Members Wanted

Marie Gallagher, like many insurance professionals of the baby boom generation, did not originally plan to carve out a career in the insurance business. But the incoming president of the Canadian Independent Adjusters’ Association (CIAA) has no regrets about becoming an adjuster, and would like to do her part to alleviate a looming skills shortage by encouraging people to consider making insurance their career choice as well.

“Like most people in our industry today who are my age, I ended up in the industry quite by chance,” says Gallagher, a 30-year veteran scheduled to replace CIAA president John Seyler at the association’s annual general meeting on September 14 in Banff, Alberta. Currently first vice-president, she previously served as president of the Ontario Insurance Adjusters Association (OIAA), which is not affiliated with CIAA, in 2006-2007.

Gallagher cut her teeth in insurance in January 1983, while working at the Markham, Ontario office of Cosburn Griffiths and Brandham, the brokerage now known as CG&B Group Inc. A friend of her husband at the time was a CG&B partner.

“They needed somebody to come in and help them out for one week to fill in a vacation spot in administrative duties,” she says. By the end of that week, CG&B Group had hired her for a permanent position.

Three years later, Gallagher left CG&B Group to join her current employer, Granite Claims Solutions, known at the time as Ponton Coleshill Edwards & Associates and, later, as McLarens Canada.

Today, she is a multi-lines adjuster managing the Granite Claims branch in her hometown of St. Catharines, Ontario. Gallagher supervises the branch’s employees, and also works on occupiers’ liability claims, including those from the gambling casinos in Niagara Falls, about 20 kilometres away.

More than 20 years ago, Gallagher was encouraged by Granite Claims founders Stewart Ponton (CIAA’s president in 1981-1982) and Bryan Coleshill (a former president of CIAA Ontario Region) to get involved with industry associations. In 1990, Ponton and Coleshill encouraged her to attend the CIAA’s AGM.

“Stewart and Bryan said, ‘Why don’t you go and represent our company?’ They had been doing so themselves, but they were passing the baton to me,” she recalls.

In addition to devoting a considerable amount of her spare time to CIAA, Gallagher is also involved in the Insurance Institute of Canada’s Career Connections program, aimed at young people and those changing careers. “Recognizing that we’re going to have more than 25% of our people retiring in the next five to 10 years, they are taking a proactive approach by seeking volunteers, such as myself and the other ambassadors throughout Canada, to volunteer their time to go into the schools and inspire others by just talking about our jobs,” she says. “I really like to inspire people to come into this industry because it’s been such a good industry for me to be in.”

In fact, insurance now runs in Gallagher’s family. Her husband, Ian Gallagher, is a Granite Claims adjuster in St. Catharines, specializing in aviation, and is currently secretary of OIAA. Her sister, Lori Ryther (along with her husband Craig Ryther) run Claridge Insurance Adjusters Inc. in Barrie, Ontario. And Gallagher’s son-in-law also changed careers and now works as an adjuster.

GOAL DRIVEN

Beyond encouraging more people to join the industry, Gallagher has a slew of goals as incoming CIAA president, including to encourage carriers to use the services of independent adjusters. “Call us not just when you have a catastrophe,” she says. “Call us during the year so we have enough work to help train the new generation. This is a big issue in the industry, not just claims, but the insurance industry as a whole,” she adds.

CIAA is trying to persuade more independent adjusting firms to join the association, and last February, Cunningham Lindsey announced it rejoined CIAA. “Expense plays such an important part of the bottom line that some of our large national firms question the value of membership,” saysGallagher. “But we worked with those firms at kind of jigging our membership fees so that it made it affordable.”

Still, Gallagher says it “floors” her that some independent adjusting firms across the country are not CIAA members — something she would dearly like changed before she retires.

CIAA’s accomplishments help more than just its member firms, Gallagher suggests, citing as an example to when the federal government passed the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) in 2004. CIAA advocated to get “investigative body status” for adjusters, she reports.

In essence, PIPEDA stipulates that companies, for the most part, cannot disclose personal information about people without their knowledge or consent. One exception is for organizations designated by the federal government as “investigative bodies,” which includes licensed adjusters and members of professional associations that represent adjusters. These bodies may, in some cases, disclose information on people without their knowledge when there are grounds to believe the information relates to a breach of an agreement or the law. “Had we not done that, certain rights that we have today, we would not have had,” she says.

CIAA is also trying to make it easier for adjusters to work in multiple provinces. “Each insurance adjuster in Canada is licensed by their own province,” she reports. “If you need to send an Ontario adjuster to Alberta to help out with the recent Calgary storm claims, there is paperwork and bureaucracy and red tape that the adjuster and their company have to go through to get them there. Through the CIAA’s efforts, that has been greatly diminished and is making now for an easier flow to send people across the country.”

Since each province has different licensing requirements for adjusters, though, getting all provinces to use the same rules will take a long time, Gallagher suggests. “That will be ongoing probably past the time I’m retired,” she quips.Another challenge relates to the demands imposed by new technologies, which may be discouraging some younger adjusters from getting active with their associations. “The biggest challenge professional associations have today is the young people are being torn in so many different directions, with technology as it is… the fact that we’re always on, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year,” she says.

Gallagher is happy to have become involved in associations. She credits her desire to take on the role of CIAA president to the continuing support of several past presidents, including Patti Kernaghan, Jim Eso and Fred Plant.

“These are people who are still giving time and energy to our association,” she says. “If it was not for those people, I would not feel confident in stepping up to the role as president of CIAA. I know that they’re there for me if I have questions or if I need any help.”

As the incoming president, Gallagher says that her roles will include acting as a spokesperson, attending industry events and responding to government initiatives that could affect adjusters. “Some issue might come up this year and so I will be the captain of the ship that will be required to help steer the ship,” she says. “We need every independent adjuster in Canada to be on board, to be part of their association, to help have input.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to include the correct spelling of Craig Ryther’s name and to note that Bryan Coleshill is past president of CIAA, Ontario region. An earlier version of the story contained inco rrect information.