Bernie Heinze has led the AAMGA well down the road to being a dominant force in the specialty property-casualty insurance industry, and has the association primed to lean into the curves ahead
The image of Bernd G. "Bernie" Heinze, Esq., wearing a tuxedo while sitting on his 2010 Harley-Davidson Electra-Glide Ultra Classic might remind you a little of those Dos Equis beer commercials featuring "The Most Interesting Main in the World."
In insurance circles, you might be hard pressed to find a more interesting, well-connected character than Heinze, now in his 13th year as the executive director of the American Association of Managing General Agents (AAMGA).
He is licensed to practice law before the US and Pennsylvania Supreme Courts and is certified by all state insurance departments to present continuing education courses pertaining to insurance and legal matters. He regularly speaks to industry audiences and testifies in insurance cases as an expert witness. Oh, and he’s also a member of the fire department of Montgomery Township in Pennsylvania, and was mentored by the Honorable Jack Kemp while serving as a legislative aide to the former high-profile congressman from New York.
“I have been extremely fortunate in my life’s journey so far, with incredible opportunities and memorable achievements, both personally and professionally,” Heinze says. “It has given my wife, daughters and me a unique way of hearing other people’s stories and, in that process, to develop lasting friendships.”
These days Heinze is firmly entrenched as the face of the AAMGA, which represents more than 500 corporate members and is respected as the leader and voice of the wholesale and excess and surplus lines insurance industry. During his tenure, the 88-year-old organization has become much more proactive in legislative and regulatory issues, and has developed into a leading advocate for the specialty property-casualty insurance industry.
In advance of May’s AAMGA annual meeting in Hawaii, Insurance Business America checked in with Heinze to learn more not only about current issues on the association’s plate but also about the person who has become one of the most influential figures in the industry.
INTERIM TITLE GOES AWAY FAST
His deep involvement with AAMGA began in earnest when his good friend, and the association’s president at the time, Len LoVullo, reached out to him to step in as interim executive director and keep the organization on track for its 75th anniversary celebration festivities in 2001. A well-known Philadelphia lawyer at the time, Heinze had little association management experience, but had great business skills to go with his legal and insurance background. He was also familiar with the membership from teaching courses on behalf of the association, and had a passion for the AAMGA and its purpose.
Heinze and AAMGA past president Tom Rogan formed Accolade Management Services Inc, and submitted a bid that earned Accolade a three-year contract to manage the association, with Heinze serving as executive director. Heinze assumed full control of Accolade following Rogan’s retirement, and Accolade is still retained today to manage the Philadelphia-based association, the AAMGA University and Foundation.
ACCOMPLISHED ADVOCATE
Heinze has championed the association’s advocacy efforts on a variety of fronts over the years, including proposing a key addition to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC’s) Model Act clarifying that compensation disclosure agreements would not be applicable to wholesale intermediaries; favoring state regulation over comprehensive federal regulation; resisting attempts to repeal the McCarron-Ferguson Act preserving the anti-trust exemption for the
insurance industry; and backing the Nonadmitted and Reinsurance Reform Act within the Dodd- Frank Act, which simplified the complex and conflicting web of taxing, licensing and eligibility rules for surplus lines insurance.
Currently, the AAMGA is actively engaged in the various iterations of the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers Act (NARAB) and its successive bills. The association has responded to inquiries from Congress, various federal agencies and the NAIC, submitting testimony in support of the legislation. Heinze says the legislation would create a streamlined agent and broker licensing system that would strengthen the competitive insurance market while maintaining important consumer protections.
“In the increasingly mobile society in which we live, NARAB would allow agents and brokers to more efficiently operate on a multistate basis,” Heinze says.
“Our membership, as well as other agents and brokers, will benefit from NARAB’s passage by bringing agent and broker licensing into the modern age, eliminating inefficiencies and overhead costs unrelated to risk securitization.”
