The Tennessee Insuror May/June 17 by Insurors of Tennessee

THE TENNESSEE

INSUROR May/June 2017

Vol. 28 No. 3

www.insurors.org

6 10 12

Land of The Delta Blues

Cold Calling Works (If You do This)

How High Will Mortgage Rates Go Under Trump?

It's Time to Stop Acting Like Independent Agents

Little Boys Blue Will Headline the Insurors 124th Annual Convention

Expect big things in workersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; compensation. Expect to save a third of your clients 30% or more. Most classes approved, nationwide. For information call (877) 234-4450 or visit auw.com/us. Follow us at bigdoghq.com. ÂŠ2017 Applied Underwriters, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway company. Our insurance carriers are rated A+ (Superior) by A.M. Best.

2Insurance plans protected U.S. Patent No. 7,908,157.

The Tennessee Insuror

contents

THE TENNESSEE

INSUROR Vol. XXVIII, Number 3 May/June 2017

features

Phone (615) 385-1898 Toll Free: 1-800-264-1898 Email: info@insurors.org Editor: Charles T. Bidek, CPCU Publisher: Daniel D. Smith Jr., CAE

4 Land of the Delta Blues INSURORS OFFICERS

President ................................................. John McInturff III, ARM Immediate Past President .. Christie Reeves, CIC, CPCU, CPIW IIABA National Director ......................................... Lou Moran III VP, Region I and President Elect ..................... Chris Allison, CIC Vice President, Region II ................................................... Joe Hunt Vice Preisdent, Region III .......................................... Bob McIntire Treasurer .............................................. Battle Bagley III, CIC, CPA Secretary ................................................................. Steve Copeland Director, Region I ....................................................... Portis Tanner Director, Region I ............................................ Stephen Masterson Director, Region I .................................................... Tommy Allmon Director, Region II ....................................................... Chip Fridrich Director, Region II ................................. Matt Swallows, CIC, CRM Director, Region II .................................. Christy Jones, CISR, CAPI Director, Region III ............................................................ Tim Witt Director, Region III .................... Kym Clevenger, CPCU, CACW Director, Region III .................................................. Eric Campbell Young Agents Chairperson ............................. Tim Treadwell V

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Display advertising rates, deadlines and specifications may be obtained by writing to Insurors of Tennessee, 2500 21st Avenue South, Suite 200, Nashville, TN 37212, calling 615.515.2601, e-mailing dsmith@insurors.org or online at www.insurors.org The Tennessee Insuror is provided to all Insurors of Tennessee members and associate members as a member service.

INSURORS OF TENNESSEE 2500 21st Avenue South, Suite 200 Nashville, TN 37212-0539 www.insurors.org

Little Boys Blue Will Headline the Insurors 124th Annual Convention

Cold Calling Works (If You do This)

How High Will Mortgage Rates Go Under Trump?

12 It's Time to Stop Acting Like Independent Agents... ...And Start Acting Like Business Owners 14 Daniel Learns About Ins.: Carnivals - Your Ticket to Claims? 53

6 Tips for Tech Change

departments 21

From Your President

Big or Small- Insurors is for All

From Your National Director

From Your CEO

Education Calendar

Government and Legal Affairs

Association Update

The "Hidden" Benefits of Membership The Politics of Flood Insurance

"Wire" Scams & Fraud Continuing to Escalate

39 Broker Spotlight Hull & Company, Inc. 51 Meetings 53

Member Tips

6 Tips for Tech Change

The band won 3rd place in the International Blues Competition

Land of The Delta Blues Little Boys Blue will Headline the Insurors124th Annual Convention

The Insurors 124th Annual Convention will take place on October 14-17 at The Peabody, one of the South's most beautiful and historic hotels. We return the event to downtown Memphis for the first time since 2009, and there is a lot in store for you! We'll be announcing a great lineup of speakers, entertainment, outings and functions at some of the great new venues in the city. We'll also have the opportunity for attendees to tailgate for the Navy vs. Memphis and Vanderbilt vs. Ole Miss football games. And as always, we expect to expand on our industry trade show, which is already one of the largest insurance exhibit halls in the Southeast region. Attendees will be able to enjoy golf at the picturesque Mirimichi, voted the South's #1 public golf course by Golf Digest. If golf isn't your thing, we'll also have our clay shoot at the renowned Memphis Sport Shooting Association. And if neither of those catch your eye, maybe some sparkle will do the trick. This year's third event will be Bourbon & Bling, a jewelry valuation, distillery tasting and CE course at the brand new Old Dominick Distillery. Our Sunday night event will capture some of the soul of the city and be held in The Peabody's Skyway Ballroom, a rooftop venue that has hosted music legends for decades. In the 1930s and 40s, many of the big bands playing in the Skyway were broadcast nationwide on CBS Radio. The Sunday night headliner will be Little Boys Blue. 4

Sunday Night Concert Will Feature Little Boys Blue Twenty two years and many gigs ago, JD Taylor and Steve Patterson started the Jackson, Tennessee-based band, Little Boys Blue. Enlisting an array of veteran players, who toured with Nashville country and Sun Records Rockabilly artists, they mixed all their influences from Tennessee and Mississippi Delta Blues styles with flavors of Rockabilly, Rock and Country to create the Little Boys Blue sound. Members of the group often collaborated with legends like Carl Perkins. They traveled the southeast playing clubs, festivals and competitions. In 1997, they won third place in the Blues Foundation's International Blues Competition. In 2002, Taylor began traveling to Nashville, where he became part of the Muzik mafia. He would play with and open shows for Hank Williams, Jr., Kid Rock, John Rich and Gretchen Wilson. He also recorded with Warner Brothers artists including Blake Shelton and James Otto. After about five years, he returned to West Tennessee to play shows in Jackson and Memphis and continue to develop his love for the Blues. A few years later, Jimmy Exum, owner of Jaxon Records in Jackson, decided to take a trip out to a watch a live show after hearing about the groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dynamic live blues show. Within a couple weeks the band had had been signed to Jaxon Records and was in the studio recording and working on their first album. The Tennessee Insuror

The band has since recorded three albums, including 2014's Bad Love and the 2016 album Tennissippi, which was recorded at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Their hits include classic covers from the band’s live set; "Death Letter Blues," and "Can’t Be Satisfied," as well as the low down blues "Howling At Your Door," the dance floor number "Cajun Girl," and of course their third title track, "Tennissippi." The current band features JD Taylor, Dave Mallard, Mark Brooks, Alex Taylor, Tyler Goodson and Dave Thomas. After performing over 100 shows around the southeastern U.S., the band is poised to go for broke and promote their music globally.

Schedule, Hotel and More Information Our current schedule is below, and more information will be released in upcoming issues of The Tennessee Insuror as well as the Insurors Bulletin. Saturday, October 14th (all times tentative and CST) Tailgates TBD

Vanderbilt vs. Ole Miss/Navy vs. Memphis

Sunday, October 15th 9:00 - 11:00 am Board of Directors Meeting 11:00 am - noon Past Presidents’ & Board Luncheon Noon - 2 pm Exhibitor Setup Noon - 6 pm Registration Open 2:00 - 6:00 pm Exhibit Hall and Trade Show 4:00 - 6:00 pm “Meet the Vendors” Exhibit Hall Reception 6:00 - 8:00 pm Opening Night Celebration, Dinner & Concert 8:00 - 10:00 pm Young Agents After Party at B.B. Kings Monday, October 16th 8:30 - 10:00 am Registration Open 8:30 - 10:30 am Exhibit Hall and Trade Show 8:30 - 10:30 am Exhibit Hall Breakfast 10:30 - 11:30 am Breakout Sessions Noon - 5:30 pm Convention Golf Tournament at Mirimichi 12:30 - 4:00 pm Clay Shoot at Memphis Sport Shooting Assoc. 12:30 - 3:30 pm Bourbon & Bling at Old Dominick Distillery 6:00 - 10:00 pm Company Night

YOUR CUSTOMERS. OUR PROMISE. FCCI Insurance Group has been insuring businesses and doing what we say we’ll do for more than 58 years. We partner with our agents to provide expertise in underwriting, risk management and claims handling that help businesses thrive and face the future with confidence. Tiffany Hawkins State Director, Mississippi, Tennessee & Arkansas

Tuesday, October 17th 8:00 - 9:00 am Association Day Breakfast 9:00 - 11:00 am Insurors Annual Meeting You won't want to miss this event. To reserve your room at The Peabody for our group rate of $215, please visit https:// reservations.travelclick.com/95096?groupID=1967031 or use code 171013INSU. For more information on the event, or to register now, please visit www.insurors.org/IOT/Convention/ IOT/Convention/IOT_Convention_Home.aspx u The Tennessee Insuror

Cold Calling Works (If You do This) written by Sydney Roe, Digital Content Manager for TrustedChoice.com

We can all just admit it. Cold calling sucks.

How to Warm-Up Cold Calling

When I was a producer, I started out cold calling businesses who had insurance through the FWCJUA.

My girlfriend is addicted to the yoga classes at our Lifetime gym – which means now I am too. *sigh*

FWCJUA = Florida Workers' Comp Joint Underwriting Association. Otherwise known as: The Market of Last Resort.

Just as an experiment, I asked her, “What would you say to someone who called you to sign up for an awesome new yoga studio starting up near your house?”

It was a horrible game of sifting through this massive Excel spreadsheet (I downloaded it monthly from their website) to find the "least bad" risks and then calling them with a moneysaving pitch. Typically, if you were in the FWCJUA, you didn’t really want to be there because their products were so expensive. So, the money-saving pitch worked really well. The hard part for me was finding the good businesses (or not terrible businesses) who had some bad luck and a carrier to place the risk. (I was a young producer willing to try any weird or crazy sales strategy I could think of.) Unlike my situation, most of the people you cold call probably aren’t looking for a way out of their current insurance program. That makes pitching them twice as hard. Someone who doesn’t want your attention is now being interrupted from their busy day with a surprise call. (Let’s be honest – nobody likes answering numbers they don’t recognize.)

Her response: “Who are you?” LOL. [Had to chuckle at that one.] Her knee-jerk reaction was a desire to get to know the person/product/service before expressing whether or not she’d even be interested. Hmmmm. If you’re a salesperson, you’ve probably heard of "The Rule of Seven." It’s an old marketing adage that says a prospect needs to see or hear your marketing message at least 7 times before they take action and buy from you. That was then. Now, all the noise from the internet means the minimum is raised to at least 11 touches.

On top of all that, the internet has conditioned every customer to expect more targeted marketing (meaning we now assume that we’ll only be contacted by businesses we’ve expressed interest in – either by searching something on Google or browsing a website or reading an article). Cold Calling = contacting people who don’t need you, don’t trust you and don’t expect your call. That’s a LOT to overcome in 3 minutes. It’s a serious skill to make that phone call last longer than “No, thanks.” *Click* And I don’t have the magic words you can say to stop that from happening. But I do have something better.

