Just two months into the year and NASBP already has undertaken impactful initiatives that benefit bond producers and underwriters.

Throughout the last two months the NASBP Officers have interviewed many executives of NASBP Affiliate surety companies. Each year through in-person and virtual meetings the NASBP Officers speak with surety executives to learn about surety companies’ challenges and accomplishments that occurred in the past year and to gain their thoughts on their companies and on the industry as a whole in the near future.

This invaluable process provides direct insight into the health, concerns, and aspirations of the surety industry. Each year NASBP CEO Mark McCallum evaluates and summarizes the responses to these interviews and the results of a survey sent to all NASBP Affiliate surety executives. McCallum will provide a short presentation highlighting this information at the upcoming Annual Meeting in Austin and will contribute an article on this subject to the summer issue of Surety Bond Quarterly.

I extend my gratitude to the NASBP surety executives who have completed the online survey and those we interviewed this year. They have taken the time to give us their honest assessment and their unique perspectives of the surety industry, information from which we all benefit.

An irrefutable fact of life for any industry is the importance of attracting the next generation of talent to the industry. The surety industry needs more talent, so efforts to bring these satisfying surety careers to the attention of career seekers is more than warranted.

The NASBP leadership, under a new strategic plan, will focus on developing a surety careers curriculum and awareness program through NASBP’s Surety Industry Research Foundation (SIRF), created to help fund industry research and educational initiatives. NASBP already has reached out to a prominent business and insurance educator, University of Kansas Professor Kurt Krueger, to guide and to assist with developing such a curriculum, along with a connected internship program. Once the surety careers curriculum and awareness program is finalized later this year, NASBP will publicize its launch and will enlist the NASBP community in its support. This effort also coincides with NASBP’s revamp of its career center resources. The NASBP Career Center has been renamed to SuretyJobs.org, and more resources have been added to the site. See related article in this issue.

Finally, I would like to remind you about the upcoming deadline for nominations for the 2023 NASBP and SFAA Surety Industry Awards, Tuesday, March 5, 2024 and recently extended to March 8, 2024. I am aware you are not promoting surety just to win awards. But we want to recognize you and your colleagues’ efforts in promoting surety and helping to establish positive awareness of the surety product. Recognition of these vital efforts is critical to encouraging others in the industry to make the outreach and to spend the time to promote the value and benefits of surety bonds, strengthening our cherished industry for all.

Be sure to complete the nomination form to be recognized for the work you or a colleague has put into persuading a private owner or lender to require a surety bond on its project. Those that document such efforts are eligible for recognition as Tiger Trust recipients. Are you aware that the Tiger Trust was first awarded in 1984? Yes, it’s been 40 years. Why not submit your nomination for the Tiger Trust to see if you will be a recipient of the Tiger Trust for the award’s 40th Anniversary!