Industry veteran Gil Hine--president of McClelland and Hine, of Atlanta and Texas, and the newly elected president of NAPSLO--spoke with Insurance Business America this week about the industry and what he hopes to accomplish at NAPSLO during his tenure as president.
He said NAPSLO is on the right track and does not need him to set a new agenda. “Really, I think the biggest challenge is to attract and build new leadership in the industry,” he said, adding that NAPSLO is already doing that through internships and other training and mentoring programs.
“If you get good people into the industry and develop them, then you can address the challenges that continually face the industry. That is my top priority with NAPSLO and it is one NAPSLO is already addressing and has been addressing. I do not have an agenda for major change at NAPSLO. If I can help it continue to execute these programs at a high level, continue to build these programs, then that is what I want to do.”
He said he thinks the industry is in good shape financially. “The E&S markets are well capitalized. The industry does a good job assessing risk and is well versed in dealing with volatility,” he said.
Hine said he thinks the biggest challenges beyond attracting new people to the profession and giving them the training they need to succeed comes from cyber risk and exposure to catastrophic weather. Weather risk is being managed through better modeling, he said. “Technology is helping the industry understand weather risk better and also helping us make better underwriting decisions.”
Hine has dedicated much of his career to involvement and leadership with such organizations as NAPSLO, and he said his company is not alone in making participation in industry groups a priority.
“I have a real passion for the business. It has been good to me, and it is important to give back. Our agency has made a commitment to service within in the industry, and I see a lot of agencies doing that. We (NAPSLO) expect about 260 people to attend Committee Day next week in Dallas, so you know there are an awful lot of people and a lot of agencies committed to giving back to this community and working to make the industry stronger. I know there is a commitment on the part of brokers and agencies to get their people involved. We had more than 4000 people at this year’s NAPSLO conference—it was the largest ever, so people are definitely involved in working together for the good of the industry.”
McClelland and Hine (MHI) is a managing general agent and excess and surplus lines broker. MHI began writing business in San Antonio in 1982 and has since expanded to Houston and Dallas. In 2013, MHI opened its first office outside of Texas. The Atlanta branch office services retail agents throughout Georgia and Alabama.
MHI provides specialty and surplus lines markets in four states and has annual premium volume of approximately $55 million.
