Foundation Agreements: Constructing Clarity in Contracts

For years, homeowners and personal automobile insurance has been an afterthought for most owners of homes and vehicles.  The policies reviewed annually without much fanfare or thought.  It seems that all of a sudden we have had a seismic shift in awareness and challenges.  2023 saw the largest number of billion dollar claim events and these were concentrated not only on the coasts but also in the interior of the country.  They ranged from flood, wind, fire, hail, and tornado activity.  This has resulted in significant profitability challenges for personal lines insurance carriers and changes in what is available in the market and what is expected of insurance purchasers.  The carriers all assume they will continue to be on the front line of these increased natural disasters and don't see a likelihood of a slow down in this activity in the coming years.  Matt Akin, leader of the personal lines business at Kraus-Anderson Insurance Agency joins us this month to shed some light on the current challenges and some possible solutions.  

Construction projects are like a big family tree with lots of lines between owners, developers, architects, engineers, general contractors, and subcontractors.  There may be nothing more tedious and more important than reviewing and understanding your contracts and agreements and how they interact will all of those other lines on the family tree.  It is rare to find experts who are able to demystify contract language while also providing practical advice that can minimize your project risks.  Our guests this month are able to do both.  We are thrilled to share the insights of Liz Poeschl of Meagher & Geer and Johnna Wangensteen of Kraus-Anderson Insurance, and we hope you can find a few ideas to benefit your risk management practices.  

Companies that learn how to anticipate a crisis can turn that event into a positive business experience and those that are unprepared may never recover.  Evaluating and imagining low frequency/high severity risks that could materialize in a five to ten year horizon allows for planning and the ability to practice various scenarios.  Crisis management through risk governance processes will add uncalculatable value to any business, large or small.  Hart Brown, the CEO of Future Point of View, joins us this month to dive into the benefits of pre-planning for a crisis and the steps required.  Hart has managed countless assessments, developed response plans, and led businesses through some of the most complex crises.  The list of potential risks continues to grow.  Are you ready for a fire, flood, shooting, cyber incident, reputational attack, or the next pandemic?  Have you considered the pending downfall of electronic encryption or the impact of an international socio-political shift?  Join us as we learn about ways to plan for those infrequent, unexpected, and severe risk events.    

A chance encounter with a table of free donuts started Scott Anderson down an actuarial career path unknown to him at the time.  Since then, Scott has become one of the best at explaining why your claim history may not really be your final claim history and how insurance companies use claim history to predict the financial future.  Do you wonder why your insurance rates increase while your historical claims seem so low?  Did you know that the profitability of your insuyrance company may be lower than that of your own busines?  Can you improve your financial planning with a good understanding of the tools that insurance companies use to predict what your claims are likely to be in future years?  Scott spent the first part of his career in senior actuarial roles with several insurance companies, helping to evaluate history and predict future claim activity.  More recently, he leads Actuarial Advisors, Inc., a successful consulting company that assists many businesses to better understand their own loss experience and plan for the financial impacts.  Join us this month as we demystify the world of claim history, rate making, and insurance finance.  

Minnesota is heading toward legalization of recreational marijuana by the end of May.  The changing landscape has already impacted, and will continue to impact employer drug testing programs.  Legalization does not change the fact that employers still very much have the ability to require a drug free workplace, however, the tools and techniques to ensure compliance are changing and getting more complex.  There may be differences between pre-employment and post-employment testing.  There will be differences between various employee types including safety sensitive jobs and individuals that are subject to federal Department of Transportation regulations.  There will continue to be differences between state regulations.  Traditional drug testing will still play an important role, and will be augmented by improved impairment recognition training, advancements in testing techniques, extreme clarity in company policy, and very consistent policy implementation.  Many employers have already adjusted to the changing landscape in order to continue to maintain a drug free workplace.  Judy Praska, owner of Fastest Labs of Bloomington joins us this month to add some perspective to this very challenging and complex issue.  

One of the greatest risks that businesses face without much of a safety net involves hiring and retaining the right people for the job.  In a tight labor market, the winners will understand the market and evolve to meet the moment.  GenZ has already entered the workforce and will be the future for many years.   This group has had unique experiences that has shaped their outlook and expectations.  Brian Johnson, co-founder and partner at Katapult Network, focuses primarily on entry level roles for recent college graduates.  He consults with both candidates and employers to help bridge the gap between traditional hiring practices and what he calls the future of work.  Join the discussion to hear Brian's perspective and advice for leading the way and securing the talent you need to grow your business. 

There must be a better way.  At times, the traditional insurance procurement process feels inefficient and inconsistent.  The group captive model looks to turn that process on its head by returning control to you.  A captive is an insurance company that is owned by the members that it insures.  For businesses with a strong risk management and safety commitment, captives not only provide an opportunity to improve the process of procuring insurance, but also provide opportunity to decrease the cost of managing risk.  Jean Sundlof, Director of Captives at Kraus-Anderson Insurance joins us for an in depth discussion that includes an understanding of how captives work, the  ideal candidate for captive programs, and the benefits that await those captive members.  Find out if this model is right for you and ways you can take your risk management program to the next level!

Increasing property valuations, inflation, supply chain disruption, and frequency of natural catastrophes are just a few of the challenges facing the property insurance marketplace.  The forecast is for many of these challenges to persist, however, all is not lost.  More technologies and engineering solutions than ever before are available to mitigate the impact of these events.  Advanced planning can help to ensure these events cause only a distraction and not a complete disruption of your business.  Kim Kreke, Midwest Area Manager for Affiliated FM, a leading property insurance company, joins us for this episode.  Kim sheds light on the industry challenges, the impact to property owners, and some of the solutions available to reduce the impacts of these events.  

71% of the earth is covered in it.  All of us need to drink it and most businesses rely on it.  We can live in hot environments and cold environments, but we can't live without water and we can't live under the water.  Water has also been one of the leading causes of loss for the insurance industry and one of the leading risk impacts on business profitability and sustainability.  It is a vital resource, with risks that we can't afford to take for granted.  Floods, droughts, hail, rain, snow and everyday leaks are more unpredictable, more severe, and impacting more people and more geographies every day.  Divirod helps to map, manage, and predict water risks while protecting properties and saving lives.  Javier Marti, the CEO and founder of Divirod joins us this month to discuss the impact of water risks and ways to assess and prepare for various impacts.  

The insurance industry has been on the forefront of climate impacts as the frequency of storms and fires continues to increase.  Those impacts are felt throughout the entire business ecosystem.  The transition to a more resilient economy has already begun in many areas, but the legislation that has recently passed, is intended to accelerate the goal of a 40% reduction in emissions by 2030.  Through direct investments and tax incentives, the law will impact strategic plans for architects, engineers, contractors, manufacturers, agriculture, commercial real estate, municipalities, and schools.  Lindene Patton is an attorney at The Earth and Water Group in Washington DC.  She is a recognized thought leader in climate attribution liability, financial risk management, and resilience assessment.  We are thrilled to have Lindene share her insights into our transition to a more resilient climate economy and walk us through all the impacts of the new investments on the business community.