Life Imitates Art

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!” (Al Pacino as Michael Corleone, Godfather III)

In case you haven’t noticed from the accompanying mug shot, I replaced Kevin O’Reilly as Insurance Journal’s Midwest managing editor on Aug. 1. And in spite of the above tongue-in-cheek quote (I prefer “Leave the gun, take the cannoli,” but this is more appropriate), I’m quite happy to have been “pulled back” into insurance journalism.

A little bit about myself: I’ve been writing about insurance in one form or another for longer than I care to remember–from a reporter on the agent/broker beat at Business Insurance in the 1980s, to freelancing and ghostwriting for brokers and insurers throughout the ’90s, to public relations for a national insurance trade association in the New Millennium. But when I lost my last job to a layoff this spring, little did I know that I’d be once again writing about insurance through the eyes of a journalist.

Like most insurance writers, I started out in the business thinking that writing about this industry would be my foot in the door to a broader journalistic world. Over the years as a freelancer, I’ve written film reviews, celebrity interviews (Frank Zappa and Richard Gere!), hometown guidebooks, and historical novels. Throughout it all, insurance writing was there, quietly paying the mortgage and the car installments. Try doing that on the quarterly royalties from your latest novel–especially in my case, where this averages around $1.95.

And to be fair, there are more interesting things going on in property/casualty insurance industry today than ever before. Back when I started out, agents and brokers were primarily concerned with market cycles (remember them?), agency automation, Big “I” versus PIA, and commission structures. In our post-9/11 world, all this seems downright quaint–except for the commissions, which are a hotter topic today than we would have ever imagined.

For those of you who I’ve already met, I look forward to meeting you again. For those of you I haven’t yet had the pleasure of meeting, please make liberal use of e-mail, phone and snail mail to introduce yourselves. Let’s talk about your businesses, your employees, your interests–and any future story or profile ideas you might have for IJ Midwest. To quote from another great film, “This just might be the start of a beautiful friendship.”