A conversation between David Bell and ALPS Communications Manager, Laura Churchman
RISK MANAGEMENT Q&A with ALPS President and CEO David Bell
Laura Churchman: You’ve lived all over
the country and as far away as Bermuda. What brought you to Missoula, Montana? David Bell: I fell in love with the west when I was young. I came to the University of Montana as a teenager and knew right away that Montana was a special place. I met my wife, Brittany, while we were both attending UM. She’s from Conrad, so as we moved to different parts of the country and internationally, Montana was always “home base” and we knew we would return. When I met ALPS Founder Bob Minto on one of my trips back to Montana, we made a con- nection and as the opportunity at ALPS un- folded, I knew it was time to come back home.
LC: What drew you to the insurance in- dustry originally? What has kept you there? DB: Like many others in senior positions I found the industry (or it found me) by ac- cident. I went to work for Chubb out of col- lege, mainly because it was a large, highly reputable organization with an internation- al footprint, and that was the experience I was looking for out of school. The “trade” of insurance—focused on the transfer of risk from one corporate balance sheet to another—was fascinating. It has been called the DNA of capitalism. It’s also an industry full of good people. In my experi- ence, compared to other financial service industries, it seems to have a higher con- centration of leaders who came from hum- ble means and are committed to giving back to the industry and their communities.
LC: How does the lawyers’ professional
liability insurance line differ from your pre- vious experiences in the industry?
DB: It has been fun to focus on a single industry niche. In my previous role as COO of Allied World, a large public compa- ny, we had significant resources and more than forty different coverage lines. That did have its advantages, but I was never able to get “in the trenches” as ideas were first in- cubated. At ALPS, our mission is to provide the best coverage protection to the legal community. Because of our niche focus, we have been able to successfully build a cul- ture focused on customer service and ease of doing business. I am now able to par- ticipate at the grass roots level to help en- sure we live up to the faith our policyhold- ers place in us.
LC: ALPS was started in 1988. Now, twenty-five years later as you are taking the helm, how has the company changed? DB: As I learned about the ALPS sto- ry it became clear that some things have changed a lot, and some things not at all. What has changed is the utilization of tech- nology, policyholder expectations regard- ing customer service, and a general busi- ness model that has evolved over a quarter century. ALPS has done a fantastic job of staying ahead of the curve, and is regularly out front as the innovation thought leader. What hasn’t changed is the hallmark of the ALPS value proposition. We are a “by law- yers, for lawyers” professional liability car- rier committed to making the legal profes- sion better through risk management and stable risk transfer. From the beginning when Bob Minto and his colleagues started this company, ALPS made a commitment to provide the broadest coverage in the marketplace at a reasonable price. ALPS made a promise to our policyholders that if
you have a claim it will be handled honest- ly, promptly, and professionally. Those val- ues are the same today as in 1988, and will be the same for many years to come.
LC: As a non-lawyer, how do you view the challenges and opportunities facing the legal community of today? DB: New issues in the legal community
are constantly emerging. At ALPS, we have the good fortune to have longstanding af- filiations and endorsements from more state and local bar associations than any other insurance carrier. As a non-lawyer myself, these relationships are truly valu- able for me to gain a better understanding of what today’s lawyers are grappling with and to be able to offer real solutions. For example, right now we have law school students emerging with significant debt and fewer opportunities. With few- er “big firm” options they are increasing- ly hanging a solo shingle. On the flip side we have our baby boomer lawyers reaching retirement age. As they leave the practice of law, with them go some of our most ex- perienced and knowledgeable legal prac- titioners. ALPS is responding by launching
ALPSLegalMatch.com, a new tool that will pair “new” lawyers with soon-to-be retiring lawyers. This tool will help retiring lawyers identify a successor. It will help new lawyers find a practice, and will partner them with a mentor during the transition. The result: for ALPS we have our best lawyers training our newest lawyers, which make the new lawyers a better risk for us to insure. For retiring lawyers, they will have a succes- sion plan using a process that allows them to pick the right person without months of painstaking diligence. For the new lawyer, nothing takes the place of experience and this provides an opportunity to work with someone and gain the benefit of that ex- perience … as well as potentially take over a practice. I view this challenge and others like it as opportunities, and there are plenty of both on the horizon.
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THE VERMONT BAR JOURNAL • FALL 2013
www.vtbar.org
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