Back by popular acclaim, Robert P. Hartwig, Ph.D., President of the Insurance Information Institute, provides a fast-paced and detailed look at current economic drivers of the insurance industry—and their influence on captives. Soft pricing, increasing capacity and better quality underwriting in the traditional marketplace suggests traditional insurers will look to recapture some of what has been lost to the alternative market, Dr. Hartwig says. Find out what this means for captives.

Breakout Sessions

Captive Insurance – the basics (Part 1): This session is a “how to” of captive insurance, with an emphasis on successful tactics for getting programs past the talking stage. Nicholas Dove of Quest Management Services Ltd., Janeanne Lubin-Szafranski of Saint Raphael Healthcare System, Inc. and D. Hugh Rosenbaum of Tillinghast will provide an overview of key tax issues and their significance to captive owners and service providers, as well as current trends and developments in the captive insurance arena. Pair this session with “advanced basics” in the afternoon for the groundwork needed to successfully launch a captive program.

Best Practices in Captives: What is the impact on captives from Sarbanes-Oxley compliance requirements, new financial transparency demands and other regulatory developments? This session will explore these and other questions with actual case histories and interaction between our expert panel—Tim East of The Walt Disney Company, William F. McMahon of Fleetwood Enterprises Inc.; Donald J. Meyers of Caterpillar Financial Services Corp. and Chris Woodward of Noble Assurance Co.—and members of the audience to determine best practices for the most effective captive programs. Moderated by Suzanne Gallie of Sun Microsystems Inc.

Employee Benefits Keynote Speaker: “Benefit Financing in the World of Corporate Finance" Featuring Keynote Speaker: Rene Alejandro Martinez Flores, Director – Risk Management, CEMEX
Global companies are confronting a global challenge: How to manage the cost and risk of their employee benefits on a global scale, yet flexibly enough to support their organization’s global ambitions. Some companies have turned to use of a captive as an effective way to meet this challenge. Rene Alejandro Martinez Flores, Director Risk Management of the Mexican global company CEMEX will offer attendees a glimpse into how CEMEX’s captive is currently being used and a glimpse into CEMEX’s strategy for the captive’s greater involvement as a key factor for the company’s successful global expansion

Breakout Sessions

Captive Insurance – advanced basics (Part 2): Of interest to prospective and experienced captive owners alike, this session will offer attendees the tools and information to evaluate each kind of captive service provider. Central to this analysis will be a template that will help captive owners to assess the specific services provided by each outside vendor, how to establish the parameters of value and grade those services, identify potential conflicts of interest, and evaluate the effectiveness of those services throughout the year. Join Nicholas Dove of Quest Management Services Ltd., Michael Maglaras of Michael Maglaras & Co., and D. Hugh Rosenbaum of Tillinghast to gain the knowledge and tools to communicate your expectations to captive service providers more effectively.

Capitalization for Captives: A critical issue for prospective owners of captives, as well as those looking to expand an existing captive, is determining an appropriate level of capital. This session will deliver “how to” presentations by Ted O. Hall of CHSI Captive Insurance Managers, Stuart Olson of CAMICO Mutual Insurance Co. and Stuart Grayston of USA Risk Group (Bermuda) Ltd. The session will also explore advanced capital financing techniques for expanding the capacity of group captives and mutual insurers of all types. Moderated by Stuart Grayston of USA Risk Group (Bermuda) Ltd.

Captives and Benefits: A Primer for Risk Managers
This session’s leaders, each highly regarded expert with hands-on experience with property and casualty and life and health captives in will help attendees understand in detail the nuts and bolts of a captive and in particular how a captive for employee benefits works. Emphasis will be on comparing and contrasting a captive for property and casualty risks with one used for employee benefits. The session will walk attendees through a feasibility analysis, development of proforma financial statements, the tax considerations of life, health and annuity risks, and how to support preparation of a DOL exemption to use a captive for ERISA benefits. Speakers include Kenneth W. Porter, Director, Corporate Insurance & Global Benefits, DuPont, Ted Scallet, Principal, Groom Law Group and P. Bruce Wright, Partner, LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae LLP. Moderated by Kathleen Waslov, Consultant, Towers Perrin.

Breakout Sessions

The technical issues: This two-part session will take a fresh look at two important subjects:

- Part a) Tax developments: Join Roy Sedore of Baker & McKenzie LLP, one of the most articulate experts on captives and taxes, for a discussion of recent developments and cases affecting single-owner and group captives, including nonprofit-owned entities.

- Part b) Captive investments: Join Anne Kennedy and Hilary Olson of Munder Capital Management to learn how to add value in your captive investment portfolio…illustrated with a wine tasting experience. This part of the session will explore duration strategies and tactics for captives, and the place of non-taxable positions in captive portfolios. Moderated by Chris Mancini of Captive.com.

Group Captives: Facing A Soft Market: Participants in group captives covering difficult liability programs will share success factors that helped them withstand the last soft insurance market—and some of their hardest years. The session—featuring Pamela Davis of Nonprofits Insurance Alliance Group, Daniel Labrie of Housing Authority Insurance Group and Jack McSherry of Penn Tank Lines—will include a case history comparing a start-up Risk Retention Group’s experiences in a soft market with those of an established group captive. Don’t miss discussion of strategies for successfully dealing with membership development and retention in the coming year. Moderated by Arthur G. Koritzinsky of Marsh Inc.

