Lawrence M. Wesson, Jr., elected President of NAPSLO

Lawrence M. Wesson, Jr., of U.S. Risk Insurance Group, Inc., Dallas was elected President of the National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices, Ltd. (NAPSLO) during the Association’s recent annual convention.

NAPSLO members voted during the Annual Business Meeting on Friday, September 16 at NAPSLO’s 2005 Annual Convention at the San Francisco Marriott on the slate of Officers and Directors selected by the Nominating Committee.

Mr. Wesson is President and COO of U.S. Risk Insurance Group, headquartered in Dallas. He began his insurance career in 1978 when he joined J. Frank Holt & Company, a local retail agency. The agency was acquired by Arthur J. Gallagher & Company, and he continued his association with Gallagher until 1986. He joined U.S. Risk Insurance Group in 1988 as Vice President of Marketing. He became President and COO in 1993. 

He was elected to the NAPSLO Board of Directors in 2000, was elected an officer in 2002, and has served as Treasurer, Secretary and Vice President. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1973.

The following individuals were elected as new NAPSLO officers:

•  President  - Lawrence M.  Wesson, Jr., President and COO, U.S. Risk Insurance Group, Inc., Dallas.
•  Vice President - William H. Newton, President and Owner, Lemac & Associates, Inc., Los Angeles.      
•   Secretary - Mary Ellen Rozzell, President, Continental/Marmorstein & Malone, Paramus, New Jersey.
•  Treasurer - John F. Wood, III, CIC, CIW, President, Specialty Risk Associates, Inc., Shreveport, Louisiana.

Nominated for new three-year terms on the NAPSLO Board were Randall D. Jones, Maxum Specialty Insurance Group, Atlanta, Georgia, and Robert T. Sargent, RPLU, CPCU, ARM, Tennant Risk Services, Hartford, Connecticut.

Re-nominated for new three-year terms on the NAPSLO board are: Ms. Rozzell, Mr. Wood, and Timothy P. Makowski, Benchmark Management Group, Naperville, Illinois. 

Directors serve three-year terms on the NAPSLO Board and Officers, selected from among current Board members, serve one-year terms as officers. 

BACKGROUND

NAPSLO is a national trade association representing the surplus lines insurance industry.  Surplus lines is a specialized segment of the insurance business that is also referred to as non-admitted, specialty and/or excess lines.  Risks are placed with the surplus lines market when they cannot be placed in the admitted/licensed market. 

NAPSLO represents surplus lines insurance agents/brokers and surplus lines insurance companies.  NAPSLO has over 1,500 member offices in the United States, Canada, Germany, and England.