Stepping into the Spotlight

Within 48 hours, incoming Canadian Independent Adjusters’ Association (CIAA) president Mary Charman went from high school student to becoming an insurance professional.

Charman, the manager of Crawford & Company (Canada)’s Newmarket and Barrie branches, grew up in the northern Ontario town of Sudbury. Her older sister worked as an underwriter at a local insurer; through this connection, Charman spent her high school summer vacations working in the insurer’s office.

When Charman was 17 years old, management asked her when she would be graduating. She told them that coming Friday.

“They told me: ‘That’s great. If you like, you can start full-time here on Monday,” Charman says with a chuckle. “I quite literally had a weekend vacation between high school and my career.”

Charman started off as a claims assistant. Since then, she has not strayed from the claims sector over the course of her 31 years in the industry.

“Every day is a new day with new challenges,” she says. “Because I am multi-lined, and I don’t focus on any one area of claims — which a lot of people do these days — I’ve managed to see quite a variety of claims.”

Her time has been divided between working on the insurer side and working for independent adjusting firms. At the end of the day, whether you’re on the company side or the independent side, the end goal of the job is to provide a great level of service to the insured, she says. That having been said, representing a multitude of different companies can pose challenges to the independent adjuster.

“The most challenging part of being an independent adjuster is that you are trying to soak in each individual insurers’ business model and best practices,” she says. “You really need to know the subtleties of each businesses’ processes. That’s the real difference between working for an insurer and an independent firm — knowing each insurer’s philosophy when it comes to claims handling. But, at the end of the day, it’s always about service.”

She suggests every adjuster should spend some time working on the company side to gain a better understanding of the ins and outs of how insurers run, as well as the importance of good communication between the insurer and the independent adjuster.

“Sometimes a claim may appear to be only $5,000 at the outset but, as you delve into it, it grows to $10,000,” she says.

“An [independent] adjuster may not appreciate just how big of an impact this might have on an insurer that has only reserved $5,000 for the claim. It’s not just the one claim that has doubled in size with which the adjuster is dealing — it could be 20 or 30. And then that insurer has a problem. That’s why it’s so key to keep communicating with the insurers and keep them informed of any growing costs or expenses.”

Combing through her 30 years of experience, Charman says the biggest change she’s seen has been in the realm of accident benefits. Ontario’s auto insurance package has evolved considerably (and continues to evolve), challenging adjusters to keep up with the ever-increasing complexity of the package.

The trade-off is well worth it though, Charman says.

“For people with injuries, improvements to the accident benefits package over the years have brought them some comfort,” she explains. “In the old days, there wasn’t a lot available to them as far as treatment. When an insured has a serious injury, our job is to help. Today, the policy allows us to do just that, whereas 20 years ago it didn’t. That’s been one of the biggest changes I’ve seen.”

Charman is preparing now for another major shift. In August 2010, at the CIAA’s annual conference in British Columbia, she will assume the role of association president. Over the past year, the CIAA has undergone what she calls a “deep-dive” review of its role and functions both within the insurance industry at large and to its own members.

A four-year plan has been developed. The association’s exec- utive hopes it will help to raise the association’s profile, and the implementation of the first initiatives under the plan will be on Charman’s watch.

One of the first steps will be the revamping of CIAA designations. Currently these designations include the CLA (Chartered Loss Adjuster) and FCIAA (Fellow of the Canadian Independent Adjusters’ Association).

The CLA will be divided into two separate designations — the CLA and FCLA. Potential CLA requirements may soon require the holder of the designation to be a member of the CIAA. Currently, if the adjuster discontinues his/her membership, he or she can still keep the designation. Another requirement would be to complete additional education modules.

The FCIAA may indicate a specialty designation, like surety bonds or transportation.

“So when an insurer looks at a CIAA member and sees that he or she has the designation, the insurer can feel comfortable that he or she has gone through a process to accredit their expertise. It’s a means of showcasing members’ expertise.”

Ultimately, Charman says, “our goal is to raise the profile of the CIAA, so that insurers look at us and say they want to use CIAA members because they are professional members of our industry.”

CIAA participation in the 2010 National Insurance Conference of Canada (NICC) should help raise the association’s profile in the industry, Charman says. Last year, Patti Kernaghan, the current CIAA president, was invited to sit on the NICC’s organizing committee. Moving forward, each year the association will lend its president to sit at the NICC organizing committee’s table. Being invited to participate in events of this calibre is exciting and represents a huge step forward for the CIAA, Charman says. “The NICC typically focused on the underwriting and actuarial side of the business, but this year a claims aspect will be introduced. It’s exciting for CIAA to be invited to be a part of it. It’s a huge part of raising the profile of the association.”

None of these initiatives and efforts would be possible without the association’s volunteers, she stresses. “It’s so important the principals of the independent adjusting firms recognize the benefits and value of belonging to the only organization solely representing the collective interests of the independent adjuster in Canada and that they encourage their adjusters to get involved,” she says.

“I get a lot of support from my employer, I think that’s really key, because if my employer doesn’t support me, then the association doesn’t have volunteers,” Charman continues. “And if it doesn’t have volunteers, then it doesn’t exist.”

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The CIAA has developed a four-year plan, intended to help raise the association’s profile. Implementation of its first initiatives will be on Charman’s watch.