VCIA Welcomes Two New Staff Members!

Posted on January 27, 2023 by vciablog

Please welcome Ella Stevens, front left, and Jocelyn Lamb, front right, two new VCIA hires!

Last week, I recapped VCIA’s successful Legislative Day and emphasized just how valuable our legislative advocacy is to our members and to the industry. Well, I offer another VCIA asset that’s just as and if not more valuable…and that’s our tireless staff! VCIA can proudly say we are fully-staffed and able to not only strengthen and grow our association, but meet the needs of our 400+ members. Not many other captive associations can say that. And so please give a warm welcome to Ella Stevens, VCIA’s new Bookkeeper and Administrator, and Jocelyn Lamb, our Accounting Manager! Let’s get to know them.

Meet Ella Stevens, VCIA’s Bookkeeper/Administrator Ella began working with VCIA earlier this month and she’s doing so while completing her last semester at Saint Michaels in Colchester. She will be graduating with an honors bachelor degree in accounting and business administration, and our staff and Board were extremely impressed about how she can handle such a workload while learning and absorbing so much at VCIA. Says Ella: “This is my first professional job out of college and I’m excited to get into accounting on a real-world basis, understand the Vermont captive industry, and interact with VCIA members.” Fun fact? She’s an avid runner and runs at least 3 miles a day every day of the week! I personally can’t say the same…

Meet Jocelyn Lamb, VCIA’s Accounting Manager Where Ella is new to the Vermont captive industry, Jocelyn Lamb is a veteran and has years of experience, thanks to her 11 years at Vermont’s Department of Financial Regulation as an examiner and regulator. We’re lucky to add Jocelyn’s great talents, and she’s extremely happy to stay in the industry. Says Jocelyn, “It’s a wonderful opportunity to work with VCIA and to experience captive insurance from an additional perspective. I really look forward to hitting the ground running with our close-knit staff!” Fun fact? Jocelyn and her family operate a 3,000 tree sugar bush and sell maple syrup each year – you can’t get much more Vermont than that!

It’s a wonderful opportunity to work with VCIA and to experience captive insurance from an additional perspective. I really look forward to hitting the ground running with our close-knit staff!
VCia’s new Account Manager, Jocelyn Lamb

Please be sure to welcome Ella and Jocelyn as you see them in the year ahead; they will be an integral part of accomplishing our goals, not least of which is a successful Annual Conference in August. The work begins now!

Happy 2023! Let’s Look Ahead with VCIA

Posted on January 6, 2023 by vciablog

Early in the new year seems to be a good time for predictions. Even though my abilities in prognostication may be somewhat limited, I can fall on the guidance and opinions of others to develop some ideas related to both the VCIA and the Captive industry as a whole that might stand a fighting chance of becoming reality.

Firstly, Marsh’s Ellen Charnley, speaking to Richard Cutcher in Captive Intelligence predicted that the just-closing 2022 would be another record year for captive formations, and that this growth, while still being driven by North America, is also global. Certainly, that mirrors what we have seen in Vermont, with 2022 likely to deliver another year of over 40 formations. And it seems like the pace is not slowing – owners seem to be seeking a number of things.

Speed to market
Innovation
Stability and reliability

Within the broader insurance market ratings agency, Fitch sees headwinds from inflation and a potentially weakening economy as factors driving a neutral overall assessment. This was echoed by Swiss Re in their market outlook for 2023/24, in which they suggested that this volatility could cause “rate hardening to regain momentum.” And while standard wisdom is that a hardening market assists captive growth, this could be tempered by an overall economic slowing. The opinions of Swiss Re are at slight variance with those of WTW, who comment that “commercial insurance rates (are) rising at a moderating rate.”

Predicting for the VCIA is perhaps a little easier! Staff and the Conference Task Force are already deep into planning the 2023 VCIA Conference, building on the success of a return to in-person last year. We will take our first trade mission to Mexico on March 1st, as we seek to support and develop an increasingly sophisticated and growing market there. A dynamic and involved Board will continue to challenge and inspire us to develop and deliver value for members.

The captive industry has a long history of responding to the needs of clients and potential clients through innovation. Vermont and the VCIA are a part of that, and we look forward to being able to deliver in 2023 and beyond. There are many ways to get involved, and I personally hope you do so with us this year.

Success Only Fuels Our Motivation

Posted on November 18, 2022 by vciablog

These last few weeks I’ve spent more time in hotel rooms and airplanes than I’ve spent at home. Now, happily snug in my snowy–yes, already–Vermont headquarters, I can reflect on quite a trip the State of Vermont and VCIA had to Luxembourg for the European Captive Forum.

