The 12th Annual Statesman Dinner was held on Thursday, February 4th at the Hudson Theatre in New York City. The event dates back to 1999 when David Foster, then a leading Lloyd's underwriter, now retired, was honored as the first Statesman of the Year.

Todd Jones, Willis’ national practice leader for professional lines, was this year’s honoree.  Nobody was exactly sure what Todd did to earn the honor, but, nonetheless, it was a good excuse for a very enjoyable evening.

An independent event not affiliated with PLUS (or any other reputable insurance organization as far as we can tell), the Statesman Dinner is held each year not only to honor a deserving leader in the professional lines insurance industry, but also to raise significant funds for various charities. 

The event is the brainchild of Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge’s John McCarrick, a man who has created, and/or played a key role in, a number of very successful charitable endeavors. 

McCarrick has been joined by Don Bailey of Willis and Dave McElroy of Arch in organizing the Statesman Dinner, along with many other unsung heroes, such as McCarrick’s very capable assistant, Karen Pinski.

The event, a sell-out every year, hosts roughly 250 people for a cocktail hour, dinner and post-dinner entertainment consisting of a roast of the honoree and playful jabs at many others in the industry.  The typical proceedings each year include speeches, videos and live skits.  Bailey, a very talented and funny master of ceremonies, was absent this year but appeared via two videos (as you can see, I’m buttering him up so as not to be skewered next year.)     

Many believe that the Statesman Dinner, a hot ticket, has supplanted C&S Night as professional lines insurance's most enjoyable evening of the year. Individuals were in attendance from every corner of the United States, as well as Canada, Bermuda and the U.K.

Besides being a chance to catch up with old friends, the Statesman Dinner also seems to be the place where people bury the hatchet on old disputes and renew past friendships.

Each year the honoree chooses a charity to receive half of the dinner’s proceeds.  The organizers select the charitable recipients of the rest.  Todd chose the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, a cutting-edge medical research organization.  A doctor from the charity was on hand to accept a $25,000 donation from the Statesman Dinner.  I would tell you his name, but someone at my table was yelling for more wine when it was announced.  The doctor made a very nice speech, telling people that significant advances are being made and that a cure for paralysis may occur during our lifetimes.

Todd made some very touching and funny remarks in his acceptance speech, despite being roundly skewered during the evening.  His graciousness was in keeping with the general nature of the proceedings (this blogger will, of course, depart from that path with the captions on the photos to follow…)  All in all, the 2010 Statesman Dinner was another rousing success: people enjoyed themselves immensely and a lot of money was raised for very good causes. 

Here now are some pictures from the evening:

Statesman Dinner founder John McCarrick greets AWAC CEO Scott Carmilani during the evening's cocktail hour.  Scott would probably still have jet black hair if he were just a lowly underwriting manager, but our guess is that he'll take the gray and the CEO pay package any day of the week.

Bill Winget and Luigi Spadafora, two of my friends the industry's leading insurance defense attorneys, probably wish that they could have a do-over on this picture. 

Rob Wolfe of ACE, Mike Morales of Everest National, Catherine "No Relation to Danny" Seto of Everest National and Mark Paccione of Everest National enjoy the cocktail hour without cocktails.  New York State insurance officials were investigating to see if they really are in the industry.

Claudine Rossman (far left) and Laura Coppola (far right), both of Arch, flank two young ladies, one of whom is Robyn Semos of Arch Bermuda, the trouble is I'm not sure which one she is.  She knows however.  It was a hectic night, lay off the blogger. Tim Kelly, a very successful professional lines broker at Lockton in Houston, stands behind the girls in order to balance out their beauty and intelligence in this photo.  Sorry Tim, you knew you were taking your chances by letting me photograph you. 

Tom Gamble of Willis, Kathy Kelly of Arch and LouAnn Layton of Marsh catch up on old times before the dinner.  I overheard each saying that they thought they should've been the Statesman instead of Todd.  That was a very common theme among attendees.

Rich Fernandez of AmWins Atlanta and Ray Santiago of Chartis New York. compete in the Ugliest Tie, Biggest Forehead and Phoniest Smile Contest.  It was a dead heat.  That looks sort of like a church pillar in the background but, believe me, it's not.

Andy Pritchard of AmWins, Steve Boughal of Travelers, Keith Riccio of Freedom Specialty and Tom Ruck of CNA stop discussing their Super Bowl bets long enough to be photographed.  The four, who worked together at National Union in the 1990s, were also overheard discussing when it would be safe to start wearing their AIG logo'd clothing in public again.

