A.M. BestTV: Specialty Insurance Professionals Say Many Routes to Landing Young Talent Exist

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OLDWICK - MAY 26, 2016 10:50 AM (EDT)
In this ^A.M.BestTV episode, at the AAMGA conference in Phoenix, AZ, members of the Under Forty Organization said a combination of university outreach, better communicating professional opportunities, job shadowing and competitions are helping to build a younger workforce. Click on http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=aamga2516nc to view the entire program.

Members of the organization, which provides young insurance professionals with an opportunity to network, said they believe that the biggest challenge in getting young people involved is educating them about the program’s insurance industry.

“I really think the challenges are associated with education—helping people understand,” said Nick Abraham, managing director, Markel Corporation. “When they hear insurance, they automatically go to things they understand, such as auto insurance or homeowners insurance. They don’t understand the nuances of the type of programs that we write. Ultimately it boils down to education, and really creating an awareness of the opportunities, the structure, the players and the distribution piece of the specialty insurance realm.”

J. Patrick Roe, vice president, Arlington/Roe & Co. Inc., said he believes, “we need to do a better job of getting involved with other universities that don’t have any type of risk management insurance programs … even somebody with a sales background that might have an interest in getting into insurance. We have more work on our plate, but I think we’re still doing a good job and have had some success.”

Other people who appear in this episode include:

• Chris Peterson, vice president, Chris-Leef General Agency; and


• John Anthony, vice president, regional manager, MUSIC.

Full-length interviews are available as well. Go to http://www.ambest.tv/aamga16 to see all the interviews, which includes a discussion with Hank Watkins, president, Lloyd’s North America; Grant Kimball, president, Canadian MGA Angus Miller Ltd.; and Alyssa Bouchard, assistant executive director, AAMGA.

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• Users of Sophisticated Risk Models Can Add Own Data to Mix: Attendees at the RMS Exceedance 2016 Conference said advances in risk modeling are quenching the appetites of users who now have more opportunity to include their own data and experiences: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=rms1516nc.


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^A.M.BestTV covers exclusive A.M. Best information and reports, targeted topics and key developments in the (re)insurance industry every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Sign up for alerts of episodes at http://www.ambest.com/multimedia/ambtvsignup.html. View ^A.M.BestTV episodes at http://www.ambest.tv .

A.M. Best is the world’s oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source.