The trip, and the conference, had a perfect combination of networking and educational sessions. Deputy Commissioner Sandy Bigglestone led an engaging topic on “Why and How to Establish a Captive” and the Vermont team heard from stateside and international industry colleagues about opportunities for new captive formations in the Green Mountain State. I was personally happy to hear a recurrent point about how many people are eager for the business possibilities, networking values, and educational content of our annual conference…even if it’s more than 8 months away! Even so, we are already hard at work on creating an optimal experience for our attendees.

The “hard at work” phrase kept in my mind as we learned that Vermont won the International Domicile of the Year during the Captive Review European Awards. The announcement on LinkedIn read: “Moving on to the next category at #EUCaptiveAwards 2022 where we have the International Domicile…And it is of course Vermont who have earned our congratulations!”

I’m still less than a year in as VCIA President/industry representative, so it struck me that the “of course” preposition to describe our award reflects the healthy and productive infrastructure that VCIA and the State has built–and continues to strengthen. That’s why I responded to Captive Review’s post like this: ” ‘Of course Vermont’ is a delightful comment, but rest assured that the industry-leading regulators, service providers and managers, economic development professionals and the VCIA are NOT resting on their laurels as we all further develop the ‘Gold Standard’ that garners awards like these.”

We’re further developing our Gold Standard here at VCIA by starting a Strategic Planning process that will result in a comprehensive and innovative blueprint that will guide us into prosperous future in partnership with our members, stakeholders, and the industry as a whole. Our newly appointed Board Chair Tracy Hassett said it in a nutshell: VCIA will be thinking “blue sky big” in how we can provide more to our members, meet captive owner/industry needs, and increase our impact and reach. So I encourage you to join us. Become a member, join a committee, share your feedback. This is YOUR organization, and the success we experienced at ECF only motivates us to higher ground.

A Cut Above the Rest: A Productive – And Creative – VCIA Fall Board Meeting

Posted on October 21, 2022 by vciablog

Board meetings – A rough count has me at over 100 of these, sometimes as a Board member and sometimes as someone reporting to a Board. The VCIA’s Board just held its last meeting of 2022, and it is a good time to reflect on similarities and differences.

Similarities – A horseshoe table, a conference phone and water set. And that’s about it!

The view from TopNotch Resort. Snow is coming!

Differences – Board members calling in from Hawaii at 5:30 in the morning. A view out on to the late fall landscape of Stowe, Vermont. Great catering. But all of those are just superficial. Here are the fundamental differences with how the VCIA Board operated at a marathon 7-hour Board meeting:

Staff are present for everything except Executive Session. With 60+ years of accumulated staff experience their absence would have meant a less informed Board. And please don’t get the impression that staff sat meekly to one side. For a start this isn’t that sort of staff, and secondly the Chair actively sought comprehensive input from all staff members.

Every Board member participated, voiced opinions and created spirited discussion. Clearly, 2022 is shaping up to be very successful for the VCIA operationally and financially. But rather than seek to duplicate and develop, the Board questioned the fundamentals of VCIA operations and how we serve our members in a dynamic and growing market.

Absence of pride. Lots of proposals and ideas were discussed. The originators of those ideas actively participated as their original thoughts were discussed, refined, discarded (occasionally) or adopted.

Participation. Every Board meeting since I have joined has had 100% attendance. This is despite the travel commitment involved or getting up early to join virtually.

The Leadership within the Board meeting. As the Chair position changes to Tracy Hassett from Andrew Baillie there is a continuing clear and effective leadership style from the Chair. Opinions are sought, time is taken to explore options, conversations around critical issues are allowed to develop, but any ‘drift’ is gently addressed. Both the past and current leaders (and I am sure that this applies to past Chairs as well) used their skills to extract productivity and consensus from a diverse group of leaders within the captive industry.

For staff members, it is empowering and enjoyable to be so close to the owners’ representatives through exposure to the Board. For Board members, I would certainly hope that they believe that their Board membership, and they ways that they conduct themselves as a Board provides personal and professional value to them in addition to the altruistic goal of building a stronger VCIA. We all can’t wait to get to work on the Big Pictures Ideas for our association. It starts now!

