Ontario Annual Report - Insurance Institute of Canada

Conestoga
Chapter Report
Brent Hackett, FCIP, CIOP, EGA
Our 44th year of operation saw us surpassing many milestones. It was a record breaking year for
membership growth, revenue growth and surplus returned to Ontario.
This year we moved to new premises with three classrooms, an office, reception area and kitchenette.
Our members have complimented us on our new site and appreciate the available ample free parking.
EDUCATION
“Our basic licensing
program continues
to produce excellent
results for our
attendees with many
sessions seeing over
a 90% pass rate.”
We held 58 courses over the spring, fall and winter semesters with 770 students participating in the
program up from 693 last year. We held courses at The Co-operators in Guelph, OMIA in Cambridge,
Crawford & Company Inc. in Kitchener, The Economical Insurance Group in Waterloo, Gore Mutual in
Cambridge, OTIP/RAEO in Waterloo, and at the Chapter Office. The success of our weekend, virtual
and at company courses under scores the importance of addressing the changing needs of our adult
learners. While evening college courses are no longer running, our commitment to our local Business
of Insurance full time program at Conestoga College remains strong. The Conestoga Chapter is
represented on the Advisory Board of this program and we will continue to look for ways to build
relationships between the Institute and the College. This is an important relationship as we continue
to look for ways to attract and retain talent within our insurance industry.
We appreciate and highly value the many local insurance professionals who are willing to serve as
instructors for our courses. We are also very grateful for the many others who volunteer to proctor exams.
Special thanks to Jennifer Leslie, Susan O’Neill and Lois Robinson at The Co-operators, Paula Culbert
at Trillium Mutual, Christine Senior and Susan Baker at OMIA, Christine Evans and Shelley Sutton at
OTIP/RAEO, Katharina Fletcher at The Economical Insurance Group, Catherine LeClair at Gore Mutual,
Kevin Williamson at Belfor Restorations and Jennifer Virley at Crawford who co-ordinate the courses
and/or exams at their facilities. Special thanks as well to The Co-operators, Belfor Restorations, The
Economical Insurance Group and Trillium Mutual who provide our off site exam centers.
SEMINARS
Over this past year we have held 24 seminars including basic licensing courses, advanced licensing
courses, full-day and half-day seminars. This was up from 18 last year. Overall we had 257 attendees at
our seminar programs down from 328 the prior year. Our basic licensing program continues to produce
excellent results for our attendees with many sessions seeing over a 90% pass rate.
We have made a concerted effort to offer seminars outside of KW and we are pleased to advise that
on April 26, 2011 we successfully held a seminar, “Influencing Difficult People” in Owen Sound. We
further successfully held Building A Higher Performance Team in September. Through his efforts
Peter Hood, canvassed local firms to determine their needs and how we could help. The turnout was
very good and the feedback was excellent. We will continue to look for opportunities to expand our
offerings to the entire membership of the Conestoga Chapter in the year ahead.
CIP Society
We had 3 seminars this year, specifically targeted to the CIP members. Total attendance was 45 up
from the 33 attendees we had last year.
FINANCE
On a financial level this has been a very strong year for the chapter. We generated a significant surplus
in excess of $120,000. We are very fortunate to have as our Treasurer Richard Reiner, CA., CIP. Despite
his busy schedule, Richard provides invaluable assistance to our chapter.
2011 – 2012 Annual Report 23