Tom Zacharopoulos of Integro Atlanta was looking for the New York Insurance Library and mistakenly ended up at the Statesman Dinner bar.  Oh well, he made the best of the circumstances.

DANGER, DANGER WILL ROBINSON!  Word of advice from this blogger: never go to lunch at Nobu with this pair, Steve Pincus and Matt Baum of Willis.  Steve, normally a great guy, will advise "Just let the waitress bring what's fresh, don't bother ordering off the menu."  That will be your last memory before finding yourself in front of a bankruptcy judge.  Go with the Trinity Pub, much cheaper.  PS I know both of their wives, very cool women who could've done much better!    

Paul Lavelle, owner of LVL Claims Services, one of the professional lines industry's leading claims consultants, stands at the podium to roast Todd, not a difficult assignment.  Todd's enlarged photo, seen in the background, was later used by the kitchen crew to scare away rodents. 

Here's a photo of Table 4 and some of the other tables at the Hudson Theatre.  Look hard, you're probably there somewhere in the background.

Mike Karm and John Rafferty of Arch reprise Johnny Carson's "The Great Carnac" skit.  This blogger's favorite Raff insult: "May your wife's number be found on Tiger Woods' cell phone."  I thought it was funny anyway...

I only took this photo so that Todd would see the flash and think that someone really cared about what he was saying.  I think it worked, he welled up shortly after this was shot.  Everyone else was enjoying their wine and conversation at this time.

After the event, Todd was so drained of emotion that all he had left for the camera was an empty glass and an empty expression.  The pressures of being named Statesman of the Year are known only to those so honored.  Good luck Todd, represent the industry well in this next year and please don't let any compromising erotic videotapes leak out.  Really, please.  We beg.

The Statesman Dinner is ripe for an after-party (smart marketers take note) but in the absence of that people broke off in groups and hit various bars.  Here, Steve Walsh of W.R. Berkeley and John Connolly former governor of Texas of Aon Philadelphia, discuss how John's wife thinks he's on a business trip in Detroit.  John's best side for photographs, apparently, is the back of his right hand, which he proudly displays for the camera.  Walshy seems to be enjoying it.

And, finally, to sum up the entire evening, we have this photo of Martha Roberts and Brian Wanat of Aon.  Was it fun or what?  Another great evening at the Statesman Dinner.  We hope to see you all there again next year... 

The PLUS 2010 D&O Symposium wrapped up another very successful run on Thursday, February 4th at the Marriott Marquis in New York City. 

The final day featured informative sessions dealing with recent developments in U.S. and Canadian securities laws, the latest insurance coverage issues and enhancements, and insider views from policyholders and senior insurance company managers.  The featured luncheon speaker, “Compensation Czar” Kenneth R. Feinberg, provided useful insights into the government’s role in setting compensation guidelines and corporate governance guidelines.

Just about every session was packed; “standing room only” was the order of the day.  Here’s a picture of the International D&O: Focus Canada panel moderated by Dave Williams of Chubb in Toronto:

Joining Dave on the Canadian panel were Justice Colin Campbell of the Ontario Superior Court, Jay (A.R.) Cassidy, a Claims Advocate for Marsh Canada, attorney Alan D’Silva, attorney Dimitri Lascaris and Rissa Revin, the Chief Claims Officer of Liberty International Underwriters in Canada.

The panel dissected the various differences between Canadian and American securities laws and also focused on the unique characteristics of D&O coverage, and law, north of the border.  Dave did a great job in leading a lively and informative discussion. 

As I’ve long said, Canada is my kind of town.  Heard that one before?  Thought so…

One of the highlights of every year’s PLUS D&O Symposium (besides reading this blog, of course) is the View from the Top session.  As a testament to the drawing power of this presentation, check out this close-up photo of the panel:

You know what this means don’t you?  It means that I actually had to get to the session before it started  to get that photo.  No sneaking in late and standing in the back as I normally do. 

Pictured are the very capable moderator, LouAnn Layton, John Rafferty of The Hartford The Arch, Evan Rosenberg of The Chubb and Mike Smith of The Chartis.  You may have noticed that old timers in this industry arbitrarily use the prefix “The” before every insurance company's name.  Now that I’m over 40, I thought I’d adopt the practice myself.    

The View from the Top panelists had some great insights about securities claim activity, defense strategies and many other topics (for the third time: if you want this valuable info, you’ll have to attend, don’t expect me to spoon feed you!)  The three rival executives were exceedingly polite and respectful to each other, unlike some past years when the session would’ve been more aptly shared a title with a James Bond movie: View to a Kill.