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My question is 'why?' What’s the psychology behind this rule? The truth that’s made this rule a "Rule" is anchored in trust. Simply put, if I don’t know you, I don’t trust you. And if I don’t trust you, I definitely want to get to know you before I even consider making any decisions about doing business with you. But you can’t “get to know each other” during a cold call. It’s not like you can call someone up and say, “Hey, I’m Syd, I know we don’t know each other, but I’d like to talk to you for 10 minutes or so about your probably-cool life and share some stuff about my kinda-weird life and then I can get you an insurance quote.” Good luck with that. But a warm-up email WITH an introduction video before your cold call is a slam-dunk in the “get to know each other” department. Check out this video sent by a real estate agent to a dead lead: http://bbemaildelivery.com/bbext/?p=video_ land&id=491e6126-6975-c1a8-be34-c4edc0835f90 If this guy had called me and tried to say a quarter of that over the phone, I probably would have cut him off and hung up.

Is THIS your agency risk management plan?

But being able to see him (a smile, eye contact, his body language, his authenticity) keeps me engaged much longer. I’m �ou’re caught up in the day�to�day shuf�le, working hard to to get and keep business. But if you don’t step back and assess your agency procedures, you can walk right off a risk management cliff, landing your agency not just listening to what he’s saying (which is mostly focused in court facing a professional liability lawsuit that may have been avoided. on saving me money – not a bad pitch), I’m getting to know him Big “I” Professional provides the E&O Risk Management featuring more than You’reLiability caught up in the Happens day-to-day shuffle, Website, working more. That makes his phone call more human and less awkward. 700 pages of insurance agency risk management information, available exclusively, and at no cost, to Big hard to to get and keep business. But if you don’t step “I” members. Features include: Here’s the cool part – ANY good video hosting software will back and assess your agency procedures, you can walk give you analytics telling you when someone has played your  Claim examples Risk management articles  right off a risk management cliff, landing your agency video. Access to that data allows you to follow-up with them  E&O Claims Advisor newsletters court facing a professional liability lawsuit that may disclaimers in real-time after you know they’ve watched the video, turn-  Samplein  Sample customer letters have been avoided. ing your cold call into a warm one. Booya!  Webinars and podcast archive

Is THIS your agency THIS your agency risk management Isplan? How to Do it Yourself

Log into Bigwww.iiaba.net/EOHappens. “I” Professional Liability provides the E&O Hap-

risk management pla

pens Risk Management Website, featuring more than 1. Every business has an email address. Google their webinsurance agency risk management inforu’re caught site up in theit.day�to�day shuf�le, working hard to to get 700 and pages keep of business. But if you don’t step to find mation, available exclusively, and at no cost, to Big 2. Film a quick introprocedures, video on your iPhone introducing �ou’remanagement caught up in the day�to�day shuf�le, working to to get and keep business. But ck and assess your agency you can walk right off a risk cliff, landing yourhard agency “I” members. Features include: you can walk right off a risk management cliff, back and assess your agency procedures, yourself, what you can do for them and what makes you court facing a professional liability lawsuit that may have been avoided. in court facing a professional liability lawsuit that may have been avoided. unique. [You can customize each video to the business or save time by recording one intro video you send to a • Big “I” Claim examples Professional Liability provides the E&O Happens Risk Management Website, fe “I” Professional Liability Website, featuring more than available exclusively, and bunch of people.] provides the E&O Happens Risk Management pages of insurance agency risk management information, • 700 Risk management articles “I” members. Features include: Host your video on a site YouTube (for free – upload it available exclusively, and at no cost, to Big 0 pages 3. of insurance agency risklike management information, • E&O Claims Advisor newsletters as “unlisted”) or Wistia (not for free – but better analytics). members. Features include: examples •  Claim Sample disclaimers 4. Compose a short email with an engaging title and insert  Risk management articles • Sample customer letters a photo of your video with a hyperlink to its hosted URL.  E&O Claims Advisor newsletters Claim examples •  Sample Webinars and podcast archive 5. Send your email, wait until the analytics show that your disclaimers Sample customer letters  video has been viewed, make your warm call. Risk management articles

E&O Claims Advisor newsletters Do this and watch your response/engagement rate go UPPPP! Sample disclaimers the Author SampleAbout customer letters Webinars and archive Sydney Roepodcast is the Digital Content Manager for TrustedChoice.com.

 Webinars and podcast archive

Contact Stephen Holmes at sholmes@insurors.org or

Log into www.iiaba.net/EOHappens.

She's also a licensed Florida insurance agent who's currently trying to survive the 20 degree Minnesota tundra. As a passionate advocate for the agency channel, she's constantly working to help agencies learn how to make the internet work for them. u

og into www.iiaba.net/EOHappens. 8

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Doing The Right Thing Since 1964

Janet Phillips, CIC

Executive Vice President

Where personal service is never a liability. When you broaden your insurance offerings with Arlington/Roe, you’ll never sacrifice the personal touch. For over 50 years, we’ve treated our customers the way that we’d like to be treated. It’s just the right thing to do. When you want to offer your clients more, count on our expertise, market access and diverse product lines. We’re always here to help.

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How High Will Mortgage Rates Go Under Trump? written by Keith Collison, Finworth Mortgage

Following Donald Trump’s against all odds presidential victory, the 30 year fixed interest rate mortgage immediately spiked by more than a half point. The rapid rise in interest rates caught everyone off guard and has forced experts to reexamine 2017 market expectations.

gages. If successful in accomplishing this privatization, it will make keeping low cost fixed rate 30 year mortgages affordable and available to qualified borrowers.

What will Donald Trump’s presidency mean for today’s mortgage rates? Here are some of the campaign promises and policies that we foresee impacting this year’s mortgage rates.

Tax cuts and government spending are two of Trump’s proposals that could lead to bigger deficits and a bigger debt load. This fiscal stimulus, paired with the stable employment we’re already seeing, could mean stronger economic growth, which could lead to higher mortgage rates. If inflation comes in higher than expected due to this growth, the Federal Reserve will act to move up short-term rates even faster. This would also push long term rates to move up faster.

Raising Short-Term Interest Rates The Federal Reserve reaffirmed its intentions to gradually increase the federal funds rate over time. The Fed hopes that these gradual increases will help to achieve and maintain maximum employment and price stability. These rate increases will also affect longer term mortgage rates by pushing them higher.

Roll Back of Obama Era Financial Regulations President Trump has stated repeatedly that “Dodd-Frank has made it impossible for bankers to function.” Trump has already introduced an executive order looking to roll back and dilute current regulations. This thorough review of the Act has a goal of creating a set of “core principals” for financial regulations. The impact of these more relaxed regulations would most likely result in relaxed lending standards and make credit more accessible for borrowers.

Fiscal Stimulus

In looking at the state of the current economic recovery, the Trump administration has tremendous opportunity to begin exploring the deregulation of financial markets. In theory, with deregulation we should see increased competition and efficiency in the market place. This should, in turn, help slow down the expected increase in long term interest rates. As we move into the second quarter of 2017, we are already seeing mortgage rates pull back slightly as the Trump effect begins to wane. This is in line with most experts’ thoughts that mortgage rates, although higher, should stay low and fluctuate within a narrow range throughout 2017. With mortgage rates still historically low, it is still a great time to act whether you are looking to purchase or refinance.

Privatizing of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

About the Author

Currently just about every mortgage that is originated in this country is guaranteed by the federal government. President Trump’s Department of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin has stated that “getting Fannie and Freddie out of government ownership is one of the Trump administrations top 10 priorities.” Both Fannie and Freddie were set up to ensure Americans had access to the lowest possible low-cost 30 year fixed rate mort-

Keith Collison serves as Managing Director of Finworth Mortgage, LLC, a subsidiary of INSBANK. He has over fourteen years of experience in mortgage banking, and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Real Estate and Mortgage Financing from Mississippi State University. He may be contacted at Keith.Collison@finworth. com. u

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It's Time to Stop Acting Like Independent Agents...

... And Start Acting Like Business Owners written by Stuart Ganis, Ganis Consulting

Disruption, data-driven metrics, digital marketing, leads, consumer behavior and a plethora of new terms have entered our space over the past several years. Whether the latest blog, social media post, newsletter or industry conference, these are the terms everyone is talking about in our industry today. This shouldn’t bother us at all. In fact, after working with thousands of agency owners, carrier executives, agents, CSRs and other industry professionals, the number one reason we struggle is resistance to change. If you look at the terms above, hopefully you’ve embraced some or all of them to some extent to improve your business. What you can’t listen to is that the demise of the Independent Agent is inevitable and start-ups are going to put us out of business. That’s just not true because the Independent Agency Channel is far too valuable.

The "Demise" of the Independent Agent In 1990, the owner of an agency I worked for was convinced that Captive agents would take over the world and IAs would be left with the crumbs they didn’t insure. In 1999, GrammLeach-Bliley was going to clean our clocks because the big bad banks would be competing against us. With their money, 12

efficiencies and customer base, we didn’t stand a chance. What happened? Banks were paying ridiculous multiples to acquire agencies and helped owners then and now increase valuations. Thanks Banks! That’s not to say there hasn’t been consolidation. Data shows that in 1990 there were roughly 100,000 IAs in the country. Today there are around 40,000. The channel is shrinking, but the reason it’s shrinking is because it should. My guess is we’ll end up somewhere around 30,000 agencies in the country in the next 10-20 years, but they’ll be bigger, stronger, more efficient and probably employ as many or more people than we do now. This is purely a guess, but we’re losing hundreds of agencies every year to acquisition and from an aging base of owners.

