Profile: Dan Danyluk

The independent insurance brokerage community’s national lobby group, the Insurance Brokers Association of Canada (IBAC), has shifted into higher gear in terms of “visibility” and playing a more active role in coordinating actions with the 11 provincial broker associations representing about 27,000 “stakeholders”. The main thrusts of IBAC will be to act as a conduit of communication and rally volunteer resources in serving the association’s prime mandate of keeping independent brokers “outfront” in the public eye, says IBAC’s newly appointed chief executive officer, Dan Danyluk.

The greatest strength of Canada’s independent brokers is that the community works as a “team”, and “IBAC [the Insurance Brokers Association of Canada] is the national face,” comments Dan Danyluk, who took on the association’s newly created position of CEO in mid-March of this year. Faced with having to sometimes “sell” huge cover price increases to policyholders, while being confronted by declining markets and added political pressure on the regulatory front as the “hard market” continues to exert pressure throughout the insurance industry, Danyluk says “in this kind of market, communication is going to be huge for us. I can’t think of a province where brokers aren’t dealing with regulators.”

In being appointed CEO of IBAC, Danyluk replaces Brendan Wycks who had held the position of “executive director”. Has there been a fundamental shift in IBAC’s direction as well as its executive in the creation of the new CEO position? Danyluk’s response is that IBAC, from a strategic perspective, has decided to “move up to the next level” in terms of visibility and “the [CEO] title reflects more the responsibilities of the association in dealing with national issues”. Danyluk describes the shift in executive responsibility as “an evolutionary development” which will see him playing more of an “activist role” in IBAC’s interaction with the insurance industry and on the regulatory front.

Getting the job was not easy, Danyluk says. IBAC employed the services of a professional recruitment consultant in determining the qualities and responsibilities of the position. The “numerous candidates” were each asked to prepare a “vision for IBAC”, which then had to be put across in a presentation. “Afterwards, we were grilled on our visions,” comments Danyluk. “I thought I might be a bit too controversial for the job. I believe IBAC has to be proactive, even if this means taking an unpopular stance.”

With a longstanding involvement in broker association affairs through the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario (IBAO), as well as serving on several of IBAC’s committees such as “professional development” and the “broker identity program”, Danyluk believes he has the right experience and handle on what is expected of the CEO position. Furthermore, he points out the extensive experience he gained in running a “not-for-profit” organization, the Junior Achievement of London, Ontario, as well as a stint in public service through the Ontario Ministry of Labour where he was responsible for developing employment programs.

A major part of heading up organizations such as these is “marshalling resources” such as volunteers, Danyluk notes. IBAC, being a national lobby body representing the interests of its provincial constituents, relies heavily on volunteer support in driving its various projects, he adds. And, in putting himself forward as a candidate for the CEO position, Danyluk says he did his own “due diligence”. “This job combines everything I’ve done in my life. Having been involved [in a broker association] at the provincial executive, I appreciate the dedication and ethic of the volunteers. I will be working hard on volunteer involvement, we [IBAC] want to make our volunteers fully challenged.” To avoid potential controversy with his involvement at IBAO, Danyluk says he took a temporary absence from the provincial association while the selection process for the IBAC position was in play. “Nobody wants to marry their first cousin, so when I put my name forward to IBAC, I took a leave of absence from IBAO to make sure of neutrality.”

TOUGH MARKETS

“Brokers bring an incredible sense of gravity” in a difficult, broad market environment such as is currently in play, observes Danyluk. From IBAC’s perspective, the top priority is to impress on insurers what brokers “bring to the table”, he says. In short, brokers are the first-line in underwriting, and with the cost-pressures insurers are currently under, the role of the brokerage community in loss control should not be forgotten, he adds. “Brokers play an instrumental role – they are the ‘eyes’, ‘ears’ and ‘touch’ – in underwriting loss control. In this kind of market, brokers are absolutely key in bringing about changes companies are looking for.”

Danyluk admits that “loss control” is not the only issue of concern in the relationship between brokers and insurers. While containing underwriting losses is a major driver of insurers in a market environment where capital has become scarce, this has resulted in dramatic cutbacks by companies in their “broker relationships”. Danyluk agrees that the loss of markets is probably the biggest current concern of brokers almost countrywide, which is why getting out the message of the true value of the broker is paramount. That said, Danyluk says IBAC’s primary role will be to monitor market developments and provide information to its various provincial members. He adds, “we’re not going to sit down and become involved in negotiating with individual insurers”.

The hard market has introduced other issues of disquiet for brokers, Danyluk says, with the financial security of insurers high up on the list. “Everyone is concerned with the financial strength of companies. Brokers are now looking more at the ratings of companies.” The consolidation brought on by the hard market, combined with broad global industry trends, is also seeing a shift in the positioning of the players as well as the redesign of products. “There are ‘tides’ in insurance. Sometimes, for brokers, when the tide goes out, you [brokers] have to look after [the interests of] your client. We’re [IBAC] monitoring developments nationally and communicating information provincially.”

REGULATORY BEAT

Lobbying and broker representation in regulatory review processes have always been key proponents of IBAC’s mandate, Danyluk observes. In this respect, the association is engaged in a two-pronged approach of keeping track of provincial regulatory developments and maintaining a “state of preparedness” at the federal level. At the provincial levels, there is considerable activity taking place in terms of product reform and IBAC is working closely with its members in determining the impact of these developments for both brokers and their clients. “Part of our role is to share information among our member associations, and regulatory change is a crucial area in this regard.”

On the federal front, Danyluk says IBAC is currently “testing” its national political contact network, an initiative that developed from the financial services review process of recent years. The “network” of political contacts, from MPPs to MPs across the country, has been built on for about two years, Danyluk confirms. The current “testing” of the network is not related to any specific or pending threat to the independent broker movement, but rather “we’re keeping the engine running all the time, ready to put it into gear”.

Although there is presently no sense that the federal government plans on readdressing financial services regulation/competition – specifically the retailing of insurance products – Danyluk notes that ultimately there will be new federal political leadership. In this respect, he says that further review of financial services legislation is expected by brokers.

ASSOCIATION INITIATIVES

IBAC is in the process of developing a “report card” which will be distributed to member associations as a means of evaluating the value of the national body, Danyluk says. The idea is to identify areas where IBAC can bett er serve its members at the national level.

IBAC continues to advance its professional development and the broker identity program under the “BIP advertising campaign”, Danyluk says. Promoting online education, which many of the provincial associations have already adopted, will be an important area of development for IBAC in the year ahead, he adds.

However, the most immediate task on the association’s agenda is the launch of the Centre for Study of Insurance Operations (CSIO) intranet-based insurance portal. The portal is set for launch in Ontario this month, and IBAC and the various provincial broker associations have been involved for several months in hosting educational user sessions in order to bring brokers onboard. Getting the portal up and running across the country as soon as possible is a prime objective for IBAC, says Danyluk. “This [the portal] is going to take an enormous amount of energy from IBAC. This will mean testing right across the country. The portal is as big to us as Interac was to the banks.”

PERSONAL COMMITMENT

Danyluk says he has resigned from his position at Delaware, Ontario-based Crawford & Danyluk Insurance Brokers Ltd., although he will retain his shareholding in the brokerage. He plans on keeping his insurance broker license current, but points out that, “I can’t be in two places at the same time”.

Danyluk expects to do a considerable amount of travel, across Canada and the U.S., in ensuring that IBAC remains on top of its objectives of learning, communicating and disseminating information to member associations. “My job is now with IBAC. This is not a short-term assignment.”