The City of Fountains Sparkled for NCIGF's 2025 Annual Conference

The NCIGF community gathered in Kansas City, Missouri on April 24-25 to participate in the NCIGF Annual Meeting of Members and the 2025 NCIGF Annual Conference. Home state executive director, Tamara Kopp, joined by Lorrie Brouse, Executive Secretary for the Tennessee Insurance Guaranty Association, emceed the event.

Members were welcomed to Kansas City by the Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance Director, Angela Nelson, who remarked, “I appreciate this group so much…you are the backbone and the safety net."

Designated representatives from each state involved in NCIGF had the opportunity to take part in the business portion of the event, where five NCIGF board members were re-elected to the board. Those members were: Patrick Foltyn (Cincinnati Insurance), Chris Roe (TruStage), Traci Smith (Chubb), Joe Torti (Fairfax), and Arthur Russell (MS). Lorrie Brouse (TN) was elected to her first term on the board. Outgoing chairman, Joe Torti recognized Brad Roeber (CA) as the new NCIGF board chair and Neil Jackson (State Farm) as vice chair after their election by the NCIGF Board of Directors following the Annual Meeting of Members.

During his outgoing chairman's remarks, Joe Torti highlighted the initiatives he was most proud of during his tenure: the NCIGF 2025+ Strategic Plan, the Kindness & Respect Statement, the Manager Roundtable events, and the ongoing development of GSI’s FOCUS product (claims system). He concluded his remarks with heartfelt thanks to the membership for their continued support during his tenure as chair and concluded by saying, “We are all part of a system that provides a great public service.”

Kansas City is the headquarters for the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and several presentations focused on NAIC issues were delivered by NAIC staff, such as “NAIC Explained: A Fundamental Overview,” “Overview of Solvency Monitoring and FAWG,” and “P&C Market Updates and Climate/CAT Initiatives.” These panels garnered numerous questions from an eager audience, who sought insight and posed guaranty fund-specific queries to NAIC representatives. In recent years, the important topics of pre-liquidation planning and receiver relations have been central initiatives within the NCIGF community, and these topics relate directly to building crucial connections within the NAIC.

Other presentations included a timely topic from long-time advisor and diversity expert for NCIGF, Lloyd Freeman, on “Navigating Change: The Impact of the 2025 Executive Orders on Workplace DEI Programs.” Of great interest was a panel from the guaranty fund manager’s perspective on the compelling need to develop GSI FOCUS (the official name for the claims system project). During this session, Cathy Bazant (OR) shared, “Knowing it is a system built by the guaranty funds for the guaranty funds is very appealing to me.” Mark Tsutsui (TX) added, “The appeal for me is that we won’t be doing this alone. We are building the system together.”

The conference also included an executive report on all things NCIGF from the NCIGF Executive Team led by Roger Schmelzer, President & CEO, featuring Ashley Rosenberger, General Counsel, Robin Webb-Reus, VP of Corporate Affairs, and Mike Ulmer, VP of Technology Services and Finance Operations.

Always a highlight of the NCIGF Annual Conference, the evening reception included the presentation of the ninth Gates-Marchman award. This year the award went to South Carolina P&C Guaranty Association Executive Director, Smitty Harrison. “Smitty Harrison is not only a long-time advocate of the guaranty funds and policyholder protection, but he is also my friend and a friend to many of you here today.” – Roger Schmelzer

For the first time ever, a second Gates-Marchman Award will also be presented, sometime later this year.

The next NCIGF education event will be the 2025 NCIGF Legal Seminar followed by the 2025 NCIGF Fall Workshop, taking place in Honolulu, Hawaii, on October 29-30. To stay up to date on all NCIGF events, please check out the events tab on NCIGF’s homepage.

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