8:00 - 9:00

REGISTRATION and CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST

9:00 - 9:15

WELCOMING REMARKS

Gregory W. Gartland, Managing Director, SNL Center for Financial Education

John M. Wepler, President, Marsh Berry & Co., Conference Chairman

9:15 - 10:00

KEYNOTE ADDRESS

• Strategic issues facing the insurance distribution sector, from underwriting to distribution, from insureds to regulators
• The competitive and regulatory outlook

Ken A. Crerar, President, Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers

10:00 - 11:10

CARRIERS OVERVIEW

• Recent performance
• Profitability outlook; pricing competition, NPW growth, reserve levels
• Valuation, impact of current capital markets environment
• Managing the distribution chain and the company-agency relationship

J. Paul Newsome, Managing Director, Sandler O'Neill & Partners

11:10 - 11:30

REFRESHMENT and NETWORKING BREAK

11:30 - 12:45

PUBLIC and BANK-OWNED BROKERS

• Recent performance and values
• Restructuring and privatization: will they continue?
• Revenue pressure and expense controls
• Capital management and leverage
• Bank-owned agencies: operating in the context of a highly-challenging bank market
• Future trends and projections - growth outlook

John Butler , Principal, Piper Jaffray & Co.
Jim W. Henderson, Vice Chairman and COO, Brown & Brown, Inc.

Markham R. McKnight, President and CEO, BancorpSouth Insurance Services

Frank Wetchler, Partner, Dowling & Partners Securities

David J. Zuercher, Chairman, President and CEO, Wells Fargo Insurance Services

Tim Zawacki, Senior Industry Editor, SNL Financial (Moderator)

12:45 - 2:00

LUNCHEON

2:00 - 3:30

MERGER & ACQUISITION DYNAMICS

• Leading causes of and outlook for consolidation: Will the slowdown in agency acquisitions continue? Supply and demand imbalance.
• Profiles and attractiveness of various buyers/sellers: private equity, bank- owned, public brokers
• Characteristics of high-value agency targets
• Deal financing and pricing: Are the days of 10x EBITDA gone forever?
• Deal design and structure options: guaranteed payments and earn outs
• Optimizing post-closing performance
  

Kevin P. Donoghue, Managing Director, Mystic Capital Advisors Group, LLC
Leonard P. Kline, Jr., President, Ascension Insurance, Inc.
Paul Vredenburg, Vice President - Acquisitions, Brown & Brown, Inc.
Clark Wormer, Director of M&A, HUB International
John M. Wepler, President, Marsh Berry & Co. (Moderator)

3:30 - 3:45
REFRESHMENT and NETWORKING BREAK

3:45 - 5:00
ORGANIC and INTERNAL GROWTH: ENHANCING VALUE IN A DETERIORATING ENVIRONMENT           

• Achieving growth in challenging P&C and health markets
• Diversifying lines of business
• Differentiating the value proposition
• Hiring, training and retaining top sales talent
• World class sales practices: managing the pipeline, separating key producers from laggards, pay for performance best practices
  
• Optimizing ownership structure for sustainable growth
• Maximizing growth, profitability and value

Jason Hellickson, Senior Vice President, Holmes Murphy

Robert J. Lieblein, Managing Partner, Hales & Company

Henry Lombardi, President and COO, Allied Group Holdings

Andrew H. Marks, Senior Executive Vice President, Bollinger Insurance

Patrick Linnert, Executive Vice President, Marsh Berry & Company, (Moderator)

5:00
COCKTAIL and NETWORKING RECEPTION