SLTX Holds 2017 Annual Board Meeting

The board of directors of the Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas (SLTX) gathered Tuesday, March 28, at the SLTX office to hold its annual board meeting. The meeting was the first of the calendar year and began with the election of the 2017 board officers. The officers are as follows:

• Chairman, Greg Rubel
• Vice Chairman, Mike Berry
• Secretary, Robby Neill

Members of the SLTX Executive Team, in addition to the organization’s General Counsel, presented updates to the board on finance, operations, technology, and legal.

Kyle Bolls, SLTX Director of Finance, reviewed the organization’s financial information and detailed the annual financial audit that was recently conducted by RSM, an accounting firm in Austin. RSM presented SLTX with an unmodified opinion, which is highest level of assurance an entity can receive.

SLTX Executive Director Norma Essary apprised the board of developments in operations. Essary unveiled the 2017 executive goals for the organization and presented the SLTX 2016 Annual Report, which will be sent to the Texas Insurance Commissioner. In addition, Essary detailed the communications efforts that have been accomplished so far in 2017, and gave an overview of the results of a customer satisfaction survey that SLTX sent to its stakeholders in January. With 132 respondents, 90 percent considered the customer service provided by SLTX “excellent” or “good.” The training provided by SLTX and the SLTX audit process also received positive results of 71 and 64 percent, respectively.

In addition to customer service, the survey also included questions about the current SLTX website. SLTX has commenced a large-scale technology initiative, which encompasses an improved domain name, public-facing website, online filing system, and more. Tara Mitchell, SLTX Director of Information & Technology Services, provided a progress report, and shared a brief demo of the new, upcoming website to be released later this year.

SLTX General Counsel Alex Gonzales, with Winstead PC, updated the board on the 85th legislative session, which is currently ongoing. SLTX serves as a resource during session, and makes a point to stay informed on any action that may affect the industry. Gonzales shared information on four bills that could have an impact on the excess and surplus lines market:

• SB 10/HB 1774 – Hail storm litigation
• SB 562/HB 1559 – Industrial insureds
• SB 1491/HB 2492 – Domestic surplus lines insurers
• SB 1070/HB 2491 – Collateral for reinsurance

No other business was discussed. The next meeting of the SLTX board of directors will be held June 20, 2017.