The NASBP & SFAA Surety Industry Awards recognize surety professionals and local surety associations for promoting the value and protections of contract surety bonds in construction to non-surety audiences and for advocating on behalf of the surety industry to obligees and legislators.

Winners of the Platinum Award and the Silver Award were recently announced. The winners will be recognized at the 2025 NASBP Annual Meeting & Expo and the 2025 SFAA Annual Meeting.

The Platinum Award is given to an individual, who is employed by a SFAA or NASBP member company, whose efforts to promote contract surety bonds have had a significant impact on the surety industry. This award is not based on the volume of activities, but on the successful outcome of the individual’s actions in promoting the value and benefits of contract surety bonds.

This year, the Platinum Award was given to Ralph Pulver, Vice President, Construction Services/Bond with Travelers Bond & Specialty Insurance. Pulver has dedicated his career to the promotion of surety bonds. He has been a NASBP William J. Angell Surety School faculty member for 25 years, mentoring the next generation of surety underwriters and bond producers. Pulver has also testified before Congress on the value of suretyship. His underwriting has spanned various territories during his career, and he has promoted suretyship throughout his amazing career. Congratulations Ralph!

The Silver Award is given to Local Surety Associations (LSAs) that conduct at least five public relations and educational activities in a calendar year that promote the use of contract surety bonds in construction to non-surety, non-insurance, or non-lawyer audiences. Two LSAs were honored this year:

The Surety Association of Ohio made educational presentations about the importance of surety bonding to small, emerging, and minority contractor groups. They also presented to contractors enrolled in the U.S. Department of Transportation Bonding Education Program.

The Surety Association of San Diego presented to contractors about the basics of bonding, understanding forms, and growing a surety program.  They presented at a construction expo for public agencies about the value of surety bonds for private and public contracts and also presented to the Choctaw Tribe about the benefits of bonding.

No submissions were received for the Tiger Trust, Gold, or Advocacy Awards this year.

The judges for the Surety Industry Awards this year were:

From NASBP:

• Monica Donatelli (IMA, Inc.)
• Robert Coon (Scott Insurance)
• Mark McCallum (NASBP)

From SFAA:

• Steve Ruschak (Arch Insurance Group)
• Ryan Work (SFAA)

Congratulations to all the winners! Now is the time to be thinking about submissions for Surety Industry Awards in 2026!