Internally, the AAMGA’s board has been hard at work for the past couple of years on a new strategic plan intended to strengthen the value proposition and ensure the organization and its members remain relevant and ahead of the curve. Heinze says the ongoing effort has revealed the need for a consistent message representative of all members of the wholesale insurance industry. This has led to changes in the membership criteria.
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“Members presently account for over $22.6bn of annual written premium,” Heinze says. “We expect this to increase substantially as more wholesale facilities join the association.”
Heinze says the strategic intent of the association is to remain focused on challenges, opportunities and the integral importance of wholesale insurance professionals.
“That will ensure the relevancy, sustainability, growth and leadership of the AAMGA, and provide the greatest value to each of our members,” Heinze says. “The impact of the effort will be to continue to provide greater confidence in the market, raise the standards and competencies of the industry, leverage the strength of the consolidated membership, and further enhance its reliability and credibility.”
Earlier this year, AAMGA’s senior leadership met with the big three from the Lloyd’s of London syndicate to discuss the urgent need for coordinating a global standard for regulating the surplus lines industry. Lloyd’s is an integral market for AAMGA members to place specialty risks, and more than 185 Lloyd’s coverholders are members of the AAMGA.
“We have already begun to see the benefits of those meetings emerge,” Heinze says, noting that the Lloyd’s Market Association and the Managing General Agents Association have both submitted applications to join the AAMGA. “This will promote an even closer relationship and ability to leverage the combined interests of the marketplace on matters of mutual importance. It will also enable their leadership to attend all AAMGA meetings.”
At a time when market opportunity can often be elusive or difficult to exploit, Heinze says, having all the influential players of the industry under the same umbrella simply makes good sense. “It enables us to address any problems as they arise and solve them and, by the same token, to collaborate on the best ways in which to provide greater opportunities to the entire membership.”
AAMGA president Frank Mastowski says the meetings in London “will help every Lloyd’s AAMGA coverholder save money and reduce the reporting requirements when placing business with Lloyds.”
THE WAR ON KEYSTROKES
“A key initiative of our industry is centered on the ever-increasing importance of and relentless appetite for data to be used for predictive analytics and other purposes,” Heinze says. The ongoing “war on keystrokes” is being waged to reduce redundant efforts and improve efficiencies. Educating and providing access to new automation and technology solutions for the entire wholesale insurance industry is imperative.
Heinze says the importance of the nature and scope of technology being used by all involved in the insurance transaction is why AAMGA’s Automation Committee continues partnering with
ACORD, the Big I’s Agents Council on Technology, and has a leadership role on the Excess & Surplus Lines Joint Working Group.
“These efforts are focused on finding consistent, efficient, and implementable solutions for all those in the insurance transaction,” Heinze says. “Helping our members and their respective customers to improve their operations through automation and technology is a key priority of the AAMGA.”
BUILDING THE NEXT GENERATION
The AAMGA’s Under Forty Organization is growing its membership record levels, and Heinze says the association views the efforts of the group as an indispensable component of AAMGA’s future.
He says the AAMGA is also engaged in efforts with the Gamma lota Sigma student fraternity and RMI University programs throughout the country to help sponsor their programs, afford shadowing opportunities with association members to students, and encourage them to pursue a career in the industry.
“We are equipping our young members with access to industry thought leaders, leadership certificated programs and educational initiatives through which they can structure a learning development plan to ensure the continuity of the marketplace,” Heinze says.
ENGAGING MEMBERS
The AAMGA has seven standing committees comprised of 122 volunteer members. Heinze calls these committees the real incubators of new ideas and solutions to ever-changing market conditions. Committee members network monthly with their peers on issues and opportunities they are able to see first-hand, and become personally involved in the development of solutions. This includes the new Emerging Risks Committee that is being launched to allow members to share new ideas and address new risks as they arise.
“There are certain realities in the insurance business and the world’s current economic situation; and while there are some factors that are intransigent, there are others that we can confidently mold and shape if we are far enough ahead of the trends,” Heinze says. “The old adage is true that one can either take risks and lead, or sit back and follow. We are committed to the former.
