In February 2022, Kevin Mead was appointed as the new VCIA President. VCIA will also be holding its first in-person conference since 2019 in August of this year. The Risk Retention Reporter spoke with Mead to discuss the new position and what he expects for the 2022 VCIA Conference.
Risk Retention Reporter: What aspects of the captive industry drew you to the position? And what made you decide that this is something that you wanted to take on at this point in your career?
Kevin Mead: First, for a start, it was a return to association management. I’m by no means a captive insurance guy. I’m an association guy. There’s just something about the member owner dynamic that is really positive. I wanted to get back to that. I’d done association work for 20 years, then took some time away, and after a while wanted to get back into it.
A great example of this from earlier today, we had a meeting of about eight members working the VCIA response to a treasury request for input around the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act. The level of input was incredible. These are high-powered people, and they obviously could submit comment letters on their own, either as individuals or as representatives of their employers, but they chose to come together to amplify the voice of the industry. That’s just a quick 30 second case study on what drew me back to the association world. When I was talking with the board they were very clear that that’s how the association works, that a lot of the work they do is within advocacy. Member Services is very effective, and that was strong appeal as well.
RRR: It’s interesting that you talked about the member focus. That’s how risk retention groups are organized. It’s interesting structure, like an association in that way. It is part of what I find interesting about covering the industry. So then the second question—how have you been settling into the new position? And have there been any challenges you’ve faced, such as getting up to speed on the captive insurance industry?
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