IFNY Awardees’ New “Club” and a Look at Corporate Citizenship

The recent IFNY Luncheon was a 10-rounder for the “Old Boys Club,” as the industry used to be called, as women won all of IFNY’s awards for  2018. Now, how to compliment the winners and not run amok of accepted politically correct guidelines – most of which I do find properly correct. Inga Beale, former CEO of Lloyd’s of London, who is disarmingly elegant, but, more important, an amazing force for social awareness and progress at the institution has a fresh and upbeat presence.  To be sure,  I have referred to men as elegant and disarming, so it’s OK. She is both, and a lot more. Inga deservedly received the Free Enterprise Award, the first woman ever in IFNY’s 104 years. Mary Lanning, a most devoted, compassionate and disarmingly gracious advocate for faith, hope and charity – one who puts these tenets into action every day in concrete ways – received IFNY’s Public Service Award and brought the 2018 IFNY Interns with her to be introduced to the insurance leaders their – prospective employers? – and to applaud their mentor. Most deserved, as well! The keynote speaker was Maria T. Vullo, Superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services, who pleasantly and brightly went off script and showed off her Mt. St. Vincent graduate’s rhetorical ease and focus. The College’s President, Chuck Flynn, was present, by the way. She extemp’ed about her progress as a professional woman and about the workplace itself. It was far more compelling and satisfying than a dry regulatory rundown. My compliments to these women and to the good corporate citizens who selected them on their merits.… Speaking of good corporate citizens, Applied Underwriters Chairman Steve Menzies just introduced an amazing new plan for the giant WC insurer’s operational center in Omaha, that includes a totally environmentally responsible campus. The A+ rated national workers’ compensation insurer unveiled plans for Heartwood Preserve, one of the largest urban developments in the United States. The development is located near the center of Omaha on 500 acres of long unused farmland near Boys Town. The property will house the Company’s 800 employees and will have top retail, commercial, varied residential and recreational facilities on a re-imagined landscape that includes miles of trails, large open spaces and thousands of newly planted trees. The facility will feature vistas and pathways that demonstrate great care for the quality of life on the property. Menzies described the project as an investment by Applied in the daily experience of its staff. Menzies told us: “To all of us at Applied Underwriters, Heartwood Preserve is a way of saying ‘thank you’ to our neighbors, our friends, our staff and our fellow businesses that advance the economy of Omaha. This city has been good to us, from the exceptional talent and devotion of our staff here – reflecting a strong work ethic – to the cooperation of the community’s leaders, the regulators, and friends like Warren Buffet, who invested in Applied seven years after we moved here. Heartwood Preserve’s very name”, he emphasizes, “expresses the great importance the designers place upon the environment and the preservation of natural characteristics. Proper, circumspect development is at the crux of respect for this good earth and, by extension, respect for those with whom we share it. That’s why our first working name for the project, Heartwood Park, became Heartwood Preserve, with all that the word ‘Preserve’ implies: reverence for nature, proper stewardship of its bounty, and conservation of its beauty as an expression of the divine,” Menzies stated. Powerful words, powerfully articulated on a vacant, windswept prairie plain, by a solid corporate citizen. SA