2,200 Attendees Expected at NAPSLO Convention, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Historian to Keynote 27th Annu

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Tapley O. Johnson, Jr., incoming president of the National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices (NAPSLO) and chairman of the annual convention, expects some 2,200 attendees at the 27th Annual Convention in San Antonio Sept. 12-16. “We were 150 ahead of last year at the middle of August,” he said.

A highlight of the convention will be Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin will who is scheduled to give the fourth annual Derek Hughes/NAPSLO Educational Foundation Lecture Series presentation Sept. 14.

The convention gets underway with the opening reception Sept. 12. Theme for this year’s convention is “A New Environment for a New Era.”

Programs begin Friday morning with a welcome by Texas Department of Insurance Commissioner José Montemayor, followed by a address by NAPSLO president John K. Latham.

Goodwin’s presentation, which will put the 2000 presidential election into historical perspective, follows Latham.

Goodwin is the author of several New York Times best sellers including her book “No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II” (1993), for which she received the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for History. She also wrote the essay on Franklin Roosevelt for the book “Character Above All,” published earlier this year by Simon & Schuster.

She has also written about other presidents and their families. Her works include “The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys” (1987), which was made into a six hour television mini-series on ABC in 1990, and “Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream” (1976). Ms. Goodwin worked as an assistant to President Johnson during his last year in the White House and later assisted him in the preparation of his memoirs.

Goodwin holds a Ph.D. in government from Harvard University and received her undergraduate degree from Colby College. She taught government at Harvard for 10 years, including a course on the American Presidency.

She is a regular contributor to “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.” Other television work includes regular appearances on “5 on 5,” a weekly public affairs program on Boston’s ABC affiliate station.

Regular NewsHour viewers may know that. Goodwin is also an expert on baseball. She wrote “Wait Till Next Year: A Memoir,” (1997) her story of growing up in the 1950s and her love of the Brooklyn Dodgers. She was the first woman journalist to enter the Boston Red Sox locker room and she served as a consultant for Ken Burns’ PBS documentary “The History of Baseball.”

A panel on Friday sponsored by the Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS) will examine the state of the current market and provide some ideas

Saturday’s programs will focus on two chief areas beginning with a legislative breakfast at 8:30 a.m. This will explore the complex issues involving legislative and regulatory proposals and changes brought about at both the state and feral levels. Following the breakfast will be a technology update which will discuss the latest developments as they apply to the surplus lines industry.

A key feature of the convention which has developed over the past eight years continues to be the Brokers Lounge which provides a chance for brokers and markets to meet. This year, the Brokers’ Lounge is open on Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Thursday and Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Abbreviated Convention Schedule

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14
Friday’s programs open with a Welcome by José Montemayor Texas Department of Insurance, followed by a Presidential Address by John K. Latham.

Program highlight is the fourth annual Derek Hughes/NAPSLO Educational Foundation Lecture Series which this year will be made by Pulitizer Prize winning historian, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Ph.D.

Friday’s programs close with a panel discussion by representatives of the PLUS organization. The panel is titled “Professional Liability – Opportunities & Challenges in a Changing Market.” Stephen Gerstman, RPLU, ASLI, Western World Insurance Group, moderator. Panelists include Kevin M. LaCroix, Esq., Genesis Prof. Liability Managers; Jamie Maguire, Philadelphia Insurance Co.; and Sean Pattwell, Herbert L. Jamison & Co., L.L.C

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15

Saturday’s programs open with “Eggs & Issues: A Breakfast Cuisine of Scrambled State & Federal Regulatory Issues.”

Eggs & Issues will discuss current legislative and regulatory issues with particular emphasis on federal chartering proposals, commercial lines deregulation, and the prospects for positive regulatory changes for the surplus lines industry.

Examining the issue will be Texas Insurance Commissioner Jose Montemayor; James Sivon, counsel for the American Bankers Insurance Association; NAPSLO Legislative Committee Co-chairs Jim Griffith and Andy Frazier; and NAPSLO Executive Director Richard Bouhan.

Saturday’s program will conclude with “The Need for Standards,” which will examine whether adoption of technology standards, such as ACORD XML, enable insurance brokers and companies to operate more efficiently or whether they limit what firms can offer.

Examining the subject will be Benita Gayton, program manager, Commercial and Specialty Lines for ACORD; Nancy Cheladyn, director of training, project manager for Burns & Wilcox; Robert Gilbert, Los Angeles Branch manager for General Star Indemnity Co.; and Mike Ardis, director of communications & technology for NAPSLO.

Topics Texas Legislation Excess Surplus

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