National Insurance Task Force Appoints New Chair, Works to Expand Accessibility in Lower-Income Comm

The National Insurance Task Force (NITF) appointed Clayton Adams, vice president of Community Development of State Farm Insurance Companies, as its chair. The NITF, which was convened by Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation in 1994, works to improve accessibility and affordability of homeowners insurance in lower-income and minority communities.

Adams outlined the goals for his tenure as chair. “The NITF gives us the opportunity to better understand the communities where we want to do business, and it gives those communities an understanding of our business needs. I want us to continue to foster that understanding,” Adams stated. “Secondly, I want to see the NITF create identifiable measurements that will demonstrate the benefits of this partnership and allow us to duplicate our successes in other cities.”

Outgoing chair Ed Charlebois, vice president, Personal Lines Property, of Travelers Insurance, a member of Citigroup, cited many successes during his tenure. “We have instituted several loss-prevention programs — for example, fire loss-prevention programs in Chicago and St. Louis, a wind loss-prevention program in Charleston, a water loss-prevention program in Staten Island, and theft prevention programs in Richmond and Denver,” he said. “We are optimistic that these kinds of programs will help decrease losses. If losses are lower, insurance companies can provide more insurance at better rates.”

Adams will take over as chair during the NITF’s annual Insurance Symposium in Minneapolis on October 17. The Insurance Symposium is part of Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation’s national Training Institute, which is held several times a year and provides the highest-quality training to the staff and boards of public- and private-sector organizations committed to improving neighborhood housing, economies and the quality of community life.

The National Insurance Task Force is composed of insurance companies, insurance industry trade associations, insurance regulators, educational institutions, Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation and the members of the national NeighborWorks(R) network. The task force’s mission is to develop partnerships between the insurance industry and community-based organizations to better market the products and services of both, for the benefit of the customers and communities they serve.

Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation is a public, nonprofit organization established in 1978 to revitalize urban and rural communities by mobilizing public, private and community resources at the local level and expand affordable housing opportunities for lower-income households through the NeighborWorks(R) network.

Topics Profit Loss