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.