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"It has been an enjoyable experience taking the brown paint off our agency and allowing us to be 'purple cows'. Your process has given us the feeling that we are preventing losses rather than just quoting insurance. Thank you."
Bob Kennedy M & J Insurance, Las Vegas, NV
Scott Addis In the News
Meet Me at the MEGA
Posted Aug 24th 2007, 00:00
Meet Me at the MEGA The National Alliance serves up a rich blend of education, networking, and fun. Elisabeth Boone, CPCU
According to Webster’s, “mega” means “great; large; greatly surpassing others of its kind.” That’s an apt description of the 2004 MEGAbration held in Dallas in October by The National Alliance for Insurance Education & Research. The National Alliance, which offers the Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC), Certified Risk Manager (CRM), and Certified Insurance Service Representative (CISR) educational programs, also used the occasion to celebrate its 35th anniversary, complete with cake and champagne.
More than 1,200 insurance professionals gathered in Dallas for five days of continuing and advanced education on a host of topics, ranging from claims mitigation and surviving the hard market to risk management information systems and product recall crisis management. Also addressed were cyberspace issues and solutions, advanced workers compensation techniques, contract bonds, construction defect liability, and a number of life, health, and retirement planning subjects.
A key feature of the agenda was an Academy Forum at which a panel of five of The National Alliance’s “25 Most Innovative Agents” (see the October 2004 issue of Rough Notes, page 68) shared their thoughts and experiences. Participating in the panel were Scott Addis, CPCU, The Addis Group, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania; William Cadenhead, CIC, CWCA, Cadenhead Shreffler Insurance Agency, Bedford, Texas; James Reid, CIC, Higginbotham & Associates, Inc., Fort Worth, Texas; William Rothwell, CPCU, AAI, Universal Insurance Services, Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Thomas Williams, InterWest Insurance Services, Sacramento, California. The panel was hosted by Bruce McCreadie, CIC, AAI, CPIA, McCreadie & Associates, Inc., Lithia, Florida.
“I’m not an insurance person”For The Addis Group, the focus is squarely on risk management rather than insurance, said Scott Addis, who won Most Innovative Agent honors for creating a risk management audit process for his agency’s commercial clients. The process has boosted the agency’s hit ratio on new business to 90% and is credited with producing a 99% retention ratio. “I’m not an insurance person,” Addis tells clients and prospects; “I’m a risk manager for growth-oriented mid-market businesses.” At the Addis Group, he said, “our goal is to become a risk manager for our clients, to offer more than price, product, and the insurance mechanism. We’re not interested in anyone who just wants a quote on insurance.”
Published in Rough Notes Magazine, January 2005.