NCCIA
Attendees can expect a diverse range of topics at this year’s North Carolina Captive Conference, according to Jesse Coyle
How has the conference expanded since its first year?
We have seen nothing less than a truly remarkable expansion. Our first education session after enactment of the North Carolina Captive Act had 60 attendees. Then our first conference, held in 2014, had 96 attendees and in 2015 we had 144 attendees. This year we are projecting over 200. This is really remarkable growth for the association. Membership in the association has followed a similar pattern of growth, and this has also held true for sponsors and exhibitors.
In addition, this year, by the end of March, we had sold all of our exhibitor booths and we have now sold all of our sponsorships. Further, between sponsors, exhibitors and speakers alone, we will have approximately 40 companies represented, which is attributable to North Carolina’s growing prominence as a premier domicile.
What topics will this year’s conference focus on?
Our conference does not have a single specific theme. For 2016, the conference planning committee concentrated on attracting a greater number of nationally recognised speakers from a diversified group. As such, this will be a thoroughly well rounded conference.
However, due to feedback from membership, several of our sessions will provide a focus on 831(b) captives, including a plenary session featuring Tim Tarter, lead taxpayer counsel in the Avrahami case; a plenary session dedicated to discussing changes in federal and state law, including the recent federal legislative changes concerning 831(b) captives; and a general emphasis on practical considerations for 831(b) owners and advisors.
Nevertheless, this year we have really tried our best to move the conference away from a single focus. Last year was highly concentrated, and the year before was too, so our goal this year was to make it more diverse.
One of the things we did was to make a collective effect to reach out to companies we haven’t had before, speakers who are nationally known, North Carolina Captive Insurance Association (NCCIA) members, and to otherwise make the conference reach out to people who have not been with us before.
Even though we are trying to avoid a specific focus, we do try to push the need for relevant and up-to-date information, encourage actual experiences, case studies, and discussion regarding current law and legislative changes.
During last year’s conference there were some breakout sessions, which only had one speaker. This year, every session, except one, is going to have at least two speakers. The reason for this is that we believe it is more interactive, and means the information presented will be more diversified.
We expect this conference to be strong in attendance, representation, and quality, and that it will help continue to move North Carolina to where it belongs, in the top tier of US captive domiciles.
What sessions are you most looking forward to?
I think the bookends of the conference are going to be very important. On the front end there will be attorney Tim Tarter and the Avrahami case. That’s going to be really interesting for his insight on how he is handling the most important captive case in the last year or two.
We also have attorneys Bruce Wright, Chaz Lavelle and Tom Jones, who will be doing a federal and state legislative update, which is always relevant and essential. I think those two bookends are going to be really strong.
On a personal level, I look forward to Adam Forstot of USA Risk talking about redomistications. In North Carolina, we are getting a lot of redomestications and for me that really jumps out of the agenda. I think for the overall audience it will be well rounded, and that these sessions will be well received.
What have NCCIA’s priorities been in terms of captives for this year?
We spent a great deal of effort, along with the North Carolina Department of Insurance (NCDOI), crafting and passing legislation to enhance the regulatory climate for captives domiciled here, based on information gathered by our governmental affairs committee from the membership.
We were successful in those efforts and I believe our members and others will see what a strong association can do for its members on the governmental front. That activity adds to the value proposition to our members.
Then, in post-legislative efforts, we’ll work to increase other benefits in the communication and promotion areas of the association, thereby increasing the overall membership benefits. We will also have board turnover too, so in the last five months of the year we will be discussing that and getting ready for 2017.
Young domiciles can come and go pretty easily, so for us to be serious participants in the captive industry we have to grow as a state, as a domicile, and as an association.
