Reflections on the Season

I’ve noticed an autumn chill in the air at my home in the Berkshires … and while I’m sure there’s an “Indian summer” weekend or two left this season, this time of year is always a reminder that we live in a dynamic world!

One recent example is the Professional Insurance Agents of New York’s change of administration, which took place on Sept. 13. Richard A. Savino, CIC, CPIA, the new PIANY president, a long-time friend and second-generation industry pro, is attuned to the ever-changing way customers and agents communicate and expect to purchase their insurance. During his impressive speech to the board that evening, Rich discussed the importance of adapting to our “evolving environment.” He talked about embracing tools that will help the independent agency distribution system to thrive and learning from the younger generation of professionals and consumers. I believe Rich is right in asserting that these are keys to our future and I and strongly recommend that agents make a point to hear from him during the PIANY Hudson Valley RAP in Tarrytown Hilton on Oct. 27. That event will also feature a panel discussion with Linda Rey, Bernie Heinze, Michael Loguercio Jr., and Donna Chiapperino about social media, and a keynote presentation by humorist Yvonne Conte. I’ve heard our eminent publisher say “PIA is the only game in town” when it comes to trade show events and HVRAP has become a great opportunity for agents to get their continuing education and E&O credits, network and have a good time for the tri-state area. As a side note, Rich is coincidentally serving as PIANY president during the same term (2011-12) that his brother and partner, Keith Savino, CPIA, is serving as PIA president in New Jersey—interesting times at PIA indeed!

While I’m on subject of change at PIA, there are other big announcements that took place there: Last month, PIA Management Services, Inc., the umbrella corporation that manages the New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and New Hampshire PIA affiliates, announced it retained Mark J. LaLonde, CPIA, CIC, AAI, as president of that organization. I know I am not alone in my opinion that the organization couldn’t have a better individual on its leadership team. Mark, with whom I’ve served on the PIANY board and the PIA Management Services board, has been a staunch supporter of professional independent agents for decades—not only on a volunteer basis, but as an independent agent himself. He knows what it’s like to be an independent agent—founding and building his own successful agency, while all the time, giving back to the industry as a PIA volunteer. I’m delighted to congratulate Mark as he takes this position as president, and I’m even more excited for PIA and our members, who are the real beneficiaries of this announcement.

While I’m thrilled about that change, I’m saddened to note again that Ellen Kiehl, Ph.D., who served PIA for an equally long time, will retire at the end of this year. I wish Ellen the very best in her transition to retirement, and I know she will continue to help others, as she has so many in our industry, while she enjoys her wellearned personal and family time.

But, changes at PIA are not the only examples that this has been a dynamic season. As if our industry hasn’t experienced enough, Mother Nature sure made an effort to get our attention this season! Who says hurricanes are a Long Island problem? Upstate New York, Vermont, and other places we never imagine as targets were pummeled by monsters named Irene and Lee, which weren’t even designated as hurricanes by the time they hit land in our area. While I was in Glenmont for the PIANY September board meeting, I heard amazing—even heroic—stories from fellow agents. One agent and PIA director, Fran Scott of FA Scott Insurance Agency in Goshen, N.Y., showed us photos of her agency, which, weeks after the flooding, was still without phones or power in their offices. Somehow, Fran managed to keep her business open and help clients by using her cell phone and running back and forth from her house and office for files—she even took time, in the midst of all of this, to make the September meetings as a volunteer at PIA!

With help from volunteers like Fran, PIA developed tools I recommend every agency put to use. In addition to its Agency Preparedness and Recovery Plan, a guide to creating an agency-specific business contingency plan in case of a disaster, the association just created Storm Info Central, a new and convenient resource center with official storm-related guidance from federal, state and regional sources, as well as PIA’s producer- and client-oriented coverage answers on storm-related losses. PIA will update Storm Info Central with additional information from officials and responses to member inquiries throughout the rest of the 2011 hurricane season and beyond, to provide the latest news on events affecting members’ areas.

I live on Long Island, and saw power trucks from Texas and Michigan driving in convoys to New York after the storms. The power companies enacted their disaster programs immediately, as did my agency, which has developed a disaster plan based on PIA’s offerings. These types of incidents and experiences should serve as reminders to us. If you managed to escape damage from the earthquake and hurricane, I urge you to ask yourself now, are you prepared? The main mission of any insurance agency is to provide service to their clients. This means assisting clients no matter what the circumstances the agency faces. But, many agency principals put a disaster contingency plan on the back burner so they can deal with the more immediate jobs of running an agency. If we learned anything from recent events, it’s that planning ahead is critically important in the event of a disaster, saving you clients, income and major frustration.

After Irene, I was in my car driving down from my vacation home in the Berkshires when my cell phone (which by the way is blue-tooth enabled) rang. The caller was my alarm company, which monitors my home alarm in Long Island. They told me I had water in my basement and of course, I was concerned about a broken pipe. They doubted that was the problem, saying we had never seen rain like we experienced in Long Island, but they agreed to check on the pipes anyway. Later, the company called back to confirm that no pipes were broken and ground water was probably seeping up through the foundation. Unfortunately, this was not the case: When I got home, I found about five inches of muddy water in my basement, not because of the foundation but because the rain had been so heavy and the ground so saturated that the water pushed through the seams in the windows. In order to make sure this doesn’t happen again, I’ve called my contractor to raise the height of the window well and put some type of plastic covering over it and anchor it down so it can’t be blown off (which is what happened in my case). And as we all know, this is not covered by flood insurance (which of course, I have) nor my homeowners policy.

We had close to 7.5 inches of rain in my neighborhood during that storm and the only thing I could think of was, “What if this was a hurricane, dropping even more water on us?” As we’ve learned recently, it doesn’t matter where you live— storms can affect everyone. There’s still time for a hurricane to hit the tri-state coastline, even this year. As I write this article, Hurricane Nate has just finished partying in the Gulf of Mexico, and we still have nearly two months of hurricane season. But, despite recent events, I believe we’ve gotten complacent because we’ve dodged so many bullets in the past. While we’re discussing hurricanes, whatever happened to our common trigger? I’ve said this before, but if the next storm is declared a hurricane, rather just a windstorm, all hell will break loose! Imagine trying to explain to your clients why they have differing deductables than their neighbors, forgetting our previous discussions and demanding to know, “Why did you sell me this coverage?” It will be an errors and omissions nightmare. This storm could be our last warning: What stronger signal do we need to prove our industry needs a uniform trigger? Let’s hope the legislature and insurance department finally recognize this need and listen to PIANY, which has supported both standardized triggers and industry-standard coverage for homeowners who obtain coverage through the state’s Coastal Market Assistance Program for some time. Lawmakers nod their heads in agreement that something must be done, but the time is NOW. Perhaps the readers that this article could jot a note to their representatives in the Senate and the Assembly to tell them how important a common trigger is, and have their insureds do the same. We don’t want to wait until it’s too late and I certainly don’t want to write an article that says “I told you so.”