Personal Lines Agent Doug Schnetzka was recently interviewed by Kellie Butler of channel 10 news.  They were doing a segment on Hurricane preparedness.  He was asked what homeowners should look for on their hurricane policy and/or homeowner's policy to make sure they had enough coverage in the event of a hurricane loss.  He discussed credits one could receive for having hurricane protective devices for their home and newer roof credits.  In addition, he suggested that one should not wait until the hurricane is at the front door to try and buy the insurance.  He concluded the interview by suggesting to "Review your policies with your agent to make sure you are covered and that you have enough coverage to protect your home.  Flood insurance is a separate policy that is typically NOT covered on your home or wind policy and you should have a separate policy to cover you in the event of flood exposure."     

          Not only is Doug in the news, but he is also busy attending another training class toward his CIC (Certified Insurance Counselor) accreditation.  The class was held at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables Florida, August 16-19^th.  These classes consisted of training in one of 5 areas of insurance.  This particular class was geared toward Commercial Property coverage.  The classes were from 8:30am -5:30pm and on the last day, you are handed a 20 page essay style exam to illustrate what you have learned about the given course study.  Doug adds, "These types of classes really go through policies, paragraph by paragraph, and the instructors use real life examples for each segment.  This is certainly a great learning experience and the education helps on a daily basis in our career."

Jason Brown at the Nation's Capital

Vice President Jason Brown CIC, attended the educational CRM conference (April 23-27) that was held in the great vacation setting of Washington, D.C.  The Certified Risk Managers International (CRM) designation demonstrates that you are knowledgeable in all areas of managing risks, hazards, and exposures.  The five courses give you in-depth knowledge about today's highest priorities – identifying, analyzing, controlling, financing, and administering operational risks – as well as political risks, catastrophic loss exposures, third-party exposures, fiduciary exposures, employee injury exposures, juridical risks, legal risks, and more – whether insurable or not. The skills you learn make you more proactive and valuable to the organization in discovering how risks can interrupt the flow of earnings and how to protect against it. The courses were taught by renowned faculty members. The five CRM courses are:

Principles of Risk Management

Analysis of Risk

Control of Risk

Financing of Risk

 Practice of Risk Management

Each course is 2-½ days of instruction, followed by an optional exam.  Any eligible individual may attend classes without taking the examinations or working toward the designation.  The presentations always reflect the most current laws and policy changes.

CRM courses cover all areas of risk management and feature highly experienced instructors, skilled at making the most sophisticated subjects interesting and directly applicable.  Jason took the first course which dealt with Principles of Risk Management.

The Curriculum is developed by leading risk management practitioners and recognized as the most practical in the industry. In addition, the advisory committee made up of risk management professionals and educators, regularly review the course content to ensure the CRM program's ongoing integrity and practicality.  To Earn the Designation, one must take all five CRM courses and pass all five CRM exams within five calendar years after the completion of the first CRM exam.