John Rafferty (“Raff” to us) noted that the surfeit of insurers, including some new markets, is keeping rates lower than they should be.  Evan Rosenberg opined that credit problems are going to continue to persist, and he believes that claims will be problematic in general, especially for financial institutions.  Evan also said that while some financial institutions are getting rate increases based on their specific risk profile, the majority of D&O customers are paying less than warranted.

Mike Smith warned that we shouldn’t forget about commercial real estate problems, which are going to intensify over time.  Mike also said that rates aren’t heading in the right direction at the moment, and he doesn’t see any real relief until some capacity exits the market.

LouAnn did an excellent job of steering the conversation into areas that were of the most interest for the audience.  Well, for this audience member anyway.

I have some leftover photos that I feel impelled to post for a variety of reasons, none of which you’ll consider good, so I won’t bother explaining.  Here they are:

This is Richard Minor of AmWins Atlanta and Tom Zacharopoulos (“Zach” to us) of Integro Atlanta.  They each had an observation about The LG Blog’s PLUS party photos.

Richard (in a British accent): “It won’t be long before your late-night party pictures start showing up in divorce proceedings….”

Tom (in a combination backwoods Georgia, Greek Island and Cornell University accent):  “I’m glad these pictures don’t contain a time stamp.”

Pictured here are Stephanie Hazen (Beecher Carlson), Courtney Coletti (ACE), Teresa Cazares (Beecher) and Jane Hahn (Beecher). Not pictured but should be: Christina Wunsch of Beecher.  She was back at the office working hard.  

The other day I posted this photo and couldn’t remember Teresa’s name.  Since then, I’ve done mental calisthenics, taken brain vitamins and have thought really, really hard to come up with it. 

Actually, it was e-mailed to me. 

Anyway, I now set the record straight.  These four ladies get the 2010 PLUS D&O Symposium Red Carpet Award from The LG Blog for being the best photo subjects.   Unfortunately, there is no plaque, trophy or money associated with this award, only mention on the PLUS Blog. Congrats!   

And, finally, I forgot to include this photo earlier in the week.  Assembled here are some members of the Federation of EthnicGreek Trade Associations, or FETA.  It’s a leading organization of philanthropic insurance industry members, not all of whom are Greek.  The main qualification for admission is being able to field about 50 frivolous e-mails a day and respond at least occasionally.  You don’t want to be in it. Actually, two people in this photo aren't in FETA, but since they were there they'll have to accept the punishment of being associated with the group on this blog.

So that’s it folks.  Another very successful PLUS D&O Symposium is in the books.  A big thank you goes out to all of the Symposium’s organizers, including PLUS management, panel participants, and, of course, attendees. Oh, and a “thank you” to all the people who I badgered into letting me take their picture.  Good sports, all of you. 

I’ll be checking back in on Monday with a post that will include photos from, and a recap of, The 2010 Statesman Dinner which honored Willis’ Todd Jones.  Also, if you’re so inclined, feel free to check out my non-insurance blog at www.lgreport.blogspot.com.   Adios for now.  

In addition to the many informative sessions that take place at PLUS conferences, there's a vast amount of networking that occurs.  Here are pictures from last night's opening reception for the 2010 PLUS D&O Symposium as well as some from the AmWins party that took place later in the evening. 

Blair McCloud of Chartis, Rosine Roberts of Aon and Simon Beynon of Chartis discuss their love for the PLUS Blog. 

Frank Blasio of Navigators Pro, Brian Braden of Valiant and Michael Fetchko of Navigators Pro discuss which company is driving down pricing the most.  They each thought it was the other guy.  It appears that a young child wrote Brian's name tag for him.  Speaking of which...

Rich Luca of ACE USA proudly shows off his hand-written name tag at the PLUS reception.  Rich's ancestors came from Italy to this country so that they could work hard and gather the resources to enable Rich to one day have his very own hand-written name tag.  He was overheard saying that he will be framing this name tag once the conference is over.

A happy crowd gathers outside the reception's men's room.  Don't ask me why.

Sal Collura and Rich Luca of ACE USA innocently pose for a photo not suspecting that I'm going to say mean things about them in the caption.  Nah, they're both good guys. I don't know about those ties however (but Rich's goes well with his name tag.)  Sal's lack of a name tag will be investigated by the PLUS Police, we don't like party crashers....

