June 1, 2022
Hearing from PLUS Volunteer Leaders: Part 5
This is our final installment of the PLUS Volunteer Leaders posts. It’s been great being able to read the responses from so many of the leaders that help make PLUS such a great organization, and a great community. Their time, effort, and expertise are always appreciated. Read on to learn about these leaders’ experiences with PLUS!
The first, second, third, and fourth posts can all be found on the PLUS Blog.
Max Carter
- What is your volunteer role(s) with PLUS? Member of the London Chapter Committee and Member of the Board of Trustees
- Why do you volunteer with PLUS? It’s a great organisation that raises the profile of our market segment and benefits who gets involved.
- How has volunteering for PLUS impacted your career? I have made many valuable relationships that I may not have had.
- What are some of your favorite things about volunteering with PLUS?I love the support that the PLUS staff provide to take out the hassle factor of volunteering.
- What are you looking forward to in the coming months in regard to volunteering with PLUS? Raising the profile of the London Market within the US PLUS community.
Nicole McAuley
- What is your volunteer role(s) with PLUS? National Chair PLUS Canada.
- What is your volunteer role with PLUS? I joined the PLUS Canada Committee in 2015. Since then, I have organized a number of educational and social events and presented as a speaker/moderator on various panels. In 2020, I was elected as the Vice Chair for PLUS Canada. I took over as the National Chair in 2021, in addition to assuming the role of Chair of the PLUS Toronto sub-committee.
- Why do you volunteer with PLUS? I volunteer with PLUS to stay closely connected with the professional liability community. This has been especially important for me in the past two years when we have largely been working remotely.
- What has been your most memorable PLUS volunteer experience? In 2018, I co-chaired an event in Toronto with Kevin LaCroix as our keynote speaker. Our event had almost 200 attendees and was a huge hit. It was a really great discussion about the state of D&O insurance in Canada and the United States and we received a significant amount of positive feedback.
- What are you looking forward to in the coming months volunteering with PLUS? I am very excited to start holding and attending in person events throughout Canada again.
Brian Braden
- What is your volunteer role(s) with PLUS? Currently I am on PLUS Foundation Board, since 2018. Prior to current role I held roles in following areas: PLUS International Conference Educational Committee; PLUS International Education Committee Conference Chair; PLUS Eastern Chapter Chair; PLUS Eastern Chapter Committee; PLUS member since 1993.
- Why do you volunteer with PLUS? Volunteering and helping others is in my DNA, I enjoy meeting new people and socializing and if I can do that and be of assistance helping other I am glad to do it.
- How has volunteering for PLUS impacted your career? I have met a lot of people by volunteering at PLUS and believe it has helped me strengthen relationship and build new ones.
- What are some of your favorite things about volunteering with PLUS? Meeting and working with people. Working with people is insightful having a common goal or purpose you really get to know people at a different level than the standard underwriter, broker, and lawyer roles. Often times you come away with a deeper respect and friendship.
- What has been your most memorable PLUS volunteer experience? I would say volunteering on Halloween with special needs children was my favorite and most memorable experience. Having my own children and going to PLUS for Halloween seemed like it was an imposition however, I could not have been more wrong and am so glad I did!
- What are you looking forward to in the coming months in regard to volunteering with PLUS? I am looking forward to working with PLUS post Pandemic to get the professional liability industry back to where it was and then be part of the solution to move it forward!
Dan Auslander
- What is your volunteer role(s) with PLUS? PLUS Foundation Board of Directors (Immediate Past President), Podcast host, Planning Committee of the Transactional Insurance Symposium.
- Why do you volunteer with PLUS? I love giving back to the members of the Professional Liability (PL) industry by helping PLUS execute its mission – to be the global community for the PL insurance industry by providing essential knowledge, thought leadership and career development opportunities.
- How has volunteering for PLUS impacted your career? The responsibilities of my various roles with PLUS and the PLUS Foundation have been important to my development both personal and professional and have enhanced the skills required to do my day jobs. My work with PLUS and the Foundation has definitely helped me develop my network and personal brand.
- What are some of your favorite things about volunteering with PLUS? As a result of being a volunteer leader at PLUS and the PLUS Foundation I met a diverse group of PLUS volunteers and the tremendous PLUS staff. Many of those outstanding professional became good friends and I might not have met them without PLUS. It has been a privilege to serve with so many committed, smart and hard-working people.
- What has been your most memorable PLUS volunteer experience? I have so many fond PLUS memories obtaining my RPLU, volunteering at Conference Cause and implementing the LAMP program. But, my favorite memory is having the privilege to interview former President Clinton at the 2009 PLUS International Conference. That truly was the opportunity of a lifetime.
- What are you looking forward to in the coming months in regard to volunteering with PLUS? The PLUS Foundation recently updated its mission to support tomorrow’s diverse professional liability workforce through outreach, education, mentoring and giving back. I look forward to watching the Foundation continue to gain momentum in all its efforts to support and enhance diversity in the PL industry especially the execution of the Leadership and Mentoring Program, DEIA Committee activities and the Womens Leadership Network events.
Albert Peterson
- What is your volunteer role(s) with PLUS? I am the co-chair of the FP Leadership Committee and head of the Career Path Planning taskforce for FP.
- Why do you volunteer with PLUS? I volunteer with PLUS in order to learn more about the industry and meet new people that I wouldn’t be able to meet anywhere else.
- How has volunteering for PLUS impacted your career? Volunteering for PLUS has helped me meet a lot of other professionals that work in different areas of the industry and different parts of the country. I have also been able to speak with more senior leaders in my own company that I likely would not have met without volunteering for PLUS.
- What are some of your favorite things about volunteering with PLUS? My favorite things about volunteering with PLUS are meeting other insurance professionals from across the country and being inspired by the journey that others have taken. Insurance is a great career field and there are some many unique positions that exist within different companies, learning about what people do is incredibly interesting.
- What has been your most memorable PLUS volunteer experience? My most memorable experience was my first time leading a taskforce meeting. I was leading a phone call with about 10 other volunteers and we collaboratively came up with the groundwork for our next 12 months of the taskforce. None of us had met before and we are all newer professionals in the industry, but seeing everyone work together and come up with creative ideas for our taskforce to work on was very rewarding.
- What are you looking forward to in the coming months in regard to volunteering with PLUS? I look forward to getting to meet more people in person as we (hopefully) transition back to in-person conferences, meetings, and symposia. It’s always rewarding to get to meet someone and look them in the eye.
A sincere thank you to all who responded to the questionnaire! Keep checking the blog for more great professional liability content from your peers.
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Professional Liability (PL) Insurance
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