CICA unveils achievements as 2024 annual conference opens

The Captive Insurance Companies Association 2024 annual conference has kicked off in Scottsdale Arizona with an opening session that covered a wide range of achievements that CICA reported over the course of the year. 

Nick Hentges, CICA board chair, said that captives are booming in the US and elsewhere. Captives and CICA are the tip of the spear, he said, leading not just the captive industry but also the insurance industry.  

Hentges stressed that CICA’s NextGen and Amplify Women initiatives are vitally important for the industry. He said that CICA had already achieved much from these initiatives, pointing out that 46% of this conference's speakers are women – most other conferences have less than 30% in places. 

However, Hentges stressed that more needs to be done. The captive industry must bring in young people, Hentges urged, saying that it is vital for the captive insurance industry to attract new talent as the older generation steps down and retires. 

Dan Towle, President of the Captive Insurance Companies Association (CICA), then welcomed attendees to the CICA 2024 conference by paying tribute to Hentges. 

Towle said the captives insurance industry was facing extraordinary new growth in the past few years. He said that it was encouraging to see at least half a dozen European countries expressing interest in captives – the captive message spreading, there has been massive development for captives, he said, stressing that this is the golden age of captives.  

However, he added that the industry cannot rest on its laurels and certainly cannot let up in educating legislators and others on why captives are so appropriate for certain risks and needs. 

Towle said that he could announce record membership of CICA, with 91% membership satisfaction. He also said celebrated the 20th anniversary of ICCIE, which now has 700 ACI graduates with another 1,500 in progress. ICCIE & CICA have been working together from Day One, he said. 

Towle also stated that it is vital for the captive insurance industry to get young professionals into the industry. 

The 2024 CICA distinguished service award was awarded to Robert “Skip” Myers at Morris, Manning & Martin. Myers paid tribute to the amount of growth that the US had seen in the captive industry, starting with Vermont in 1980’s. 

The 2024 outstanding captive award was awarded to Blue Cross, Blue Shield, Blue Care Network of Michigan. 

The keynote speaker was Lt Colonel Dan Rooney, founder of Folds of Honour, a non-profit organisation that provides educational scholarships for children and spouses of fallen or disabled military service members and first responders. Lt Colonel Rooney spoke of the work that Folds of Honour does, with 51,000 scholarships totalling $240 million and how important it is for people to help each other. 

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