No, Glamour Magazine wasn't holding a photo shoot at the PLUS reception.  Stephanie Hazen (Beecher Carlson), Courtney Coletti  (ACE), a woman whose name I forget (sorry) and Jane Hahn (Beecher) provide a welcome contrast to the picture of Sal and Rich above.  

It's rare to see Phil Voluck without his good friend Michael Jordan in tow, but our dogged photographer managed to corner Phil for a solo photo in the Marriott's elevator.  He was on his way, no doubt, to Michael Jordan's steakhouse for dinner and some laughs. 

 Kevin Healey of AmWins Atlanta, Erin Burns of RCM&D in Virginia and Rich Fernandez of AmWins Atlanta smile for the camera at the AmWins after party at the Bourbon Street Bar.  AmWins is one of the leading U.S. wholesale brokerages and it throws a heck of a party.  Rich is the new head of AmWins' D&O practice in the U.S. and he's smiling despite that fact.  Healey looks like he's up to no good but who am I to say? 

Andy Pritchard of AmWins, one of the leading insurance brokers for asset managers in the U.S., catches up with old friend and talented underwriter Jen Hickox of PIA.  Andy was one of the co-hosts of this enjoyable party.  

Carol Lundgren Matthys, Andy Coleman and Mary Moran Henderson at the PLUS reception.  I know I'm skipping back-and-forth here, just deal with it. 

Tom Zach of Integro Atlanta, one of the fastest growing brokerages in the industry, tries to recruit server Kelsey of the Bourbon Street Bar into the insurance industry.  Don't laugh, more than one insurance professional got their start this way.

 Lyndsey Bauer (Paragon London), Lee Philips (Chartis London) and Ian "Theo" Theato (Elvis Costello's Band  Allied World) share stories of good times in the U.K. at the AmWins party.

That's it for today's pictures folks.  Be sure to return tomorrow to read a recap of today's sessions, including the intriguing final session featuring senior executives from various companies.  There will also be pictures and a recap of tonight's Statesman Dinner honoring Todd Jones of Willis.  

The 2010 PLUS D&O Symposium officially kicked off today with a schedule packed full of interesting and informative sessions. 

The unofficial start, however, took place last night with the annual "Shots for Charity" fundraiser hockey game.  Your semi-official PLUS blogger didn't make it to the game, but was told that it was another rousing success.  More than 100 people attended the game and, not surprisingly, many more were at the ESPN Zone after-party.

In case you didn't know it, here's the standard industry equation:

Insurance + Party = Lots of People 

Here's a graphic artist's recreation of what the game may have looked like from the Goodyear Blimp:

Your semi-official blogger did, however, make the sacrifice of attending the Tri-City Brokerage party at the Pig 'n Whistle in midtown.  It was a loud and enjoyable affair hosted by the incomparable Garrett Koehn of the San Francisco office.  Tri-City is one of the leading wholesale brokerages in the United States and quite an impressive outfit.  AmWins invited me to a party tonight, so I'm sure I'll have some good things to say about them tomorrow.  You see how I roll.  Here are some pix from the Tri-City event:

Damian Jocke of ACE Westchester told me that he yearned for his wonderful wife, Ellen, and their two cute daughters back home in Atlanta.  Here Damian is shown making a gallant effort to keep his spirits up with colleagues Andrea Landers, Brooke Atwood and Devon Lay. Good job on putting up a brave front Damian.  He was in tears shortly after this picture was snapped.  Poor guy.

Dixie Noel tries to ignore Tom McArdle by leaning against him as if he were a post.  Tom was regaling Dixie with stories of his baseball stardom at Middletown South High School in New Jersey.  Tom, a proud alum of the baseball team, was almost drafted.  By the US Army. 

Cary Nichols (left) of Arch San Francisco and Kirsten Slawson (guess which one she is) yukk it up with host Garrett Koehn.  Garrett was inadvertently omitted from the All-Star Chapter of the leading insurance book "Claims Made & Reported," but that omission has been rectified here.  Great party Garrett! 

Katie Verry and Marty Maslanka seem way too overjoyed to be pictured on this blog.  Oh well, it's one of life's simple pleasures I guess... 

Today's PLUS D&O Symposium program began with a panel on Securities Litigation. It was moderated by Boris Feldman of the Wilson, Sonsini law firm.  Attorneys Bruce Angiolillo, John "Sean" Coffey (doesn't really seem like a nickname for a "John" but that's what the program says...), Patrick Coughlin, Daniel Kramer and Linda Chatman Thomsen provided a lively and insightful review of recent cases and the current state of securities law in the U.S.  I was so engrossed that I forgot to take a picture of the panel, sorry.  They were all good-looking people, as are most in insurance.  I'm hoping this flattery will keep you reading... 