Productive RISKWORLD RIMS Conference Concludes

Posted on April 15, 2022 by vciablog

My first RIMS Conference is in the bag. What an impressive production the Risk Management Society had. Indeed it felt like “the center of the Risk Management universe” as they say. The experience has further fueled my desire to make VCIA’s August 8th-11th annual conference the best yet!

From a Vermont captive perspective, our trip to San Francisco was very successful. There was a steady stream of captive owners on day one with potential new captives and service providers visiting us. Our travel-sized maple syrup swag and the ice cream rolling in at 10:30 may lured in some hungry prospects, because surely nothing beats ice cream with maple syrup drizzled on top.

Vermont representing strong at RIMS 2022

Even on the final day three the volume of traffic may have slowed, but the quality interactions continued. I still work as a captive student, absorbing as much information as I can about the industry and regulatory processes. I’ve also thoroughly enjoyed building out my professional network with so many interesting people. All in all Team Vermont held many solid and productive meetings which generated innovative ideas on how we can help captives thrive in the Green Mountain State.

Shoutout to the State of Vermont’s Captive Insurance Economic Development Director Brittany Nevins who does a terrific job of demonstrating why Vermont’s captive insurance industry is the gold standard for an onshore captive insurance domicile.

All in all Team Vermont held many solid and productive meetings which generated innovative ideas on how we can help captives thrive in the Green Mountain State.

One interesting aspect was the interest from Latin America – A good harbinger for our planned 2023 Roadshow in Mexico City. Stay tuned for more interesting programs as we continue to develop them!

A Busy and Productive Week with VCIA

Posted on March 25, 2022 by vciablog

Captive Roadshow and Hot Topic Webinar Major Successes on Back-to-Back Days

2022 brings a wealth of enthusiasm and optimism not only for VCIA but for the entire captive industry. The major cause of this excitement derives from the simple fact that we are all getting together again. Catching up. Building out networks. Collaborating on new ideas. The possibilities are endless when we’re all in the same room. (Which is why we’re so thrilled to bring back our conference this August!)

It’s no small feat then, that this week VCIA’s returned with its first in-person Original Captive Roadshow since November 2019! In Indianapolis on Tuesday an audience of over sixty professionals listened intently and asked great questions as a panel of Vermont industry experts (Sandy Bigglestone, Dave Provost, Brittany Nevins) enjoyed a captive conversation facilitated by Hylant’s Anne Marie Towle. The Vermont team outlined the process and structures of captives in Vermont and why captives can thrive in the Green Mountain State.

2022 brings a wealth of enthusiasm and optimism not only for VCIA but for the entire captive industry. The major cause of this excitement derives from the simple fact that we are all getting together again.

Following that, two captive owners Valynda Laird and Will Lehman explained their business case and development of their own entities that have done so well due to captive formation. The feedback was very positive and we are already deep in planning for the next two. The Big Apple just might be seeing our Roadshow before the year lets out.

Not forgetting our Hot Topic Webinar series, the very next day our March webinar had a similar number of attendees for a great session on Strategic Planning for Captive Optimization and Future Success. Many thanks to the erudite panelists, and the State of Vermont’s own Christine Brown who moderated the talk.

These events and others, both online and in-person, have served us well as we identify in-demand topics and exceptional presenters for our August 2022 conference. We are about 6 weeks away from registration, but you can get a ‘sneak peak’ of the entire schedule and sign up for more info at VCIA.com.

Cheers to you, captive learning, and captive collaboration. Happy spring!

Welcome, Kevin!

Posted on February 4, 2022 by vciablog

Earlier this month you met our new Communications Director, Francis McGill. Now I would like to take the opportunity to introduce my replacement as President of VCIA, Kevin Mead!

As you may have seen in our announcement earlier this week, Kevin brings a boatload of skills in association management and financial wherewithal based on his experience running a number of associations. (Click here for the official announcement.)

Kevin is a unique fellow: he lives in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom (the most rural part of our rural state), has a British accent, and loves rugby. But more than that, I got to know Kevin over the past few months, and he is truly a nice, decent human being – someone who will fit right into the captive insurance family.

Holding two master’s degrees related to association management and finance, Kevin is the perfect candidate to lead VCIA, build out the captive industry’s flagship conference, increase VCIA membership and membership value, while evolving the organization amid the current pandemic and economic challenges. Above all, he is a true “people’s person.” Our staff is thrilled to have him on board and I know he will make many meaningful and productive relationships with our members.

