“I’m just working in insurance until I figure out what I want to do for a living,” jokes VML Insurance Programs’ (VMLIP) Managing Director Steve Craig.
Craig recently celebrated 25 years of employment with VMLIP, serving as managing director for the last 15. He plans to retire from the pool eventually, but has not yet made any plans for a career change.
Craig began his career as a commercial casualty underwriter for Aetna after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in business from James Madison University. From there, he accepted a position as marketing manager for Kellum & Eaton Insurance Agency in Virginia Beach. His career then brought him back to Richmond working for Alexander & Alexander as an underwriter on the VMLIP account.
“At the time, VMLIP outsourced everything – from underwriting to claims processing,” said Craig. Craig handled the VMLIP account for two years, until he was recruited by Hill, Rogal and Hamilton to assist with setting up a local government insurance program – the Community Asset Protection System (CAPS).
“It was mostly cold call sales,” said Craig. Despite being the 16th highest producer out of 179 nationwide, he began looking for a change. “The commercial insurance world just wasn’t very satisfying,” says Craig. “I missed group self-insurance pooling and wanted to get back to that.”
He applied for a job with the New Mexico Municipal League’s insurance pool who were looking for someone with local government insurance underwriting experience. The New Mexico pool administrator called then VMLIP administrator, Margie Nichols, to inquire about Craig.
“Before anything happened with New Mexico, Margie called me and invited me to lunch and offered me a job with VMLIP as her deputy, and that was that,” said Craig.
Craig’s experience in the insurance industry, combined with his previous experience on the VMLIP account and working with local governments fit well with VMLIP. He immediately began looking for ways to save the pool money on reinsurance and outsourcing, and worked with Nichols to lay the groundwork for the pool of today.
“I liked the concept and the mission of VMLIP,” said Craig. “It made sense to me. The goal is to provide stable rates to local governments, cut out the profit motive, and empower local governments to manage their risk.”
The challenge of maintaining rates against all the challenges local governments face has motivated Craig throughout the past 25 years.
“Back then it was a very different,” said Craig. “We offered only workers’ compensation and basic liability coverage, with modest loss control activity. We had no computers, and we did all of the underwriting by hand.”
The most dramatic change over his career has been the rapid progress of technology. Today’s pool utilizes sophisticated underwriting and claims software, as well as advanced data analytics technology. The pool also underwent a dramatic change after the attacks of 9/11 fundamentally changed the insurance market.
“From an insurance standpoint, 9/11 impacted many lines of coverage at once – liability, property, workers’ compensation, life, health, disability, etc.,” said Craig. “Within a year, our reinsurance premium doubled. We realized we had to reduce our reliance on reinsurance in order to continue offering stable rates to our members.”
Craig continues to push the pool forward into anticipating local government needs and addressing them with a resource, service, or coverage. He’s also an active member on the board of the Association of Governmental Risk Pools (AGRiP).
“In the near future”, Craig says, “The pool will further empower members to manage their risks by providing tools to analyze data for trends and predictors, which I am excited about.”
“The pool would not be where it is today without the commitment and support of our members, board and staff,” said Craig, “Members tend to be very loyal, appreciating the comprehensive coverage, product and service offerings offered by the pool. Our board is engaged and focused on the future and our staff is committed to providing members with an exceptional experience.”
“Working at VMLIP for 25 years has been an extraordinary privilege and it has been gratifying to see the program evolve so positively,” says Craig, “And the best is yet to come.”