CICMA Ontario Chapter president John Saragosa

Six months into his tenure as president of the Ontario Chapter of the Canadian Insurance Claims Managers Association (CICMA), John Saragosa and his executive team are focused on increasing membership in the organization.

Saragosa joined the CICMA almost six years ago, under the advice of his vice president, as a way to become more involved in the industry. He has served as secretary, treasurer, arbitrations and qualifications and now is serving a year-long tenure as president of the Ontario Chapter. Due to changes at the executive level, Saragosa “leap-frogged” over the vice president position and straight to the presidency. The changes resulted in the recruitment of a number of key individuals from claims companies who are bringing fresh ideas and fresh outlooks on how to improve the industry and how to increase membership.

The current membership is close to 200, but Saragosa would like to see that number increase.

Attracting new claims professionals

“Our objective is to attract the new claims professional,” Saragosa said of his goal as president. He said the organization is not just trying to attract the claims manager, even though that is the in the name of the association.

The landscape of the industry as a whole is changing. Just 20 years ago, Saragosa said, claims managers were up-to-date — “and I’m not saying they are not now” — but the industry is changing and it’s much more technical because of accident benefits and bodily injury with threshold and deductibles.

“We find that the landscape of our industry requires more technical expertise,” Saragosa said. “A lot of companies are focusing on that and we want to attract those people, those senior level technical specialists.” He noted such specialists don’t all carry the claims manager title any more. Sometimes they are known as the claims coordinator, claims specialist, claims consultant or claims analyst.

Working with the national team

The executive team of the Ontario chapter is working with the national team to recognize the changes in the industry within claims departments and to attract people that can bring a lot of technical expertise to the association — expertise that can be used at arbitration and during educational seminars. Major changes within SABS, BI Tort and environmental contamination mean claims personnel need to be up to speed to ensure these losses are adjusted and claimed properly.

“We’re working with the national to include those people and bring their expertise to our association,” Saragosa said. “(Want to) ensure we work with the national to attract those new individuals that can bring their experience to the table and assist us and assist claims in general.”

Promoting the arbitration agreement

Another main focus of the Ontario chapter and the national chapter is to promote the arbitration agreement and ensure that it is working within the industry.

The CICMA provides a tool — an arbitration agreement — that companies can use to arbitrate claims that are in dispute, such as a liability situation. The dispute is brought before to the CICMA and before a panel of three managers a decision is made. It is a way for companies to save on expenses, essentially legal costs. “We want to ensure that we look at ways to save money when it’s appropriate, and using the arbitration agreement — using the experience and knowledge of our members to decide disputes — is good for both companies that are at issue,” Saragosa said.

Another focus of the CICMA is adjuster licensing. The association has a representative that sits on the licensing panel who asks questions, along with a representative from the OIAA and the CIAA. “Obviously we’re interested in that because the independent adjusters are important to our industry because they assist us with the adjusting services,” Saragosa said.

Adjuster licensing is a key focus

To help ensure people are working in the field in future, the CICMA has established the Canadian Insurance Claims Managers Association Scholarship, which will award $1,000 each year to a student at Wilfred Laurier University who shows an interest in the claims area and has shown scholastic skills, participates in school activities and exemplifies leadership qualities.

Saragosa noted most people fall into claims: They do not go to school with the intent of being a claims adjuster or a claims manager or a claims specialist. The industry needs to publicize the job more and do a better job of recruiting new talent. “It’s a very satisfying job because you deal with a lot of people,” Saragosa said. “You feel worthwhile because you’re assisting those that require assistance. During the course of that, you’re dealing with professionals: doctors lawyers, engineers.

Recognize those who paved the road

It’s about focusing on where the industry has been, Saragosa said. He noted he wants not only to focus on the new and the changing, but to recognize those that have brought a lot to the industry and the CICMA.

Saragosa’s goals are in line with the CICMA mandate, which is “to promote the image of our industry specific to claims, develop relationships between people with similar responsibilities, exchange information, use the association as a platform for education and… to promote what we have internally is called the inter-company arbitration agreement.”

Annual Joint Conference

Moving forward on the education front, CICMA will be hosting the 41st annual joint conference with the CIAA, where the future of paper will be discussed. Saragosa extended a thank-you to the organizing committee.

“The days if the old paper files are slowly becoming history,” Saragosa said. “We’re going to learn about that and what other companies are doing.”

In today’s age of enormous technological change affecting both our personal and business lives, the topic is timely and of interest to all who work in our industry. In this competitive market, we all continue to strive to gain efficiencies in our operations. At the end of the day, despite all of the wonderful advancements in technology that make adjusting claim files more economical and efficient, our industry will remain consumer focused which means people will make the difference and set apart the competition, Saragosa said.

But the joint conference is not only about education. It’s about developing relationships and rapports with others in the industry.

“It’s a very good opportunity to do that.” •