Although his official start date is February 22^nd, Kevin has been hard at work absorbing all things captive insurance and VCIA over the past few weeks. He will be traveling to Miami for the World Captive Forum with VCIA’s own Janice Valgoi and the incredible team from the State of Vermont, so, if you are going to be there, please take the time to reach out and introduce yourself.

Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.

Hail to 40 Years!

Posted on December 10, 2021 by vciablog

Vermont’s 40th anniversary year of the inception of its captive industry is drawing to a close. Since 1981, Vermont has worked hard to be the top U.S. domicile and continues to strive for excellence. Currently, VCIA is working with Dave Provost and Sandy Bigglestone and their team at DFR to build another captive bill to be introduced into Vermont’s General Assembly.

Over the past two years of COVID challenges, the Gold Standard has never been so apropos as Vermont lead the captive insurance industry in incredible growth and resiliency. I could not be prouder to be a part of this great work.

Brittany Nevins, in her role as Captive Insurance Economic Development Director, has put together a terrific short film highlighting relationships, accomplishments, future goals—and really what it means to be part of the Vermont captive family. I hope you will watch and encourage you to share.

Stay well and see you soon!

Rich Smith,
VCIA President

More Affirmation

Posted on September 17, 2021 by vciablog

Not a surprise to those of us in the captive insurance industry to see the 2021 Captive Benchmarking Survey from Aon highlighting that captive insurance growth is occurring at a level not seen in two decades. Price increases in primary insurance markets over the past two years have led captive insurance company owners to retain more risk as they look to maintain appropriate levels of coverage while controlling costs.

You only need to talk to the many VCIA members providing services to captives to see how busy they all are. And talking to Dave Provost at Vermont’s Department of Financial Regulation confirms the report. Last year saw a big spike in captive formations and it looks like they are on track for a bigger year for 2021.

Aon’s report said that since 2018 they have seen a 73 percent increase in premium retention among the captives it manages. The types of risk covered have grown to include risks that are difficult to place or emerging perils, such as cyber and environmental. According to the report, over the past 5 years Aon has seen a 650 percent increase in cyber-insurance premiums in captives, while environmental risks have seen a 400 percent premium increase since 2018.

In addition, AM Best released a report in August showing that the operating performance of rated U.S. captive insurance companies continued to surpass that of their commercial market peers in 2020. The captive insurance industry has shown its colors in these trying times over the past few years. It will only pay dividends for their owners in the years to come.

I look forward to seeing many of you at our in-person VCIA Mixers and other events beginning this October. Until then, stay well!

Rich Smith, President, VCIA

The Closer

Posted on August 8, 2021 by vciablog

Don’t miss the VCIA Conference Aug 10 – 12! Panelists for the ‘Hot Topics with Dave Provost’ session, from L to R: Tracy Hassett, Steve Legg, Sandy Bigglestone, Ellen Charnley and Dave Provost

OK, enough with the procrastination! The VCIA Annual Conference starts August 10th, and because it is virtual, folks tend to wait until the last minute to sign up. I understand! But online registration for the event closes Monday at noon – so NOW is the perfect time!

Besides all the great educations and networking opportunities, the one event during the conference that everyone waits for is Hot Topics with Dave Provost. For those few of you who don’t know Dave, he is the preeminent captive insurance regulator in the world (don’t take my word for – ask anyone) and his knowledge, experience, and sense of humor, provides just the right closing to our much-anticipated captive conference.

The distinguished group joining Dave (see photo above) are Sandy Bigglestone, Vermont’s Director of Captive Insurance (and Dave’s right hand woman). In 2018, Sandy was a recipient of the Women to Watch Award for her leadership, expertise, and accomplishments in the captive insurance industry by Business Insurance. Ellen Charnley, President of Marsh’s Captive Solutions Practice, is recognized as a global leader in the captive industry. And, Steve Legg, who has been with Starbucks since 1997, serving as director, risk management since 2006. Aptly moderated by VCIA board member, Tracy Hassett, President and CEO of edHEALTH, a first of its kind consortium of colleges and universities with the mission of reducing health care costs while enhancing consumer knowledge of options, plan design, disease management and wellness programs.

This epic group will get you totally up to speed on current developments in captive regulation, key issues facing the industry, future initiatives, increased interest in captives as a response to challenging markets, and much more. You can even ask them questions and provide comments of your own. Don’t miss it!

So, take this moment to register for VCIA 2021! Join these experts and other audience members and share your experience and insight to make the conference even better. YOU are what makes this event incredible! Check it out here and Register Now!

I look forward to seeing you next week!

Rich Smith, VCIA President

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