A Different Industry Let’s face it, running an agency isn’t easy compared to years past. When my wife and I started our first agency in March of 2000, the yellow pages were still a primary form of marketing. Today, the yellow pages are a doorstop and not a very good one since it’s become so thin! continued on page 48 The Tennessee Insuror

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Daniel Learns About Insurance: Carnivals - Your Ticket to Claims? Insuring "Amusement" Rides Can Be a Roller Coaster of Risk

Insurors Director of Communications Daniel Smith is far from an insurance expert, but he is trying to learn! In this series he will look into insurance industry and coverage questions he has about popular trends in day-to-day life. Stop me if you've heard this one. School is out, the days are heating up and the family is restless. The time to find some outdoor activities is here. You load everyone up in the family truckster and set out looking for adventure. While driving by the town's almost vacated indoor shopping mall, the kids look up from their phones and tablets and scream out in glee as they see the bright rotating lights of a Ferris wheel. Desperate to give yourself some space, you pull in and buy everyone a ticket. After hitting the concessions (and around $200 later), you join the kids on some rides and a good time is had by all. That is, unless something goes wrong and little Timmy ends up with his head stuck in a bumper car. I joke, but lately carnival and amusement park rides have been no laughing matter. Last August in Greeneville, three girls fell 30 to 45 feet at the county fair when their Ferris wheel seat flipped over. Then in September at the Delta Fair in Memphis, a rideâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s computer detected a problem and immediately began safety shutdown. As the ride stopped spinning and began to descend, the operator panicked and pressed a manual override button that released lap bar safety restraints. Eight people were injured. On May 15th in Wichita, a 15-month-old girl received fatal injuries after being electrocuted by metal fencing around a carnival bounce house. And on May 18th, two women and a child were hospitalized after falling around 18 feet from a Ferris wheel at a carnival in Washington State.

written by Daniel Smith, CAE

As you can tell, these incidents are all too common. The Tennessee Legislature has taken notice, and this session a bill was passed1 to tighten regulations on amusement park safety (now law as PC393 2017 Acts). The legislation increases inspections and lets state regulators hire inspectors or keep using third-party groups. It requires operators to be at least 18 years old, be qualifed as operators, run only one ride at a time and be present while it runs. It also authorizes "a person suffering an injury arising out of an accident involving an amusement device, in addition to any other remedies, to bring a cause of action against both the owner and the operator of the device." This law changes the liability for amusement park (fixed rides) and carnival (temporary rides) operators, which of course impacts their insurance needs. Needs which are already of a large scale. Insurers of parks and carnivals must take into account not only the rides themselves, but also concessions, property, mobile equipment, equipment breakdown, crime, business auto, liquor liability, workers' compensation, loss control and special event insurance. And those are just the basics. Add in coverages for fireworks, specific games, loss control and that's not even getting you started if the park has water rides. One of the most unique aspects of these risks is that by nature, these rides are supposed to seem dangerous. That is why around 300 million people visit parks and carnivals every

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year.2 Even with that in mind, there is a lot of risk involved. And although this risk is hard to transfer, it may be shared with design engineers and even patrons themselves, according to Boyd F. Jensen II, owner of Garrett & Jensen law firm in Riverside, California, who sits on the safety and ASTM executive committee of the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions. "Personal injury lawsuits against park owners can be more easily defended if the owners provide documentation that their rides have been operated in a safe manner by trained employees, maintained routinely, complied with accepted safety standards and passed periodic inspections," Jensen says.3 Park and carnival owners/operators should mitigate their risk by maintaining proper inspections and posting documentation of said inspections. That should also provide proper employee training and procedures, and fully document any incident as thoroughly as possible. Often times incidents may occur due to a patron's improper use of a ride or failure to follow warnings. In these instances, ride operators may be wise not to settle, but rather to prepare court documentation of the violation(s). Otherwise, they may lose one of their biggest assets, the public's trust.

park can only transfer the monetary loss to insurers, but not the legal liability and loss of reputation if they are sued,” Hau says. “If there is gross negligence that results in worst-case scenarios such as a fatality, then directors can go to jail.” As an agent, a thorough risk assessment is needed for coverage on carnivals and amusement parks. Once you've talked with your insureds, develop or utilize a checklist, and make sure they understand exclusions, coverage limits and requirements for claim reporting. You should also recommend risk management seminars that utilize your agency or carrier expertise and involve as much of the carnival/park staff as possible. Don't let your insured get caught in a carousel of claims. 1-View the full text of the bill at http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/ Default.aspx?BillNumber=HB0191 2-Per Amusement Park attendance statistics via https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/List_of_amusement_park_rankings and U.S. Carnival estimates 3- Per "The Thrill of the Risk" via http://riskandinsurance.com/thrill-risk/

About the Author Daniel Smith serves as the Director of Communications for Insurors of Tennessee. He has a Bachelors degree in Marketing with a minor in Graphic Design from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He may be contacted at dsmith@insurors.org. u

Frankie Hau, a risk and environmental manager at Ocean Park in Hong Kong, said that much more focus needs to be placed on an overall risk management program for parks and carnivals, instead of just focusing on one or two rides. “A theme

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Future Leaders Spotlight

presented by

Taylor Ragan, CIC â&#x20AC;˘ Martin & Zerfoss, Inc. - Nashville Taylor Ragan of Martin & Zerfoss

I was born and raised in Nashville where I still live today along with my wife Jennings. When I'm not selling insurance, my interests include wakeboarding, skiing, golfing and hunting. I am a member of First Presbyterian Church of Nashville and I also volunteer with Preston Taylor Ministries.

The Insuror: Can you tell us a little about your current job title and responsibilities? Taylor: I have been a Producer for Martin & Zerfoss, Inc. for over 8 years, specializing in construction, educational institutions and religious organizations. Additionally, I am the Sales Manager for all new producers and marketing staff. This role has provided a great opportunity to grow the agency and mentor younger agents as they enter the industry and our agency.

The Insuror: What can you tell us about your educational background? Taylor: While attending The University of Tennessee at Knoxville, I majored in Communication Studies with a minor in Business Administration. I knew that after I completed school I wanted to be in some kind of sales position, and insurance was at the top of my list. With that in mind, I thought my major and minor would help position me well for my future career. After entering the industry, I also started working on my Certiifed Insurance Counselor designation, which I earned in 2012.

The Insuror: How and why did you get your career in the insurance industry started? Taylor: While I was at UTK I started working for State Farm selling personal lines insurance and mortgages as an internship. After two months of selling, I was asked to continue working for the agency part-time for two to three days a week between classes. I knew that selling insurance was what I wanted to do when I graduated, but I wanted to be on the independent side in Nashville. I contacted Mickey Martin after hearing great things about the agency from my family and friends. Mickey was willing to take the meeting and 18

talk with me. A few weeks later he gave me the opportunity to join his team selling both personal and commercial lines of insurance for Martin & Zerfoss and I'm very glad he did.

The Insuror: Do you have any influences/role models in the industry? Taylor: My role model in the industry was Richard M. Miller, my grandfather, who owned and managed several different agencies across the United States. He started his own agency in 1958, Richard M. Miller & Company, and worked his way up to Chief Executive at Willis Corroon Group, P.L.C. (now Willis Towers Watson). He was an incredible role model from whom I learned many valuable lessons and received cherished advice.

The Insuror: Is there any advice you could offer Young Agents or others in the industry to achieve success? Taylor: One piece of advice that I still use today is that the insurance industry is a marathon, not a sprint, for sales. If young agents keep that in mind they will be very successful and enjoy the benefits and rewards of being in this industry for many many years. I believe it is one of the best industries around, and that is overlooked by much of the younger generation. If you have decided to make this your career you will not regret it!

The Insuror: As an independent agent, you have many partners in this industry, including carriers, MGAs and many more. How do you determine which ones are the right relationships? Taylor: There are many relationships that an independent agent has to navigate which can make our choice of partners difficult. I tend to try and find relationships with people that specialize in the industries that I work with and are hungry to write business. I feel the best relationships are the ones where the carrier, underwriter or MGA will look outside the box and go the extra mile to write an account vs. declining the business.

The Insuror: Thank you for giving us your time, Taylor, we appreciate it and wish you continued success in your career. Taylor: Thank you for the opportunity to be featured in The Tennessee Insuror. u The Tennessee Insuror

Young Agents ‘17

Upcoming Events and Information

Our Young Agents Committee strives to offer young insurance professionals with opportunities to network and develop in the industry. We accomplish this by hosting networking and educational events throughout the year in various Tennessee markets. The following is the current schedule of events for 2017, please contact Insurors or your Region representative for more info on these meetings or to RSVP for a specific event: October 15 - Insurors Convention Young Agents After Party B.B. Kings Beale Street • 8-10 pm CST • Memphis

Young Agents Committee Tim Treadwell V - Chair Account Executive Boyle Insurance Agency Memphis timt@boyle.com Brent Chance - Immediate Past Chair Principal Agent/Owner Ivy Insurance Brentwood bchance@ivy-insurance.com Cy Young - Region I President Young-Hughes Insurance Alamo cy@younghughesinsurance.com Alan Sisk, AU, AINS - Region II Producer Geny Insurance Nashville alan@genyinsurance.com David Allen, CIC, CRM - Region III Principal Agent RSS Insurance Chattanooga dallen@rssins.com For more info, or questions on the Young Agents program, please email dsmith@insurors.org or call 615.515.2601. u The Tennessee Insuror

INTRODUCING

Exceptional Agents Berkley Southeast Insurance Group recognizes the need to mentor the growth of new talent and to perpetuate the Independent Agency System, as well as provide young agents with a competitive advantage. Tennessee’s Young Agents are the future of our business. That’s why we are working together for success.

Congratulations Exceptional Agents 2016 Aaron Jensen Adam Reeves Andrew Powers Blake Dickens Brandon Patterson Chad Richardson Chad Snider Charlie Taylor Clement Ledbetter Cooper Permenter David Allen David Clark David Evans Jamie Williams Jared Smith Jason Teague John Brock John Fritts Josh Witt KC Covington Kevin Lockmiller Kevin Ownby Matt Spellings Michael Greer Michael Novarese Mike Thomas Neil Scott Paul Steele Preston Martin Ramsey Brock Robert Harris Stacy Woodard Stuart Oakes Taylor Ragan Taylor Walker Tim Treadwell Trey Powell Will Webb

Shafer Insurance Agency, Knoxville Union City Insurance Agency, Union City Burke, Powers, and Harty Insurance, Bristol Harris, Madden and Powell, Memphis Ownby Insurance Services, Sevierville Swallows-Newman Insurance, Cookeville Westan Insurance Group, Martin Burke, Powers, and Harty Insurance, Bristol Battle Page Insurance, Franklin Harris, Madden and Powell, Memphis RSS Insurance, Chattanooga RSS Insurance, Chattanooga The Insurance, Group, Inc., Knoxville Hardin County Bank Ins. Agcy., Savannah TIS Insurance Services, Knoxville Watauga Insurance, Johnson City Heritage Brock Insurance, Chattanooga TIS Insurance Services, Knoxville The Insurance Group, Inc., Knoxville Carroll Insurance Agency McKenzie V.R. Williams & Company, Winchester Ownby Insurance Services, Sevierville Consolidated Insurance Agency, Paris V.R. Williams & Company, Winchester McDaniel-Whitley, Inc Insurance, Inc., Nashville Insurity Group, Chattanooga Martin & Zerfoss Insurance, Nashville Union City Insurance Agency, Union City Brock Insurance, Chattanooga Tigrett & Pennington, Nashville Shafer Insurance Agency, Knoxville TIS Insurance Services, Knoxville Martin & Zerfoss Insurance, Nashville Thompson & Smith Insuance, Jackson Boyle Insurance, Memphis RSS Insurance, Chattanooga Battle Page Insurance, Franklin

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Please contact: contact: Please Andy Wilder Wilder .. Territory Territory Manager Manager Andy 615-406-6328 615-406-6328 Jennifer Hubbard Hubbard .. Territory Territory Manager Manager Jennifer 865-322-3332 865-322-3332 Bill Vanderslice Vanderslice .. RVP RVP Bill 615-932-5508 615-932-5508

berkleysig.com Your Back-in-Business Back-in-Business Insurance Insurance Company™ Company™ Your Berkley Southeast Southeast Insurance Insurance Group Group is is aa member member company company of of W. W. R. R. Berkley Berkley Corporation, Corporation, whose whose insurance insurance company company Berkley subsidiaries are are rated rated A+ A+ (Superior) (Superior) by by A.M.Best. A.M.Best. subsidiaries Products and and services services are are provided provided by by one one or or more more insurance insurance company company subsidiaries subsidiaries of of W. W. R. R. Berkley Berkley Corporation. Corporation. Not Not all all products products and and services services Products are available available in in every every jurisdiction, jurisdiction, and and the the precise precise coverage coverage afforded afforded by by any any insurer insurer is is subject subject to to the the actual actual terms terms and and conditions conditions are 20 The Tennessee Insuror of the the policies policies as as issued. issued. of ©2017 Berkley Southeast Insurance Group. All rights reserved. ©2017 Berkley Southeast Insurance Group. All rights reserved.