The 11 am session was titled "Mediation Tactics: Who's Part of the Problem/Solution?"  Kevin LaCroix (author of the excellent insurance blog "D&O Diary" at www.dandodiary.com; you should read it as soon as you're done reading every word of this one) was the moderator.  He did an excellent job of leading the panel to reveal some useful mediation strategies. 

Here's a picture of the panel:

 As you can see, I was way in the back of the room. 

Yes, I admit that I got there a bit late. I didn't want to march to the front of the room to snap a photo with my impressive Blackberry camera phone, so this is what you get. 

This is a lesson to everyone out there: PLUS sessions are very popular, get there early and find yourself a seat.  Do as I say and not as I do. Back to the session....

The panel consisted of attorney Max Berger, senior XL Claims manager Steve Gladstone (a former colleague of mine and a good guy so he gets a shout out), attorney Gregory Markel and the Honorable Daniel Weinstein, a retired judge who now serves as a mediator with the JAMS service out of San Francisco. 

This was an especially lively session.  Judge Weinstein, in particular, peppered the conversation with both great insights and some hilarious comments.  At one point he observed "What's that they say, most of the problems of Western Civilization began with .... the brokers!"  

The crowd roared in laughter, except for broker Andy Doherty of Willis NY, one of the best in the business, who jumped up in defense of his fellow brokers by yelling: "No they didn't, the problems started with retired judges!"

Actually, Andy didn't do that.  But I'll bet he was thinking it.  Andy is a friend of mine, and I owed him a favor, so I told him I'd mention him in the blog.  I didn't say how I'd mention him.  Favor repaid. 

Judge Weinstein also made the interesting observation that A-Side insurance coverage is now being called upon to pay claims, whereas in the old days it was a dormant coverage, along the lines of title insurance.  "Who ever made a claim under their title insurance?" he asked.  Great point.

The keynote luncheon speaker was Rudolph Giuliani, former mayor of New York City.  Here's the best picture that I could get of him without being restrained by security:

Bad shot, I know.  Hey, he's an important guy and he doesn't let semi-official bloggers get too close, who could blame him?  This looks sort of like your uncle in a family photo from the 1970s.  Photos of Bigfoot are also usually of this quality.   

Mr. Giuliani spoke about today's economic crisis, how it was caused and how the solutions should be approached.  It was a fascinating, non-partisan discussion.  If you want to know more, you should've attended, sorry.

The first afternoon session, about excess Side-A coverage, was moderated by the very moderate David Goldstein of Willis Boston.  Dave is also a former colleague of mine and a terrific broker.   He's also very modest.  He's a modest and moderate moderator.  You can quote me on that.

Joining Dave on the podium were Carl Bach of Navigators' London office, Randall Bodner, a partner at Ropes & Gray and a former model in the "Most Beautiful Lawyers of Boston" calendar (it's true; I'll bet he didn't expect to see that tidbit in this blog), Joan Goldberg of Wells Fargo Insurance Services in Boston (and one of my industry faves), Mike Karmilowicz (friends just call him "Karm") Head of the Management Solutions Group at Zurich in New York, and a gentleman from ACE Bermuda whose name is not in the program because he was a last-minute substitute for a colleague.  Sorry, I didn't have the presence of mind to write it down when they flashed his name on the screen.  He was a good speaker though, a Brit.  They always sound smart even when what they're saying is total rubbish.  This guy made some excellent points though.  If I come across his name later, I'll include it in a future posting.

This was another very informative session that included cutting-edge insights from a number of perspectives.  The panel also revealed the single most important factor to consider when purchasing or underwriting A-Side coverage.  It was.....nah, if you weren't there you're SOL again.  Sorry.  Next time attend in person and you'll learn these valuable things.   

Finally, I took this photo in the lobby earlier today:

 Here we see senior Chubb honchos (actually, Chubb doesn't have "honchos," let's call them "leaders") Evan Rosenberg and Dave Williams.   They were seen plotting Chubb's world domination of the insurance industry.  Shortly after news of this summit among Chubb's brain trust hit the stock market, Chubb's stock price rocketed to new highs.  

Of course, you know that none of this is true, but Evan and Dave are great guys and I wanted to bust their chops in here somehow....Chubb's stock price may have actually fell if analysts saw them together!  

That's it for this posting, stay tuned for more to come.  Click back often, I need to ratings to maintain my cushy PLUS gig!