For Immediate Release

October 5, 2021 (WASHINGTON, DC) – During the Annual Meeting of The Surety & Fidelity Association of America (SFAA), John Welch, SFAA chair and president and CEO, CNA Surety, and Lee Covington, SFAA president and CEO, provided attendees with an overview of SFAA’s accomplishments and initiatives. The meeting began with a video celebrating the unanimous 97-0 Senate vote on the SFAA-supported TIFIA-bonding Van Hollen 2354 amendment to the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a significant achievement for SFAA members, Board and staff. The video also gave attendees a sneak peek into SFAA’s new brand identity, which launches later this week along with SFAA’s new website.

The membership also re-elected the existing SFAA Board for an additional term and elected Sarina Puccio, head of the credit and surety team at the Munich Reinsurance Company, as the Board’s new reininsurance representative. Welch, Covington and the SFAA team then provided updates on the association’s five strategic priorities, federal and state legislation, the new Contractor Bonding Education and Mentoring Program for minority and other emerging contractors, details regarding SFAA’s new brand and website launch, and an update on the SFAA Foundation’s Intern and Scholarship Program for underrepresented college students. To end the meeting, an “Inside the Beltway” panel discussion was held, giving attendees an inside view of Washington, D.C. from two top political and policy experts – Michael Williams of The Williams Group and Scott Riplinger of CGCN Group.

The SFAA Board also re-elected its Executive Committee members:
·     Larry Taylor, Past Chair – President, Merchants Bonding Company Group
·     John F. Welch, Chair – President & CEO, CNA Surety Group
·     Robert Murray, Vice Chair – Executive Vice President, Zurich Surety
·     Robert Raney – Head of Construction Surety, Travelers Companies, Inc.
·     Rick Ciullo – Chief Operating Officer, The Hartford Insurance Group
·     Timothy Mikolajewski – President, Global Surety, Liberty Mutual Group

During the Board meeting, Tim Mikolajewski, SFAA Foundation chair and president of global surety, Liberty Mutual Group, announced this year’s recipients of the SFAA Foundation’s Intern & Scholarship Program: a record seventeen $5,000 scholarships to underrepresented college students who interned with SFAA member companies, for a total of $85,000 in scholarships – the largest in the program’s history.

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The Surety & Fidelity Association of America (SFAA) is a trade association of more than 425 insurance companies that write 98 percent of surety and fidelity bonds in the U.S. SFAA is licensed as a rating or advisory organization in all states and it has been designated by state insurance departments as a statistical agent for the reporting of fidelity and surety experience. www.surety.org

Contact: Peter Roth, Vice President – Strategic Communications, Marketing and Research
Phone:  (703) 401-0676
E-mail:  [email protected]