From Your President Big or Small - Insurors is for All

They say that perception is reality, but sometimes the proof is really in the pudding. Detractors of Insurors say that we cater to large agencies in big cities. As an agent in Greeneville, Tennessee, I can attest that this is not the case. The services, products and programs that Insurors provides cater to agencies of all sizes and locations. Don't believe me? Just take a look at the "proof" below.

(15+ agency employees). These agencies often need our assistance with regulatory info, licensing, education and government affairs. While the books may be bigger, the needs are still very similar. We have large agencies in the middle of Knoxville and in the middle of Carthage (population 2,306).

"Small" Agencies

You may have looked through this article and thought, "I use those services, and I'm not a (size) agency," Of course! These services are for all members, and can be a benefit to all members. We have a very large agency that sells PUPs through our RLI program, and we have a one person shop that is a frequent PAC donor and frequently involved in our government affairs efforts.

We have 207 agencies in our smaller dues classes (1-6 agency employees). These agencies rely on us for market access programs like Eagle Agency, RLI and Big "I" Markets, as well as agency management information, staffing solutions and affinity programs. They may not have $50 million books of business, but they are strong agencies and many have been around for decades. We have small agencies in the middle of downtown Nashville and in the middle of Eagleville (population 604).

"Mid-size" Agencies We have 166 agencies in our mid-size dues classes (7-15 agency employees). These agencies often need our assistance with education, legal information, contract support and more. These agencies are some of our core members. Many of them have been Insurors members over several generations, while others are just starting out. We have mid-size agencies in the middle of downtown Memphis and in the middle of Copperhill (population 354).

All Agencies

It doesn't really matter what the size of your agency is, what matters is that we are here to support the independent agency system. What that involves has changed over the years, but the commitment and our mission is still the same. What it all boils down to is that no matter the size or location of your agency, there is a place for you in Insurors. We want to help you find that place and ensure the success of your agency.

â&#x20AC;&#x153; . . . t h e commitment a n d o u r mission is still t h e s a m e .â&#x20AC;?

Please let me know if I can ever help you "find your place" in Insurors. u

"Large" Agencies We have 80 agencies in our large dues classes

John McInturff III, ARM The Tennessee Insuror

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The Tennessee Insuror

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From Your IIABA National Director The "Hidden" Benefits of Membership Having just returned from the Big "I" Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C., I thought it might be a good time to remind you why you are a member of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America (IIABA or Big "I") and the Insurors of Tennessee (Insurors). The membership benefits are many and varied and every agent can find something to help improve their business. We often talk about the products and programs like E&O, Education, etc., but there are many lesser considered benefits that can help your agency, large or small.

Networking - It Really Does Matter One of the greatest advantages to your membership is networking. Personally, I have made lasting friendships and memories through IIABA and Insurors, and have expanded those who have become close advisors from across the state to across the U.S. It is a perk to be able to pick the phone to call an agent friend to discuss a crazy idea or coverage issue, and to trust their opinions and banter. I will also say that getting to know your marketing reps, underwriters and carrier leadership on a more personal basis is invaluable. If you want straight, honest answers, it's always better to be asking the questions to a friend or at least personal acquaintance. I encourage you all to get involved in meeting and networking with your peers on the local level, state level or even the national level. We are a stronger voice together than we are individually.

Information - Knowledge is Power Do you read the Insurors and Big "I" publications? I know we're all busy, and sometimes it just get low on our priority list, but there really is a lot of good info in the Bulletin, Marketplace Update, News & Views, IA and The Tennessee Insuror (aside from my articles). You need to be up-to-date to compete in this marketplace, and Insurors does their best to keep you informed with what's happening in the industry. The Tennessee Insuror

Government Affairs - The Voice of Your Agency on "The Hill" We deal with matters of insurance on both the State and Federal level. Your Insurors State registered lobbyists Chuck Bidek and Ashley Gold spent the week in Washington D.C. as well. They, along with several of your fellow agents, visited our elected officials. They discussed a number of topics, from Flood Insurance reauthorization, to the healthcare mess, to real tax reform for small businesses (expressing concerns about pass-throughs for LLCs and SubChapter S corporations). We hope our congressmen appreciated our practical discussions on the difficulties of operating a small business in today’s environment. In regards to Advocacy, the ability to lobby and present issues important to our industry comes at a price – enter the Insurors of Tennessee InsurPACTN and the Big "I" InsurPac National programs. Your (IIABA and IOT) PAC contributions are our entry to the legislators both on the state and federal levels. It is important to contribute to both InsurPACTN and InsurPac National. In the next few weeks you will receive a series of mailings regarding contributing to InsurPac TN and InsurPac National. If you have never contributed, seriously consider making a contribution, and if you are a contributor please consider increasing your contribution by $100 to InsurPACTN and InsurPac National. (Let’s break this down – if you contribute $100 to each PAC, for a total of $200, that’s less than $4 per week. I believe that everyone reading this article can afford $4 a week.)

“...t h e r e a r e many lesser considered benefits that can help your agency, large o r s m a l l .”

So when you receive our request for PAC funds, please take two minutes and complete the forms and send them back to Insurors with your contribution. These funds will help us fight the good fight both in Nashville and Washington D.C. As always, it is my honor to serve as your National Director to the Big I. And if I can be of any help please do not hesitate to contact me at lmoraniii@inter-agencyinsurance.com or 865.637.4519. u

Lou Moran III 23

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The Tennessee Insuror

From Your CEO

The Politics of Flood Insurance

We just recently returned from the Big "I" Legislative Conference in Washington D.C. As we made our visits to our respective congressional offices, one of the items for discussion was the reauthorization of the National Federal Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Most agents are familiar with it and work with it often. You may also know it as the program that almost goes out of business every couple years and then is saved within two days of failure, only to be back in business for another couple of years before the cycle repeats.

But fear not, flood insurance will be reauthorized when the current version runs out in September. Frankly too much of the economy is at stake for it not to. I was told in my visits about how the Realtors Association supports this. I am not surprised as their loan collateral could literally be underwater. However, the insurance industry is left to lobby the bill. Apparently with some success as we have seen a discussion points in a draft bill called "21st Century Flood Reform Act" which would reauthorize the program for five years.

The program has been in existence since the 1970s with essentially the same products and rating methodologies. This has led to consistently inadequate rates which the Treasury must then subsidize. In listening to the dialogue in our meetings, we were told that the adverse losses over the previous five years were due to bad luck from the three major storms that occurred in that period. Folks, this is not "bad luck" when you have over forty years of data on natural disasters.

Here are some salient points of the newest proposal:

Bad Actuarial Science? Unlike an insurance company, the NFIP is a monopoly (for residential property) that the private sector does not enjoy. However, the existence to that monopoly creates a requirement that essentially the program must take all comers. Even homes that have been flooded several times. Additionally, the users (constituents) or the board of directors (Congress) dismisses the losses as bad luck and have been successful in holding down rate increases. About five year ago, before the last reauthorization, we argued for actuarially sustainable rates. Premium in some districts of higher risk saw increases in multiples of 3X and higher, creating a cry of mercy to the board of directors for lower rates. Even the agents who wrote that business changed their position away from actuarial soundness to holding down rate increases. So effectively, putting a fix on the fix. Now we return again to seek reauthorization for another ten years. The Tennessee Insuror

• • • •

• •

Limit annual increases to 15%. Down from 18%. Limits chargeable risk premium to $10,000 in any given year Cuts annual surcharges in half for low-risk non-owner occupied residential properties Authorizes state based affordability programs whereby states can identify to FEMA low-income homeowners to receive rate discounts Requires FEMA to use more precise data to determine replacement cost and explain to the public how rates are established Reduces reliance on flood maps as the sole measure of flood risks Repeatedly flooded communities would be required to develop a plan to mitigate risks Authorize FEMA to create a program of financial assistance for low-income homeowners and incentivize communities to purchase properties that have been repeatedly flooded Reduces compensation to Write Your Own companies from 31% to 25%. This could affect your commission as a result. And our personnel favorite fix... Prohibits FEMA from hiring attorneys who have been suspended or disbarred.

Hopefully, the draft will undergo alot of changes before enacted. The Big "I" will of course be very active in any discussions on the matter. Best of Luck to our National Legislative staff! u

“This has led to consistently inadequate rates which the Treasury must then subsidize.”

Chuck Bidek, CPCU 25

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The Tennessee Insuror

Education Calendar

2017 Continuing Education Chattanooga 4/4 CISR Agency Ops 10/5 CISR Commercial Casualty II

Memphis

Johnson City

3/1 CISR Commercial Casualty I

4/5 CISR Agency Ops 10/5 CISR Commercial Casualty II

3/15-17 CIC Commercial Multiline 6/14 CISR Personal Residential 11/8 CISR Personal Lines

The Insurors of Tennessee offers education opportunities to member agents across a wide range of insurance specialities that satisfy individuals at many different experience levels. If you are looking to further your career, seeking a professional designation, or need to satisfy continuing education requirements, check out the variety of courses available.

Nashville

2/28 CISR Commercial Casualty I 5/3-5 CIC Commercial Property 6/13 CISR Personal Residential 7/20-21 CIC Ruble 9/13-15 CIC Commercial Casualty 10/1-3 CIC Company Operations

Knoxville 4/6 CISR Agency Ops 8/16-18 Agency Management

Registration is fast and easy at www.insurors.org. More information about each class can also be found online.

