SFAA Elects New Chair, Directors and Officers – Honors Industry Veterans for their Leadership
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Peter Roth – VP Strategic Communications, Marketing and Research
Phone: (703) 401-0676 E-mail: proth@surety.org
SFAA Elects New Chair, Directors and Officers – Honors Industry Veterans for their Leadership and Contributions
June 6, 2020, WASHINGTON, D.C.— On Thursday, May 28th the Surety & Fidelity Association of America (SFAA), hosted its first ever virtual Board of Directors meeting, via Zoom, with great success. With 100% of the Board participating, the engagement and flow of ideas addressed the key opportunities and challenges facing the industry today. The SFAA senior team, led by Lee Covington SFAA President & CEO, provided an overview of the past year’s accomplishments, in addition to addressing the substantial progress on each of SFAA’s 5 Strategic Priorities. An extensive discussion took place on the unparalleled response and efforts by the SFAA, its members and strategic partners to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The board also accepted the recommendation of the Board appointed Private Bonding Task Force to move forward with a focused private bonding initiative to increase private bonding in targeted subsegments within healthcare and education. Additionally, updates were provided on current and future data studies to be conducted in support of the strategic initiative of Promoting the Value of Bonding.
The meeting opened with Larry Taylor from Merchants Bonding and SFAA Chair, providing opening comments and remarks and passing the Chair seat to John Welch of CNA Surety. The Board voted in new Directors Kenneth Chapman (IFIC Surety, a member of the IAT Insurance Group), Rick Ciullo (Hartford Bond), Michael Keimig (Markel Surety), Bob Raney (Travelers Bond and Specialty Insurances) and Michael Seff (Intact North America). The Board also voted in new Officers John Welch, Chair (CNA Surety), Robert Murray, Vice Chair (Zurich), Larry Taylor, Past Chair (Merchants Bonding), Bob Raney (The Travelers Companies), Timothy Mikolajewski (Liberty Mutual Surety) and Rick Ciullo (Hartford Bond).
The meeting ended with John Welch, new SFAA Chair, thanking three industry veterans for their leadership and contributions to SFAA and the industry. First, he thanked John Knox, Markel Surety Corporations, for his leadership on the SFAA Board since 2009 and his many contributions to both the industry and personal causes over his career. Next, John thanked Tom Kunkel, Travelers Bond and Specialty Insurance, for not only his leadership on the SFAA Board since 2004 but also for his service as SFAA Chair from 2009-2011. In addition, John provided an overview of Tom’s commitment and leadership to the Surety Foundation, including serving as Chair from 2013 to 2018 and the Foundation’s success.
The final thank you went to Larry Taylor for his leadership over the past two years as SFAA Chair and the past 10 years on the SFAA Executive Committee. A short video was played featuring images of Larry at many key events and comments from Lee Covington about Larry’s passion for the industry and many accomplishments. https://lnkd.in/g3mYqqS.
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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
