the product.” – Mike Ulmer
Day two of the conference was kicked off in a SUPER way with none other than Captain Marvel welcoming the group! Lisa Pratt (our very own Captain Marvel from Pennsylvania) stepped into her emcee duties as any superhero would, and it left everyone prepared for a day engaged with all of our guaranty fund heroes, beginning with crisis communications expert Kerry Nations from Tennessee.
Mr. Nations presented on some very practical steps when working with the media or answering questions from news outlets when dealing with insurance insolvency information. This was presentation two of three for Mr. Nations and he, once again, focused on his three pillars of communication: Prevent, Prepare, and Promote. This led directly into the next presenter, Scott Hawkins, from Conning Inc., who shared very insightful information about their research regarding the insurance industry focused on the economy, technology, climate, and other topics. Mr. Hawkins discussed several changes in the risk profile that may affect the industry in the future. After a brief break, long-time friend of the guaranty fund community, Eric Hovey (Payden & Rygel) dove into post-election economics and how the potential impact on the insurance industry long-term.
And ironically winding down the conference was a topic entitled Winding Down an Insolvency that featured great information and presenters whose job it has been to work on the tireless process of winding down a legacy insolvency that has stretched out 10+ years.
The workshop was well-attended with record participation, boasting the largest NCIGF event post-COVID with over 105 attendees, guests, speakers and exhibitors traveling to Savannah, GA to take part. This event also marked the end of NCIGF’s 35th Celebration – the reception at the conclusion of day one reflected that celebratory mood, inspiring a party atmosphere with 35th branded cookies, balloons, and a photo booth for attendees. It was a great way to close 2024 with the community and, once again, commemorate “Supporting Policyholders for 35 Years.” For more information on all NCIGF events, click here.
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