10/3 CISR Personal Auto

10/8 CISR Personal Lines

Paving The Way

CISR 6/13 6/14 10/3 10/4 10/5 11/7 11/8

Fee: $186

Personal Residential Personal Residential Personal Auto Exposures Personal Auto Exposures Personal Auto Exposures Personal Lines - Miscellaneous Personal Lines - Miscellaneous

CIC

Fee: $424 (Ruble $430)

7/20-21 Ruble Graduate Seminar 8/16-18 Agency Management Institute 9/13-15 Commercial Casualty Institute 11/1-3 Company Operations

CE: 7

Nashville Memphis Knoxville Johnson City Chattanooga Nashville Memphis

CE: 24 (Ruble 16)

Nashville Knoxville Nashville Nashville

The National Alliance for Insurance Education & Research is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be addressed to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors, 150 Fourth Avenue North, Suite 700, Nashville, TN, 37219-2417. Website: www.nasba. org. Advanced Curriculum Rating = 20 CPE Credits. For more information regarding administrative policies such as complaint and refund, please contact our offices at 800-633-2165.

ABEN Webcasts (insurors.aben.tv) 6/6 6/7 6/7 6/7 6/8 6/12 6/16 6/16 6/20 6/21 6/22

Professional Ethics in Insurance CE: 3 $60 Those Kids and Their Cars! CE: 2 $48 Insuring Condominiums CE: 2 $48 Liability Issues - Indemnity Agreements CE: 2 $48 Cyber Gaps - UASs and TNCs CE: 3 $72 Double Trouble - COIs and Biz Auto CE: 2 $48 Hot Topics in Personal Lines CE: 2 $48 NFIP Basic Flood Insurance Course CE: 3 $72 E&O - Consideration of Agency Ops CE: 3 $48 E&O - Understanding Agent Duties CE: 3 $48 Home-Based Business Exposures CE: 2 $48

CRM

Fee: $430

9/26-29 Practice of Risk Management*

Nashville

Specialty Seminars 12/4-5 Dynamics of Selling

Fee: Varies

Nashville

Online Courses (www.iiaba.net/vu) Available from IIABA Virtual University. Member pricing shown.

Ethics for Insurance Professionals How to Calc. Business Income in 5 Min. National Flood Insurance Program New Employee Training Course

CE: 3 CE: 3 CE: 6 CE: 9

$75 $50 $80 $100

*check VU site for current information on CE and pricing

Available from The National Alliance

(www.scic.com)

Legal & Ethical Requirments of Insurance CE: 4 Insuring Flood Exposures - NFIP Review CE: 4 Available from The Institutes

$75 $75

(insurors.ceu.com)

Insurance Principles and Policies CE: 7 Long Term Care CE: 24 Workersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Compensation CE: 10 Employee Benefits for Small Companies CE: 4 Healthcare Reform and Affordable Care CE: 5 e-Coverage CE: 15 Fundamentals of Personal Auto Insurance CE: 3 Management Process for Ins. Professionals CE: 21 Intro to Flexible Spending Accounts CE: 4 Terrorism and Its Impact on Insurance CE: 4 Toxic Mold and Homeowners Insurance CE: 15 Understanding the Industry of Insurance CE: 5

$49 $99 $59 $39 $49 $79 $29 $89 $39 $39 $79 $39

Indicates course is presented by The National Alliance. Register for these courses at www.thenationalalliance.com The Tennessee Insuror

INSURORS MEMBERS: THE PRODUCT VAULT IS OPEN

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MEMBER RESOURCES

BANKING

ERRORS & OMISSIONS COVERAGE

ESIGNATURE Big “I ”

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EXCESS & SURPLUS LINES

FLOOD INSURANCE

PERSONAL UMBRELLA POLICIES

PREMIUM FINANCE

STAFFING

WEBSITE DESIGN and ONLINE MARKETING

...AND MUCH MORE

GET MORE INFO AT INSURORS.ORG

You have goals. Nationwide® has independent solutions to help you meet them. Whether you’re looking to build, grow or sell your agency, Nationwide offers you choice when it comes to independent solutions and partnership opportunities.

Let’s start a conversation about your independent opportunities with Nationwide.

Dan Schilling Phone: (423)827-2060 d.schilling@nationwide.com

Not all Nationwide affiliated companies are mutual companies and not all Nationwide members are insured by a mutual company. Nationwide, Nationwide is On Your Side, and the Nationwide N and Eagle are service marks of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. © 2015 Nationwide NPO-0627AO (08/15)

The Tennessee Insuror

Government and Legal Affairs "Wire" Scams & Fraud Continuing to Escalate Written by Ashley Gold, J.D., Insurors General Counsel

Most of you spend time, energy and money on protecting your client’s data. You know you may have responsibilities under the Gramm-Leach Bliley Act, HIPPA, Tennessee laws and now New York’s Cybersecurity law. Not to mention that data security and protecting against a data breach is pounded into you in your E&O seminars. We even recommend Cyber Liability insurance to protect you from these types of breaches. But, how much time are you spending protecting your own money? According to the FBI, since January 2015 there has been a 1,300% increase in business losses through fraudulent wire transfers. The total combined dollar loss for domestic and international victims has exceeded 3 Billion Dollars ($3,086,250,090). What are we talking about? Business Email Compromise (BEC). The FBI defines BEC as a sophisticated scam targeting businesses working with foreign suppliers and businesses that regularly perform wire transfer payments. Formerly known as Man-in-the-Email scams, these schemes compromise official business email accounts to conduct unauthorized fund transfers. How do they do it? Victims of the BEC scam range from small businesses to large corporations. There is no one business sector that is targeted, instead any business is a potential target. The criminals use social engineering techniques to select their victims. This is a fancy way of saying crooks are taking your business information from the web, think of your website, Facebook page, Linked In profile, and piecing together the hierarchy of your agency. Hackers then either access the email of the business owner, or they use a look-alike domain name to contact the agency employee responsible for wire transfer or invoice payment. There are five main scenarios used for these scams: Version 1: The Bogus Invoice Scheme This version usually involves a business that

has an established relationship with a supplier. Via telephone, fax or email, the fraudster asks the business to wire funds for invoice payment to an alternate, fraudulent account. These requests are realistic and it requires close scrutiny to determine they are fraudulent. It is generally not until the supplier calls regarding an overdue invoice that anyone detects the problem. Version 2: CEO Fraud The email accounts of high-level executives within the business (CEO, owner or principal) are compromised. A request for a wire transfer from the compromised account is made to a second employee within the company who is normally responsible for processing these type of requests. In some instances, a request for a wire transfer from the compromised account is sent directly to the financial institution with instructions to urgently send funds to bank “X” for reason “Y.” The second employee complies, sometimes even after verifying the information back with the requestor via the compromised account. The transfer is made and sometime later the fraud is detected. Version 3: Account Compromise An employee of a business has his/her personal e-mail hacked. This personal e-mail may be used for both personal and business communications. Requests for invoice payments to fraudster-controlled bank accounts are sent from this employee’s personal e-mail to multiple vendors identified from this employee’s contact list. The business may not become aware of the fraudulent requests until that business is contacted by a vendor to follow up on the status of an invoice payment. Version 4: Attorney Impersonation In this version, the cybercriminal contacts either the employees and/or the CEO of the company and identify themselves as lawyers or representative of law firms, claiming to be handling confidential and time-sensitive matters. This contact pressures the contacted party into acting quickly or secretly in handling the transfer of funds. This type of BEC scheme may be timed to occur at the end of the business day or work week, when employees are getting ready to rest and thus vulnerable to panic.

BEWTAHREEHOOK OF

The Tennessee Insuror

The newest type of BEC is Version 5 – Data Theft.

•

Version 5: Data Theft This scheme involves the email of role-specific employees (usually human resources) in the company being compromised and then used to send requests – not for fund transfers but for personally-identifiable information of other employees and executives.

•

Does this really happen? Yes. In 2016 several companies, including a San Francisco-based software and services company, were breached. The breaches were initiated by an email that appeared to be from the company’s CEO, requesting information on the company's employees. This resulted in the delivery of employee W-2 information that included names, addresses, 2015 income details, Social Security numbers, and Individual Taxpayer Identification numbers to unauthorized recipients.

•

Characteristics of BEC Complaints The FBI has noted the following characteristics of BEC complaints: • • • • • •

Businesses and associated personnel using open source e-mail accounts are predominantly targeted. Individuals responsible for handling wire transfers within a specific business are targeted. Spoofed e-mails very closely mimic a legitimate e-mail request. Hacked e-mails often occur with a personal e-mail account. Fraudulent e-mail requests for a wire transfer are wellworded, specific to the business being victimized, and do not raise suspicions to the legitimacy of the request. Fraudulent e-mails received have coincided with business travel dates for executives whose e-mails were spoofed.

•

What to Do if You Are the Victim If funds are transferred to a fraudulent account, it is important to act quickly:

Suggestions for Protection and Best Practices

•

Businesses with an increased awareness and understanding of the BEC scam are more likely to recognize when they have been targeted by BEC fraudsters, and are therefore more likely to avoid falling victim and sending fraudulent payments. The following is short list compilation of self-protection strategies:

•

• • • •

Avoid free web-based e-mail accounts: Establish a company domain name and use it to establish company email accounts in lieu of free, web-based accounts. Be careful what is posted to social media and company websites, especially job duties/descriptions, hierarchal information, and out of office details. Be suspicious of requests for secrecy or pressure to take action quickly. Consider additional IT and financial security procedures, including the implementation of a 2-step verification process. For example:

Out of Band Communication: Establish other communication channels, such as telephone calls, to verify significant transactions. Arrange this second-factor authentication early in the relationship and outside the e-mail environment to avoid interception by a hacker. Digital Signatures: Both entities on each side of a transaction should utilize digital signatures. This will not work with web-based e-mail accounts. Additionally, some countries ban or limit the use of encryption. Delete Spam: Immediately report and delete unsolicited e-mail (spam) from unknown parties. DO NOT open spam e-mail, click on links in the e-mail, or open attachments. These often contain malware that will give subjects access to your computer system. Forward vs. Reply: Do not use the “Reply” option to respond to any business e-mails. Instead, use the “Forward” option and either type in the correct e-mail address or select it from the e-mail address book to ensure the intended recipient’s correct e-mail address is used. Consider implementing Two Factor Authentication (TFA) for corporate e-mail accounts. TFA mitigates the threat of a subject gaining access to an employee’s email account through a compromised password by requiring two pieces of information to login: something you know (a password) and something you have (such as a dynamic PIN or code). Additional information is publicly available on the United States Department of Justice website www. justice.gov publication entitled “Best Practices for Victim Response and Reporting of Cyber Incidents.”

