From the NASBP President
I always have been someone who jumps in with “both feet” to pursue activities about which I care deeply, and, once I commit, I engage with passion and purpose. Taking on the privilege and the responsibility of being the NASBP President has been the same for me and has given me even greater appreciation for all that is done by volunteers and by staff to move our association and our treasured industry forward. It is nearly impossible to realize the scope of the association’s endeavors fully as a casual observer; those having the opportunity to take part in NASBP leadership, however, quickly are humbled by what transpires to preserve, protect, and promote our livelihoods. That is why I encourage all of us to engage in the life of NASBP with passion and purpose. Once you are so engaged, you cannot help but feel a sense of gratitude and a feeling of belonging to something excellent. As Voltaire once remarked: “Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.”
There is much to appreciate in the work and accomplishments of NASBP in 2022, as the organization, through its dedicated volunteers and staff, jumped into pursuing objectives with unbridled passion and purpose fully on display. Right before the year turned, NASBP realized one of its greatest legislative victories—exempting the federal Miller Act from periodic indexing for inflation—as a legislative remedy was signed into law on December 27, 2021. Similarly, NASBP and SFAA successfully advocated for bond requirements on Transportation Infrastructure Finance & Innovation Act funded projects. The momentum built through those considerable advocacy victories carried on as NASBP co-hosted a series of successful SuretyPAC events in early March to show appreciation to those members of Congress who support issues of interest to surety professionals.
NASBP also held a virtual federal legislative fly-in to again bring awareness to congressional offices about the surety industry’s importance to federal procurement and to the welfare of the nation’s economy. Working in tandem with our stakeholder organizations in the Construction Industry Procurement Coalition this year, NASBP advocacy efforts also produced the introduction of new legislation, H.R. 8273, the Small Business Payment for Performance Act of 2022, to ensure that federal contractors are not unfairly burdened with financing unilateral government change orders. This legislation was included as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023.
NASBP continues to reach out in many ways and in many directions to build appreciation for the surety product. I enjoy, as I hope you do, the engaging NASBP Podcast series, Let’s Get Surety, which illuminates through entertaining guests the multi-faceted world of surety, and the informative issues of NASBP’s magazine, Surety Bond Quarterly. NASBP has stepped up its game in social media presence and released throughout this year a new Be Guaranteed to Succeed video series, termed “surety shorts,” which provides succinct reasons that project owners need surety bonds to mitigate risks. I also was fortunate to be an ambassador for bond producer perspectives as an invited speaker at the Surety Claims Institute and at the Pearlman Conference.
Let’s not forget the very memorable educational and meeting events held in 2022. My congratulations to Immediate Past President Tracy Tucker for hosting an amazing Annual Meeting in May with near-record attendance. We have had great turnout at both the winter and the summer Surety Schools with enthusiastic students, who portend a bright future for the surety industry, and very successful East and West Meetings in Boston and San Antonio, respectively.
I am buoyed by the evident passion and purpose we, as the NASBP community, bring into 2023, and I am confident that NASBP is well positioned for the challenges and the opportunities that lay ahead.
Yours with passion and purpose,
Nick Newton
NASBP President and
Senior Vice President–Surety
Assured Partners of Minnesota, LLC
St. Paul, MN