Preisdent's Message
NAPSLO strength and numbers growing  

One of the major strengths of our Association is the diversity of our membership, from small brokers or managing general agents to multinational wholesalers; from carriers to reinsurers or London brokers and syndicates; to the wide variety of Associate members, such as law firms and software vendors, among others.

This diversity is a by-product of the maturation of our industry and emphasizes our ability to handle unique and unusual risks of all sizes and types. While we are all in the same industry, each of us operates differently, from the type of business we handle, to the size of accounts, to how we transact, our geographic location, and the size and complexity of our firms.

As an Association, one of our roles is to ensure that the projects we undertake, and the way we operate, assists all of our members, no matter the type. Over the past few years, the Board of Directors has been working on reaching out to the various branches of our membership to determine how the Association best can meet the needs of our members.

From various surveys on membership, education and technology issues, to personal meetings with our London members last year and our large broker members this year, the Board's goal was to determine what our members want out of the Association and how we can improve NAPSLO.

In a related effort, over the past year the Board has held a series of strategic planning meetings to examine the future of the Association and also look at what we can do to help our members.

The changes instituted over the past year include offering two NAPSLO E&S Schools to accommodate twice as many students; increasing the number of summer interns the Association sponsors to enable more firms to participate in the program; making the Board election process more transparent and establishing guidelines for membership on the Board;  increasing our legislative efforts, which resulted in the passage by the House of Representatives of the Non-Admitted and Reinsurance Reform Act; initiating efforts to ensure the future of our industry by educating college students about opportunities in the surplus lines industry;  and upgrading the Brokers' Lounge at the Annual Convention to make it easier for members to meet. 

Another goal is to expand our communications efforts to better inform members, and the public about the Association and also the important role our members play in the insurance industry.

The NAPSLO Board intends to continue to expand and upgrade the programs we offer and is in the process of examining how to do so. Whether adding additional educational programs, working with other groups on legislative or technology efforts, or improving our meetings, the Association will continue to work to meet your needs. 

Among the challenges NAPSLO faces is that the Association has grown a great deal over the past few years, increasing from around 1,100 main and branch offices a few years ago to nearly 1,600 today. In addition, as everyone is aware, our annual convention attendance has grown sharply also, increasing from around 2,000 seven years ago to 3,400 last year. NAPSLO is committed to meeting the needs of a growing membership.

The New Orleans convention is expected to be another large meeting with more than 3,000 people currently registered. While the growth in the size of the meeting has shown how members value the meeting, the size has forced us to re-examine where we can hold future meetings, short of utilizing a convention center type of format. 

This year, in addition to the great programs NAPSLO has set up, we are organizing a special program with the New Orleans Chapter of Habitat For Humanity to work on a local rebuilding project on Saturday, October 6.

With the conclusion of the convention, my term as President will end and I want to say the past year has been a great experience. Just as the surplus lines industry is becoming a more important, and noticeable, part of the insurance industry, NAPSLO is becoming more recognized and admired both inside and outside the industry and I am glad to say I was a part of those efforts.

Bill Newton
NAPSLO President