•

Contact your financial institution immediately upon discovering the fraudulent transfer Request that your financial institution contact the corresponding financial institution where the fraudulent transfer was sent Contact your local Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) office if the wire is recent. The FBI, working with the United States Department of Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, might be able to help return or freeze the funds File a complaint, regardless of dollar loss, at www.IC3.gov

About the Author Ashley Gold has served as the General Counsel of Insurors of Tennessee since 2007, and previously consulted for the Association on legal and government affairs matters. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Kentucky and her Juris Doctor from Samford University. u The Tennessee Insuror

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Association Update

Insurors of Memphis Raises $10,000 for Make-A-Wish The Insurors of Memphis local board held its 92nd annual Golf Tournament and Picnic at Windyke Country Club on May 16, 2017. The event helped raise $10,000 for Make-A-Wish Mid-South thanks to the many sponsors and over 140 golfers in attendance.

enough hours to later sit for the CPA exam. Before joining TIS, Kim worked as an accountant with a local firm in Knoxville.

Geny Insurance Receives Westfield Grant

Be sure and look for the 93rd Annual Picnic and Golf Tournament in May 2018!

Nashville-based Geny Insurance Group has received an $11,000 Legacy of Caring grant from Westfield Insurance. The grant will be donated to Mending Hearts, Inc., a Nashville non-profit that Geny Insurance agents present the check to Mending Hearts provides shelter, hope and healing to women who may be homeless due to addiction, and/or co-occurring mental or emotional disorders.

McIntire Named Small Biz Person of the Year

Bare Joins HUB International in Nashville

The Memphis local board presents the check to Make-A-Wish

Insurors Region III Vice President Bob McIntire of McIntire Insurance and Real Estate in Cleveland recently received the Cleveland/Bradley Chamber of Commerce Mel Bedwell Small Business Person of the Year award. McIntire was selected because he “embodies the true spirit of a small businessperson with integrity who is invested in making his community a better place.” McIntire is the 19th individual to receive the Bedwell Small Business Person of the Year award since its renaming to honor the contributions of the late Mel Bedwell and 24th to receive the award since this recognition program began. Bedwell was one of the most loyal and supportive members of the Small Business Committee of the Chamber of Commerce, which coordinates Business Development Month. Bob McIntire started McIntire & Associates Insurance in 1981 with his father, Bill, and became owner of the business in 1992.

TIS's WIlson Named Insurance Exec of the Year The Insurance Professionals of Great Knoxville have selected TIS Insurance Services CFO Kim Wilson, CIC, CPCU as the 2017 Insurance Executive of the Year. Kim joined TIS in 1987 as Controller and was promoted to CFO in 1996. She earned her degree in business from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. While she couldn’t fit enough accounting classes within the time she allotted to graduate from UT – in two years at age 19 – she pieced together The Tennessee Insuror

Hub International Limited (HUB), a leading global insurance brokerage, announced the expansion of its Nashville operation through the addition of entertainment specialist Shannon Bare, joining the firm as senior vice president. Bare has 20 years’ experience providing insurance and risk management options to many of country, rock, Christian and hip hop concert tours, while also looking after production companies, promoters and festivals. Prior to joining HUB International, Bare was senior vice president at Robertson Taylor/Integro, and founded the entertainment division at BB&T Insurance in Nashville.

J. Smith Lanier Murfreesboro Featured in VIP The Murfreesboro office of J. Smith Lanier was recently featured by the VIP Murfreesboro magazine. The article focused on the growth of the branch office and the success of its two lead producers, Chip Hoover and Jimmy McElhaney. The two are both MTSU graduates and have expanded the office both locally and regionally. They have also created scholarship programs and have been working hard to build an internship program through MTSU and other schools in the region.

Big "I" Adds Wilson as Pro. Liability Director The Big "I" Professional Liability program recently hired Marianna Wilson to serve as professional liability director for national accounts. The new role has been added to service and expand the popular program. 35

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Exclusive member agencies, collaborating to bring the best insurance solutions to their clients.â&#x20AC;? The Allison Insurance Group - Jackson Bagley & Bagley Insurance - Fayetteville Boyle Insurance Agency, Inc. - Memphis Burke, Powers & Harty - Bristol Carnal-Roberts Agency, Inc. - Lexington Cate-Russell Insurance, Inc. - Maryville Frank E. Neal & Company, Inc. - Nashville Goss Insurance - Hixson Inter-Agency Insurance Services - Knoxville

Martin & Zerfoss, Inc. - Nashville McInturff, Milligan & Brooks - Greeneville Miller | Loughry | Beach Insurance Services - Murfreesboro Ownby Insurance Service, Inc. - Sevierville Smith-Berclair Insurance, Inc. - Memphis S.N. Anthony, Inc. - Ripley Tigrett & Pennington Inc. - Dyersburg V.R. Williams & Company - Winchester Watauga Insurance, Inc. - Johnson City

Get more information now at www.securerisk.com

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Association Update (cont.)

Wilson previously served as program manager for the Independent Insurance Agents of Virginia. Her 28 years in the insurance industry have involved numerous positions, including client executive and claims adjuster. "The Big 'I' is pleased to add Marianna Wilson to our Big I Advantage® team," says Mark Wolf, Big I Advantage® vice president.

Associate in Underwriting designations from the American Institute for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters.

Pierson Promoted to AVP of Big "I" Advantage The Big "I" has promoted Virginia “Ginny” Blake Pierson, CPCU, ARM, AU to assistant vice president of the Big I Advantage® unit. Pierson has been with the Big “I” since 2006 when she joined the team as state marketing manager. She quickly rose through the ranks and served as director of state marketing and flood. Prior to joining the Big “I” team, Pierson was financial service specialist at Zurich North America.

Boggs with fellow insurance experts and professionals collaborated as part of the joint IFoA-CAS International Reinsurance Pricing working party in order to present a paper to the IFoA General Insurance Research Organizing (GIRO) Conference 2016. The paper was titled, “Analyzing the Disconnect Between the Reinsurance Submission and Global Underwriter's Needs.” Boggs was the only non-actuary US member of this cross-discipline team featuring actuaries, underwriters, and educators from all parts of the world.

She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Western Illinois University and the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter, Associate in Risk Management and

The Brian Hey Prize was established by the IFoA in 1998 in memory of its namesake who was a well-respected senior actuary. u

Boggs Wins Prestigious Brian Hey Prize Chris J. Boggs, CPCU, ARM, ALCM, LPCS, AAI, APA, CWCA, CRIS, AINS, Big "I" Virtual University director, has received the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) Brian Hey Prize as part of a diverse worldwide group of professionals.

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Broker Spotlight Hull & Company, Inc. Hull & Company, Inc. was founded in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in December 1962 by Richard F. Hull. With over 50 years of experience, they have remained aggressive in the industry with a variety of products and markets. Over the years, Hull & Company has expanded the operations and opened offices across the United States as well as internationally with an office in the U.K. Today their combined operations rank them as one of the largest wholesale brokerage operations in the excess and surplus lines marketplace. The Hull & Company Wholesale Brokerage Division markets excess and surplus commercial and personal insurance products to retail insurance agencies, and reinsurance products and services to insurance companies throughout the U.S. Their Wholesale Brokerage Division offices represent various U.S. and U.K. surplus lines insurance companies. The Wholesale Brokerage Division also represents admitted insurance companies for the purpose of enabling smaller agencies that otherwise would not have access to these markets to place business there. Excess and surplus lines insurance products include a wide variety of insurance coverages.

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Hull & Company's personal lines markets offer competitive rates for 1-4 family dwellings, vacant, coastal, mountain and high value homes, as well as stand-alone jewelry, umbrella coverage and much more. Their commercial lines department has access to over a dozen binding authority markets as well as access to full brokerage markets. Their commercial lines brokers are highly experienced in Coastal property, Casualty, Environmental, Professional, Cyber and Inland & Ocean Marine. Hull & Company is a leader in the industry offering best in class service while building lasting relationships with clients. Their experience, market resources, product availability, carrier relationships and size allow them the freedom to do business with the best partners for all parties involved. Their 30 offices nationwide give them a reach well beyond the competition. Whether itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard-to-place or commonplace, Hull & Company has markets to write almost any line of coverage for your risk. For Personal Lines info, contact Alia Saleh at alia.saleh@hullco. com or call 704.936.4978. For Commercial, contact Steven Schallau at steven.schallau@hullco.com or call 704.936.4988. u

supports its agency partners in their industry endeavors. We encourage and help facilitate intellectual capital sharing among partners. One way we do this is with an agency-led group called Emerging Leaders. Their focus is progressive, innovative solutions in technology, perpetuation, and sales management. We pride ourselves on building a platform that will sustain independent insurance agencies over the long haul. Because independence works better together. Contact Michele Bicknell: 570.473.2148 | mbicknell@keystoneinsgrp.com 40 keystoneinsgrp.com

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Company Briefs Alexander Retiring; Emerick to Lead Penn National Insurance Nashville Office Longtime Penn National Insurance Regional Vice President Jim Alexander, CIC will retire from the company on July 14th. Jim has worked with Penn National for over 17 years, and is the son of Alexander shares a laugh with former Insurors Executive Insurors CEO Chuck Bidek Director Jim Alexander. Until the time of his retirement, he will be helping transition the role to new Regional VP Bill Emerick, CIC, CPCU, ARM. Bill previously served as the Regional Vice President for Berkley Southeast Insurance Group and oversaw their Tennessee operation for the last five years. His career has also included positions as a commercial lines underwriting manager, field production underwriter and territory manager. Bill holds a B.A. degree from the University

of Illinois and an MBA from Southern Illinois University. He has been active in Insurors and is a longtime supporter of the Association's Young Agents program.

Vanderslice Joins Berkley Southeast as RVP Bill Vanderslice has joined Berkley Southeast Insurance Group as Regional Vice Preshave you heard ident for the Tennessee Profit Center. He has had an over 25 year insurance career, most recently working with CNA insurance. we have a new He has held substantial Underwriting and regional vice president! General Management leadership positions.

the news?

We are pleased to announce our new Regional Vice President of the Nashville Region, Bill Vanderslice.

Vanderslice hasin the worked Tennessee territory approxiBill is an experienced leader industry, and isin wellthe known in the Tennessee territory. Bill is committedfor to continuing to provide our independent agents and policyholders with an exceptional level of products and services, mately 20 years, he and his family currently reside in the as our Nashville based staff remainsand unchanged. Nashville area. He is a graduate of St. Francis University and Have youhis heard of BSIG Advantage? Our Claims Commitment earned MBA from Salve Regina University. Are your small commercial customers in need of superior We are committed to providing service and flexible coverage?

Our Advantage product is exposure based, so in many cases, we can cover exposures with property values up to $15 Million, sales up to $10 Million and payrolls up to $5 Million.

superior claim service and to getting our customers back-in-business when a claim does occur, earning us a 97.6% customer satisfaction score in 2016.