Employee Benefits – The Journey
What really happens behind the scenes in implementing a captive use for employee benefits? What type of analyses are key and who should be part of the review process? Speakers from U.S. and non-U.S. companies will address how they did it or decided not to do it, and how the unique culture of their companies played an important factor in the process. As one speaker put it, “It’s really the dirty little secrets no one likes to tell that often mean success or failure of using a captive. We’re here to lift the curtain a bit on those secrets.” Speakers include Stacy L. Apter, Sr. Global Benefits Consultant, The Coca-Cola Company, Rene Alejandro Martinez Flores, Director – Risk Management, CEMEX, and Marcus Reichel, Sr. Insurance Manager, adidas Group. Moderated by Suzanne Gallie, Sr. Risk Manager, Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Hot topics: Each year, this special session explores the hot topics of the moment in an interactive and free-wheeling style, moderated by Bruce Wright of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae LLP. Some potential topics already identified by WCF advisers and organizers include the potential benefits of using cells and captives for terrorism coverage, the mounting burdens for captives of regulatory requirements, and the International Association of Insurance Supervisors’ new position paper on captives—which will be discussed by regulators involved in the IAIS paper’s development, offering delegates a unique opportunity to influence the future regulation of captives.

"Catastrophes and Reinsurance ˆ the Inside Story" Featuring Keynote Speaker: Mark van Zanden, Business Group Leader, Outwards Reinsurance of Catlin Group Ltd. Large insurance and reinsurance companies have to contend with really big exposures and long-term financing of catastrophes. How do they handle it? From his position at the center of the technical, marketing and capital issues in a large Bermuda company, the keynote speaker will focus on how the professionals manage their known protection, an explanation which promises to help the rest of us understand how to deal with them, and the pricing behind catastrophe reinsurance.

Captive Case studies: The WCF is known for the excellence of its annual session that highlights captive insurance and risk financing case studies. This year we are fortunate to have presentations by Jeff Huebner of the California State Automobile Association, William F. McMahon of Fleetwood Enterprises Inc. and Marcus Reichel of adidas Group. Hear more about these successful captives and learn how you can benefit from their experience. Moderated by D. Hugh Rosenbaum of Tillinghast.

Breakout Sessions

Cells and cell structures: The growth in cells continues to surpass the growth in stand-alone captives, with some estimates showing cells representing more than one-third of the captive market today. Learn why cell structures provide more solutions than ever before, especially to the entrepreneurial and special-purpose captive business. This session—featuring Arthur Perschetz of Muldoon Murphy & Aguggia LLP, Greg Dillard of Omni Builders Risk and Nicholas Leighton of Atlas Insurance Management (Cayman) Ltd.—will focus on the techniques and pitfalls of intra-cell activity, as well as touching on some of the advanced uses of cells by an owner in the financial services industry. Moderated by Alan Fleming of the Association of Risk & Insurance Managers.

Qualifying a Captive as an Insurance Company: This topic, often taken for granted by most and rejected by some, is critical for all concerned. Should a captive be considered an insurance company and, if so, how? This advanced session will explore the problems faced by most owners of captives and their service providers in demonstrating that their “business” really is–or isn’t—insurance. Starting with the all-important tax positions and regulatory pitfalls, Donald J. Meyers of Caterpillar Financial Services Corp. and John Weber of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae L.L.P. will discuss theory and practice in what promises to be a lively exchange. Moderated by D. Hugh Rosenbaum of Tillinghast.

Tax & Accounting fo Employee Benefits: Lore vs. the Law
What constitutes the tax law? What makes up the lore of the way people think things should be done? This panel, including Kevin Owens, Partner,Ernst & Young and P. Bruce Wright, Partner, LeBeouf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae LLP will explore the top ten misconceptions about accounting and tax for captives and employee benefits. Examples of real live situations will be used to illustrate how and why the accounting and tax lore can play a huge role in making uneconomic what might be very financially advantageous, and vice versa. Moderated by Mitchell J. Cole, Principal, Towers Perrin.

Breakout Sessions

The how and where of reinsurance for captives: An expert panel of reinsurance brokers and underwriters will provide an up-to-date look at where today’s reinsurance markets for captives really are, and how to access them. U.S., Bermudian and European reinsurance markets will be discussed in some detail Michael Woodroffe of Kirkway International Ltd. and Phillip Pettersen of Towers Perrin Re (Bermuda). Moderated by Nicholas Frost of Quest Management Services Ltd.

Trends and Developments in Regulation: Following the initial discussion of captive regulation in the morning’s “Hot Topic” session, representatives from onshore and offshore domiciles—Rod Morris of Arizona, Michael Oliver of the British Virgin Islands and Derick White of Vermont—will continue the discussion on proposed international standards for captives, as well as some of the critical issues facing their own regulatory infrastructure. The session will be of special interest to those who want to hear captive insurance regulators past and present discussing federal and international influences. Moderated by Alan Fleming, Former Risk Manager of DIAGEO and Acting Director of the Association of Risk & Insurance Managers.

Captives & Managing Global Healthcare Costs: Health costs are steadily increasing world wide, be it in the U.S. or even today in other countries as diverse as the U.K., Brazil, or Australia. Few companies have tried to tackle this challenge by using their captive. Speakers from companies that have either successfully used their captive or are exploring innovative ways to do so, will share the latest insights into what they’re doing and how. Featuring speakers Robert B. Arthur, Vice President, Benefits, Pearson, Inc. and Vijayaindra Thanabal, Manager, International Assignment Services, Norsk Hydro ASA. Moderated by Sofia Tesfazion, Senior Consultant, Towers Perrin.

Special Closing Session - Making the Call – On & Off The Field
Featured speaker C. Jeffery Triplette, President and COO of FNC and longtime NFL referee, will discuss the difficult job NFL referees face when making quick (and correct!) decisions on the field. Jeff will include video of some exciting calls that have been made in the NFL, and he’ll show the audience how being a referee isn’t too far off from the job risk managers tackle every day!