With the Vermont Captive Association (VCIA) Conference kicking off today, president Richard Smith recaps what sessions to look out for over the course of the week.
David Pogue, author and founder of Yahoo Tech, is the keynote speaker at lunch on 11 August. He is a world known technology culture expert and will share his great insight on ‘Disruptive Tech: The Unrecognisable New World of Tech and Culture’.
Wearable tech, the cloud, drones, the quantified self, the ‘internet of things’, self-driving cars, and augmented reality: the tech of our world is changing more and more quickly. But the most fascinating aspect that Pogue will talk about is the effect this is having on the society and culture we once knew.
Charles Davis, CEO of Stone Point Capital, will speak at the general session on 10 August, and will share insight on the broader financial services and insurance marketplace, including the flow of capital, new capital sources, mergers and acquisitions, and how the impact of technology investment is likely to affect the insurance industry.
On 9 August, ‘The Original Employee Benefit Captives: Where Are They Now?’ session will be interesting as we re-visit the pioneers of benefit captives and discover their lessons learned and benefits gained. Attendees will learn the interesting history of the past decade of using captives to fund benefits, and see where the industry is today.
On the same day, ‘Captive Re-Feasibility Studies: Remake of a Classic’ will explore the options available to perform a re-feasibility study of your captive; to recognise successful diversification options including unrelated risk in your captive; and to be aware of new ways in which a captive can be used to lower costs of the organisation.
On 10 August, ‘Addressing Cyber Risk with a Captive Solution’ will focus on the trending vulnerabilities and the current state of the cyber market. Our panel includes a risk manager who has implemented cyber coverage into her captive and will share that experience, and an actuary who will discuss pricing mechanisms for these evolving risks.
At the ‘Vermont Captive Quiz Show’ session, attendees will have game-show type experience where they will learn about Vermont’s captive insurance history, usage, management and benefits.
And a mock trial entitled, obviously, ‘Mock Claims Trial: You Be the Jury’ will allow attendees to show captive owners how the claims made within their captive translate into a jury trial and the potential pitfalls of trying a case.
Finally, I always look forward to ‘Hot Topics with David Provost’. Provost is a wealth of knowledge and wit, and will host this dialogue to share with participants news and views on recent developments in captive regulation and practice. I could list a dozen others but I think that gives a good flavour of the topics that will be presented during the conference.
This conference preview was taken from Richard Smith’s interview in the latest issue of Captive Insurance Times. You can read the interview in full here.