FCCI Adds New Leadership in the Region The Advantage Includes

• Over 400 eligible Advantage classes Want to Know More? of commercial FCCI Insurance Group (FCCI), a leading provider • Bindable coverage online, for eligible classes Please contact: • Professional coverages specific industries insurance, property andforcasualty announces Andy Wilder . Territory Manager the promotion • Cyber Liability and Employment Practices Liability

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Products and services are provided by one or more insurance company subsidiaries of W. R. Berkley Corporation. Not all products and services are available in every jurisdiction, and the precise coverage afforded by any insurer is subject to the actual terms and conditions of the policies as issued. ©2017 Berkley Southeast Insurance Group. All rights reserved.

Our Products: • Dwelling Fire/Mobile Home • Comprehensive Mobile Homeowner’s • Limited Homeowner’s

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National Security has provided competitive, affordable insurance to policyholders for over 50 years, but we also provide a lot for our agents, with competitive commissions, excellent customer service and experienced company adjusters. As an admitted Southeastern based regional company, National Security prides itself on fast, efficient service from a friendly small town company, and online access for all agents, providing fast quotes, online policy issuance, online dec page printing, and real-time policy information. Find out more by calling Sharon at 1-800-239-2358 x213 or visit nationalsecuritygroup.com.

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of Tiffany Hawkins to regional vice president, and Trey Stone to assistant vice president in the Gulf Coast Regional office located in Ridgeland, Mississippi. In her new role, Hawkins will oversee agency relationships, underwriting, claims and risk management operations, working from the regional office in Jackson. Stone will continue to manage the Alabama office and will oversee FCCI’s state directors and marketing underwriters in the Gulf Coast Region. Hawkins joined FCCI in 2012 as a senior marketing underwriter. Successfully building agency partnerships in Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee, she quickly earned the state director role for those three states. Hawkins began her insurance career at the St. Paul Companies and later joined the Travelers Insurance Company in Mississippi as a Sales Executive. From Marks, Mississippi, Hawkins graduated from the University of Mississippi with a degree in risk management. She will be relocating to Jackson, Mississippi. Stone joined FCCI in November 2009 as a senior marketing underwriter and was quickly promoted to state director of Alabama. In June 2016, he was promoted to managing director of the Alabama branch office. He began his insurance career at Travelers Insurance Company in Birmingham, Alabama, and has worked for State Auto, AmTrust and Companion Property and Casualty Group. A graduate of Auburn University with a degree in Business Administration, Stone resides in Birmingham, Alabama. Tom Quaka, who led the region for the past 20 years, will remain an integral part of FCCI’s leadership team. He will assist Hawkins and Stone through the transition, then work with Chairman of the Board, President & CEO Craig Johnson on company-wide initiatives.

Schaub Joins The Hartford as Regional Exec Fritz Schaub has joined The Hartford as a Regional Sales Executive for Small Commercial. He formerly worked in the Select Small Commercial Division for Travelers, and was with the carrier for over 9 years. He is a graduate of Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Hospitality Management.

Big "I" Best Practices Company Partner Awards The Big “I” recently presented Insurors Associate Members Central Insurance Companies, EMC Insurance Companies and Travelers Insurance Companies with the prestigious Best Practices Award of Excellence at the Big “I” Legislative Conference. Central Insurance Companies continues to demonstrate its The Tennessee Insuror

commitment to helping independent agents grow their personal lines business and promote the Best Practices philosophy. The company has demonstrated its support for education and training for agents to hone competitive advantage. Central has focused on educating marketing managers and participating on panels related to Best Practices. EMC Insurance Companies (EMC) was recognized for its commitment to supporting independent agents and growth of agents by helping them perpetuate internally. The company works with field representatives on key challenges and teaches agents how to tackle challenges that the Best Practices study exposed such as slow growth, consolidation, aging work force and new threats. EMC supports Best Practices at the state and local levels. Travelers Insurance Company has been recognized for supporting the program since the inception of the Best Practices Awards of Excellence in 2001. Travelers continues to use its joint planning tool to encourage agencies to use their agency management system to tie into Best Practices areas. The company shows agents how to use these tools to grow their business. Travelers provides Best Practices materials for select agencies and helps promote the resources externally.

Motorists Insurance Launches in Tennessee Motorists Insurance Group, based in Columbus, Ohio, has launched a new commercial lines company – Motorists Insurance – in Tennessee. The company features state-of-the-art technology to make the process from quoting to issuance and policy servicing simple and streamlined via Guidewire InsuranceSuite, which Motorists Insurance Group purchased in 2014. The suite includes underwriting, claims management, billing, rating and policy administration. Motorists also purchased Guidewire portals to improve its agency and policyholder interactions. Motorists Insurance includes the MiChoice Business Program, which offers tiers to choose the right coverage to fit the size and unique liability needs of a company. Policyholders won’t pay for coverage they don’t want or need, and agents will have more power to customize a policy to satisfy their customers’ needs and budget. The commercial product offering complements the workers’ compensation offerings of BrickStreet, with which Motorists Insurance Group recently announced an affiliation.

Builders Mutual Establishes Job Safety Inst. Builders Mutual, a leading writer of commercial insurance for the construction industry in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic, announces the establishment of the Job-Site Safety Institute (JSI), a nonprofit organization dedicated to conducting safety research for residential and commercial job-sites to produce studies that improve safety and protect lives. 43

The establishment of JSI is a key milestone in the history of Builders Mutual and a testament to the company’s dedication to the industry and to keeping workers safe on the jobsite. This commitment, which is at the core of everything done at Builders Mutual, has been the rationale for why the company has been in business for more than 30 years. Through JSI, Builders Mutual has the opportunity to give back to the communities, workers, and industry it serves. Grants from JSI will help conduct research to produce studies that guide safety practices, set new safety standards, and influence worker behavior on job-sites. This will ultimately play a critical role in the reduction of job-site injuries and elimination of job-site fatalities. Study results will be shared through a variety of media, including published studies, training videos, and online resources. JSI will make practical industry recommendations based on these studies as well.

Amerisure Adds Iswhar as CUO Amerisure Mutual Insurance Company recently announced that Jayashree Ishwar has joined the company as chief underwriting officer. In this position, Ishwar reports to Amerisure President and CEO Greg Crabb. Ishwar will be accountable for Corporate Underwriting, Loss Control, Advanced Analytics and Product, and is the newest member of the company’s strategic leadership team.

Prior to joining Amerisure, Ishwar was the senior vice president – chief underwriting officer for Erie Insurance’s $1.6 billion commercial lines business. Before that, she was assistant vice president of enterprise risk management at Nationwide Insurance. Ishwar earned her MBA at Ohio State University’s Max M. Fisher College of Business and a master of science in neurophysiology from the University of Mumbai.

Main Street America Adds Company Officers The Main Street America Group has made changes to its personnel, including promoting Tom Frazier, the company’s chief investment officer, to senior vice president. Frazier has been a Main Street America vice president and its chief investment officer since 2011. Additionally, Main Street America has appointed three of its functional unit directors as new company officers – Jim Kelly, director, commercial lines underwriting; Joe Schmucker, director, personal lines product development and underwriting; and James Vettel, director, information technology operations. Frazier manages Main Street America’s $2.2 billion investment portfolio. His responsibilities include determining appropriate asset allocations, selecting outside managers to meet the company’s portfolio objectives and managing their performance. Additionally, Frazier oversees Main Street America’s

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FROM THE DELTA TO THE SMOKIES WE’RE PROUD TO SUPPORT THE INDUSTRY’S BEST.

Construction • Education • Financial Institutions • Healthcare • Manufacturing Professional Services • Real Estate • Retail • Technology • Wholesale Distribution

CNA is proud to support Tennessee’s independent agents and brokers with customized coverages, local industry knowledge and the strength and stability of an “A” rating by A.M. Best. When you’re looking for a carrier with a broad industry appetite, who understands your commitment to business success … we can show you more.® Learn more about our coverages and services today. Contact our local Nashville Branch at 615-886-3300, or visit www.cna.com. CNA is a service mark registered by CNA Financial Corporation with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. CNA Financial Corporation subsidiaries use the “CNA” service mark in connection with insurance underwriting and claims activities. Copyright © 2016 CNA. All rights reserved.

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banking and custody relationships and assists in capital management activities. Prior to joining Main Street America, Frazier served as a Certified Public Accountant at Robert M. Mucha, CPA, PC, Keene. He earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting at Assumption College, Worcester, Massachusetts.

Merna Named Chubb COO of Major Accounts Chubb has announced that Matt Merna has been appointed chief operating officer of its North America Major Accounts division, which serves large U.S. and Canadian-based companies with complex global risks. In this newly-expanded role, Merna will assist in overseeing the day-to-day operations for Major Accounts, and will also be responsible for expanding products, services and coordinated account management to the large account market. Merna joined ACE Group in 2000, prior to the merger between ACE and Chubb in 2016. During his tenure, he held various senior leadership positions, including president of the Financial Solutions line of business and president of ACE Risk Management. Earlier in his career, he served in a range of management roles in public accounting and at a large global insurance company in New York and Europe.

Progressive Announces Paths to Partnership Building upon its $1 billion acquisition of home carrier American Strategic Insurance (ASI), Progressive recently announced additional compensation opportunities for independent agents through Paths to Partnership, featuring a new national auto commission schedule and performance bonuses to reward agents who build larger personal auto books, and place longer-retaining personal auto business, with Progressive. Under the program Progressive will continue to welcome inconsistently insured and simpler needs customers, and the tiered commission structure rewards auto policy growth regardless of customer segment. New incentives for preferred business, however, reflect the company’s efforts to become a go-to carrier for households with more complex needs as well, and complement the 2015 launch of Platinum, a preferred home and auto incentive program that continues to roll out across the country. Progressive will start rolling out the new national auto commission schedule in phases, beginning with 12 states in July of this year, and another 32 in January 2018, when the new partner program and performance bonus will launch nationally. Full details are available to appointed agents on ForAgentsOnly. com. 46

National General Adds Small BIz Auto in TN National General Insurance has announced the launch of their small business auto insurance product in Tennessee. This cutting-edge product combines National General’s small business auto underwriting expertise with their state-of-theart policy system at natgenagency.com. “As we expand small business auto into new markets, we continue to see an overwhelmingly positive response from agents and brokers,” says Doug Densmore, Regional Vice President of Sales. “While our broad appetite lets agents write coverage in over 700 different business categories, we’ve designed this program to be exceptionally competitive in our target markets.” Business categories which National General’s small business auto insurance product targets include Contractor/Tradesman, Retail Services, Land Services, Farming, Food Services and Retail Operations. National General will be actively appointing select agents to write small business auto in Tennessee. To learn more about National General, their products and current appointment opportunities, please visit nationalgeneral.com/getappointed. For questions regarding small business auto, reach out to Doug Densmore, Regional Vice President of Sales, at doug. densmore@ngic.com

ACUITY Wins Top Creative Awards Acuity recently announced that several of its recent marketing and educational projects have earned top awards for creativity in international competition. The Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP) presented Acuity with two Platinum Hermes Creative Awards, the highest awards given by the international association. One award was earned for the continuing education video Face to Face, and the second was earned for Acuity’s 2015 annual report. "Face to Face" highlights Acuity’s unique and innovative program that builds relationships between commercial insureds and key Acuity personnel, using custom-created puppets to tell the story of the program. Acuity’s 2015 annual report, "The Year That Soared," featured a kite-shaped booklet that was packaged with a custom-printed sport kite.

