Joint Industry Forum returns after two-year hiatus

The 2021 Joint Industry Forum proved to be a terrific opportunity for the leadership of the insurance industry to identify and collaborate to find solutions to how the industry has responded to the "New Normal." A panel of CEOs engaged in back-and-forth on the question of "resiliency" and how their company and the industry have responded to the challenges we all face in the wake of the pandemic.

Insurance Information Institute (III) built a conference program that included a host of compelling speakers and presentations. Our CEO, Rohit Verma, was a member of the C-Suite panel on resiliency and was joined by:

• Richard P. Creedon, CEO Utica Mutual Insurance Co.
• Paul Horgan, Head of U.S. Accounts, Zurich North America
• John Huff, CEO, Bermuda Insurers & Reinsurers
• Phil Klotzbach, Research Scientist, Colorado State University
• John K. Smith, CEO, Pennsylvania Lumberman's Mutual Insurance Co.

Resilience is a compelling topic especially in the wake of how the pandemic has disrupted work-life and changed society and the insurance business. Panelists discussed how climate change has highlighted the need to be more resilient and is affecting underwriting, claims and losses. Natural catastrophic events caused by climate change are now more frequent and more severe. The pandemic has been one of a series of game-changing events that is reshaping how the insurance business works.

For the CEOs, the issues surrounding recruitment and training were top-of-mind in their discussion on resiliency. Zurich's Paul Horgan put it succinctly, "There is a war for talent out there."

One of the most important talent issues is that some organizations have underinvested in training and professional development. All the CEOs, however, reported on their own initiatives to address the talent and human resource issues.

Another panel on cyber threats discussed a series of controversial issues including how to manage ransomware risks. Also, a panel on "Runaway Litigation" highlighted emerging legal trends and identified new legal defense strategies and analytics.

The Institute also unveiled the results of a large survey of underwriters that reported, among other issues, that underwriters spend 40 percent of their time spent on tasks that are not core to an underwriter's role. Indeed, the survey respondents said quality processes and underwriting tools are at their lowest point since 2008.

It was a great event and you can watch the panel here.

*Rohit Verma, Crawford CEO, was a member of the CEO C-Suite Panel on Resiliency. Crawford was a platinum sponsor of the event.