IIAT in the Swing of Things with New President, Officers

Juneau Takes Office
At the 105th Annual Convention of the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas (IIAT) held June 13-14, in Houston, one of the most heavily attended in recent years, André P. Juneau of Frost Insurance Agency unit Nieman Hanks Puryear was sworn in as the association’s new president, taking over from Ken Kapelka. With Ernest Stromberger retiring as executive director of the IIAT after 20 years, and a pending state legislative session threatening to have serious effects on the insurance industry, Juneau will have to hit the ground running. In an interview with the Insurance Journal, he laid out some directions in which he plans to take the agency in the next year.

What legacies do you take from Ken Kapelka—where do you plan to take some of the initiatives he started?

“First of all, this is a very tough legislative time,” Juneau said. “He has been very active in spearheading some initiatives that we have on the legislative front, and I hope to continue those, particularly since we’re about to have a session during my term as president.

“Some key issues in the Legislature, of course, are property insurance in Texas, mold being the big issue there; spiraling health care costs, which are driving our worker’s comp costs up significantly; terrorism insurance is certainly an issue that we need addressed, although that’s probably going to have to be addressed at the federal level,” Juneau continued. “Availability of medical malpractice coverage for physicians is a big issue statewide.”

“Secondly, (the IIAT has) a new executive director in David VanDelinder, so one of my big issues is to make sure there’s smooth transition, and that David has a team together that works well.

“Another would be young agents,” he said. “It’s been a big initiative that Ken felt very strongly about, and I do as well, having come up through the association as a young agent. I’ve been involved in that group for quite some time. I want to continue the momentum with regard to young agents.

“Finally, we hope to do a few new things, and certainly get our staff and our executives out more to meet with local associations and our membership throughout the state. We’re going to do that via these—we’re calling them road shows at this time—some kind of regional conclaves. We’re going to use them as one venue for several regions, particularly those that don’t have local associations, to get together, let agents share their ideas, have some kind of social event or whatever. We’re also going to use them as an opportunity for the IIAT to make sure our members know of all the services available, and possibly do some things like ACSR information out in the field.”

Are there new initiatives or directions in which you want to take the association?

“These road shows are one,” Juneau replied. “We certainly want to see more ambassadors, have our staff and executive director get out more and visit with our associate members, our companies, and our members in the field, whether that be through their local associations or again, particularly areas that have no local associations. So one of my big initiatives is to get our people out.”

What legislative action is the IIAT getting involved in?

“We’re trying to work with the elected officials on this mold strategy. Frankly, our general position would be for less regulation of both forms and rates … our interest is in creating availability and affordability. To do so, we’ve got to interest the companies in staying in the state and producing a form that they think will offer consumers the options that they need to stay here. That’s probably the key item.

“Terrorism insurance has some immediate ramifications,” Juneau continued. “Again, it’s a federal situation, but we need our local folks to put some pressure on them. I know that Phil Gramm is jockeying around with the renewed Dodd bill.”

What can IIAT member agents expect for the coming year?

“We just want to encourage more member utilization—we had a great convention, with our highest member attendance in several years, which is very encouraging. This hard market is a tough time for agents. We continue to support them by offering programs that we can, like our own E&O program. There are so many E&O carriers that have fallen off. And we continue to offer what I think is the best E&O program available. We continue to work on that to make sure our E&O program is as competitive as they can find anywhere.

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