W.R. Berkley Celebrates 50 Years W.R. Berkley Corp. is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its founding in 1967. The Company was started with an initial investment of $2,500 and has grown to a market capitalization of nearly $9 billion and has distributed $4.2 billion of cash to its shareholders. Today, W. R. Berkley Corporation is a leading property casualty commercial lines writer, operating worldwide with more than $23 billion in total assets. u The Tennessee Insuror

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It's Time to Stop... continued from page 12 If you ran a full-page ad, invested in a sign on Main Street, had a few key carriers and a desktop computer, you could make a great living. No more. Today, it’s time to think big. It’s time to stop being disrupted and become a disruptor. This starts with Leadership in the agency and nobody else. When an agency sees growth, and is profitable, Leadership will not hesitate to pat themselves on the back. When we’re shrinking and margins are squeezed, we point our finger at everyone except ourselves. I’ve learned in this industry that the IA Channel has nobody to blame for its shortcomings but the IA Channel. • • •

•

Rather than disgrace the internet and the connected consumer – we should’ve embraced them 15 years ago. Rather than trying to sell insurance the way we wanted to sell it, we should’ve adapted to how the consumer wanted to buy. Rather than hunting for the magic pill to help us get back to the “good old days” we should go back to basics and tout the expertise, options and desire to serve our local communities. Rather than replacing strategies that worked for us in years past, we should enhance those strategies with a digital footprint and dominate our local community.

The Time for Change is Now So, what does all this mean? It means that it’s time to stop acting like victims and start acting like business owners. It’s time to stop blaming carriers for lack of growth and take responsibility for our actions. It’s time to take risks, be creative, execute on ideas and show the industry disruptors that the IA Channel is the greatest form of insurance distribution in the world.

Your customers deserve the best PROTECTION. RLI Personal Umbrella Policies are DIFFERENT.

There are agencies having enormous success while building empires using a blend of old fashioned insurance sales and marketing, coupled with strategies of the disruptors we hear so much about. What’s stopping you from making that happen? Nothing but you. About the Author Stuart Ganis started his career as a producer in 1989 and later co-founded an independent insurance agency with his wife Mary, that grew to 20 million in premium volume within 3.5 years. After the sale of the agency, He launched Ganis consulting, a firm serving local insurance agents in the areas of sales, marketing, operations and M&A advisory services with emphasis on seller representation. u 48

They stand alone. RLI, A+ rated by A.M. Best, has over 30 years of experience providing affordable personal umbrella coverage - so your customers can protect their hard earned assets. CONTACT Stephen Holmes sholmes@insurors.org 615.515.2609 The Tennessee Insuror

A Specialist, Not a Generalist Niche Workers’ Compensation and Commercial Line Coverages for Main Street America Get started with an agency appointment application at amtrustappointments.com/Tenn.

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The Mutual Fire Insurance Company in Harford County was founded in 1842 to protect the citizens and businesses in the small rural town of Bel Air outside Baltimore, Maryland. As a mutual company, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve always put our policyholders first, working with our independent agents to grow responsibly and cautiously. Now a large regional carrier serving seven states and Washington, DC, we are celebrating 175 years of always being Committed to Mutual Success. HarfordMutual.com | 800.638.3669 50

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Meetings

Summer/Fall Meetings Are on the Way Northwest Tennessee Insurors Golf June 6th The annual Insurors of Northwest Tennessee Golf Tournament and dinner will be held on June 6th at the Dyersburg Country Club at the Farms. The event features a lunch, golf scramble, reception and the famous pork chop dinner and prize giveaway. Contact Matt Russell at mrussell@westaninsurance. com for registration and more information.

Big "I" Leadership Conference September 6-10 The Big "I" Fall Leadership Conference has been set for September 6-10 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. The event will feature the annual Education Convocation, the Young Agents Leadership Insititute and the annual meeting of the Agents Council for Technology (ACT). Get more information or register now at http://www. independentagent.com/Events/Pages/default.aspx

Applied Net 2017 Set for Vegas in September Applied Net is one the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest gatherings of independent insurance agents and brokers. It is an opportunity to connect and network with a community of insurance industry leaders, Applied partners, exhibitors and peers. This year's event will be held on September 25-28 at the MGM Grand Las Vegas. Applied Net offers 4 full days of learning, including more than 200 presentations, training workshops and break-out sessions, presented by some of the greatest minds in the insurance and software industries. Get more information or register now at appliednet.com.

Insurors 124th Annual Convention 10/14-17 The Insurors 124th Annual Convention will take place on October 14-17 at The Peabody, one of the South's most beautiful and historic hotels. We return the event to downtown Memphis for the first time since 2009, and there is a lot in store for you! The event will feature a great lineup of speakers, entertainment, outings and functions at some of the great venues in the Bluff City.

Could your agency weather a data security breach? A full 80 percent of businesses that experience one donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t.1 The right insurance can keep your agency from becoming part of this startling statistic. Data breaches are common among smaller businesses, and responding to a breach is both costly and complex. You are obligated to protect the data you collect, and package policies are often not enough. Make sure your agency has the right coverage in place to protect you and your insureds. Contact your Insurors E&O Specialist, Stephen Holmes, CIC, CISR, for information on Data Breach coverage.

1. Privacy Rights Clearinghouse: Chronology of Data Breaches

Stephen Holmes, CIC, CISR sholmes@insurors.org 615.515.2609

Get more info or register now at www.insurors.org/IOT/ Convention/IOT/Convention/IOT_Convention_Home.aspx u The Tennessee Insuror

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We form trusting relationships built on loyalty and integrity. What sets us apart is far more than what we do — it’s how we do it.

Join Us MEGAN WETLI MEGAN.WETLI@MOTORISTSGROUP.COM | 614-225-8389 CHRISTOPHER SNYDER CHRISTOPHER.SNYDER@MOTORISTSGROUP.COM | 513-490-5816

Member Tips

6 Tips for Tech Change

written by Kris Regier, KFSA Insurance Agency

Managing change is successful only when you work with a dedicated technology partner to ensure you gain the most value from your software. Are you considering implementing new software to become a more digital agency? Here are a few pointers to keep in mind from our own agency's experience: 1. Acknowledge that change is difficult. We cultivated a culture that said “this is a change that’s coming.” And then we helped everyone prepare for it. Employees truly saw the advantages of moving to digital agency technology, like a single management system. You have to believe in the technology you’ve purchased and transfer that belief on to your employees. 2. Get management support. Top-down support is crucial for any successful technological change. Our management team supplied the resources we needed to be successful. 3. Prepare with hands-on training. We created a handson training lab with older computer equipment for our employees. Anyone could go into the lab and use the demo database to try different things. In order to be prepared for the data conversions, interactive learning is critical. Remember to keep your employees engaged with different types of training experiences as well—for all types of learners. 4. Create a fun environment. We created a scavenger hunt within our management system, asking employees to look for a client, set up a new client or bill a policy. As we got closer to migration, employees could take an activity all the way through. Then, as we approached launch, it was no longer foreign to them. 5. Take advantage of online learning. When you have access to online resources, take advantage of them! Applied University provided us with more than 30,000 hours of education course work and more than 3,000 instructor-led courses. Giving your employees access to this type of knowledge is invaluable. 6. Be positive. We focused on creating a positive change culture. When you make your employees feel that the change is manageable, it will be. Change doesn’t have to be scary—it’s all about the culture and employee attitude. For us, the reward is the way our employees work today. View the full article at http://www. iamagazine.com/viewpoints/read/2017/05/10/making-a-techchange-keep-these-6-tips-in-mind u

Directory of Advertisers Advertiser

Phone

Website

Page

ACUITY (920) 458 - 9131 www.acuity.com 47 Amerisafe (800) 897 - 9719 www.amerisafe.com 39 AmTrust North America (877) 528 - 7878 www.amtrustnorthamerica.com 49 Applied Underwriters (877) 234 - 4450 www.auw.com/us 2 Arlington/Roe (800) 878 - 9891 www.arlingtonroe.com 9 Bailey Special Risks, Inc. (800) 768 - 7475 www.bsrins.com 16 Beazley Cyber Liability (615) 515 - 2609 www.insurors.org 51 Berkley Southeast Insurance Group (615) 932 - 5508 www.berkleysig.com 19, 20 Berkshire Hathaway Guard Insurance Cos. (800) 673 - 2465 x4567 www.guard.com/apply 24 Big "I" Advantage VRC (615) 515 - 2609 www.insurors.org 55 Brentwood Services Administrators (800) 524 - 0604 www.bwood.com 24 Builders Mutual (800) 809 - 4859 www.buildersmutual.com 37 Burns & Wilcox (800) 341 - 4844 www.burnsandwilcox.com 13 CNA Insurance (800) 251 - 5852 www.cna.com 45 Consumers Insurance/Motorists (615) 896 - 6133 www.ciusa.com 52 Donegal Insurance (800) 277 - 7442 x3418 www.donegalgroup.com 7 EMC Insurance (800) 239 -2005 www.emcins.com 17 FCCI Insurance Group (800) 226 - 3224 www.fcci-group.com 5 Harford Mutual (800) 638 - 3669 www.harfordmutual.com 50 INSBANK (866) 866 - 4268 www.insbanktn.com 11 Insuror Services, LLC (800) 264 -1898 www.insurors.org 28-29 Jimcor Agencies (678) 952 - 3023 x1418 www.jimcor.com 26 J.M. Wilson (800) 595 - 0063 www.jmwilson.com 42 Keystone Insurers Group (800) 416 - 5498 www.keystoneinsgrp.com 40 National General ( www.nationalgeneral.com/getappointed 38 National Security Group (800) 239 - 2358 x213 www.nationalsecuritygroup.com 41 Nationwide Insurance (423) 927 -2060 www.nationwide.com 30 Penn National Insurance (800) 395 - 0518 www.pennnationalinsurance.com 56 Preferred Property Programs (888) 549 - 2465 www.umbrellaprogram.com 42 RLI PUP (615) 515 - 2609 www.insurors.org 48 Securerisk (770) 723 - 8096 www.securerisk.com 36 South & Western (800) 492 - 5351 www.southandwestern.com 33 Summit Holdings (800) 971 - 2667 www.summitholdings.com 26 Swiss Re Lawyer's Professional Liability (630) 213 - 9952 www.bigimarkets.com 22 Titan Web Marketing Solutions (615) 890 - 3600 www.titanwms.com 15 UFG Insurance (800) 343 - 9125 www.ufgsolutions.com 34

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