California Surplus Line Association elects new officers

The Surplus Line Association of California’s (SLA) elected new officers at its Annual Meeting held in Northern California on Jan. 24 and in Southern California on Jan. 26, 2006. New officers include: chairman – Jim Pettipas of ECM Insurance Services LLC; vice chairman – Ceil Norton of Burns & Wilcox Insurance; and secretary-treasurer – John Edack of Arch Specialty Insurance Agency Inc.

Re-elected members of the Executive Committee included Rupert Hall of M.J. Hall & Co. Inc.; Greg Crouse of Crouse & Associates; Hank Haldeman of Gerald J. Sullivan & Associates Inc.; Chris Brown of Brown & Riding Insurance Brokers; Les Ross of Tri-City Brokerage, A Division of BISYS Commercial Insurance Services Inc.; Katie Freeman of Katie Freeman Insurance Services; Warren Stanley of Canon Insurance Services; and Stacey Shurson of IIW Insurance Services of California.

Newly elected members of the 13-member executive committee include Frank Cravens of Cravens, Lefler & McCormick, and Davis Moore of Worldwide Facilities Inc.

At the meeting, outgoing chairman Hall noted the SLA’s biggest accomplishments for the year were the establishment of web-based broker education through a company called WebEx; the start of a project to create a requirements document for a new SLA electronic filing system; and the signing of a new office lease to bring the SLA operation onto one floor of 50 California Street in San Francisco.

Hall also received a replica of the Lutine Bell that hangs in the trading room of Lloyd’s as a token of appreciation for his year of service as chairman for SLA. In the early days, the bell was used to signal either good or bad news — it was rung twice for good news once for bad news, Hall said.

Hall graciously accepted the gift as a sign of good news. His father, Michael J. Hall, had received the award in 1998. Additionally, Hall said his career also had benefited while assisting SLA.

“You become elected after many years of service to the association and it’s a voluntary position that allows nonadmitted business to flourish in California in a well governed manner,” he said. “Working in unison with the California Department of Insurance is something that greatly enhances someone’s career.”

The SLA meetings also featured an educational presentation from the SLA General Council James Woods of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae on “Catastrophes Impacting the Insurance Industry: Natural and Man Made.”

Topics California Excess Surplus