THE PINECONE

Monthly newsletter for area insurance professionals To inform members and associates of industry news, educational opportunities And association activities of the

RALEIGH ASSOCIATION OF INSURANCE PROFESSIONALS

Officers
President
Beth Blackwell, AAI, CPIW 919-783-3551 beth.blackwell@ncfbins.com

Inside this Newsletter

1. October Meeting

Pinecone Editor
Jeanne Hess, CISR, CPIW, DAE, AAI, AIS

863-6524 - jhess@iianc.com

President Elect & Membership

Katy Willett, CIC, CISR kwillett@bagwellandbagwellins.com 919-832-6667

Vice-President & Programs

Fire Safety / Breast Cancer Awareness, Oct. 12th!

2. PECANS!!! See any

Janet Davis, CISR, CPIW, AAI jdavis@triangleinsurancegroup.com 919-359-9439

member to order! 3. CLASSES!!! See the attached information on upcoming classes.

Secretary

Shirley Hudson, ARM, AAI, CISR, CPIW, DAE shudson@iianc.com 919 863-6531

OCTOBER 2010
The October Meeting of the Raleigh Association of Insurance Professionals will be held on Tuesday, October 12th at the IIANC building, 101 Weston Oaks Court in Cary. Social time is at 5:30 with our meeting beginning at 6:00. Pam Grimes will be sharing some Fire Safety information from her husbands Fire Department. Come and enjoy fellowship and a great meeting. Hope to see you there and bring a guest!

Treasurer

Joetta MacMiller, CISR, CPIW jmacmiller@nc.rr.com or (919) 383-0442

Parliamentarian

Wanda Manning, CPCU, CPIW, CIC, DAE w.manning@sau-inc.com 910-897-6033

Committee Chairmen:
Bylaws & Immediate Past President
Kelly Bryant, CISR Kelly.bryant@bbandt.com or 919-716-9831

Employment

Jeanne Hess, CISR, CPIW, DAE, AAI, AIS 919-863-6524 - jhess@iianc.com

October 2010
Enjoy this beautiful Fall weather!

Public Relations

Pat Flores Nobleprops.pat@gmail.com

Education

Pam Grimes, CPIW, CIC, CISR, DAE Pagdreamer18@aol.com

Thanks for making NAIW YOUR

Association of Choice Represented by Diversified Professionals

Safety

Debbie Pass-Soles, CPIW, CISR, CIC Debbie.Soles@mmicnc.com

NEW WEBSITE: www.raip.org www.naiw.org www.ncaiw.org - SCHOLARSHIPS!

Legislative

People will forget what you said People will forget what you did,

Barb Hutchinson bhutchinson@bmico.com

www.inssfa.org

But people will never forget how you made them feel.

Have a Great Day!

PRESIDENTS MESSAGE

Fall is finally here! It is time to think about cooler weather, warm sweaters and NCAIW State Convention. I look forward to seeing everyone at our meeting 10/12/2010 6:00pm at the IIANC Building in Cary. We need to review proposed NCAIW By-law changes, so please review the proposed changes and be prepared to discuss and vote so our delegates will have a voice. Delegates also need to be selected for the convention. Pam Grimes has 2 great upcoming educational programs for December 15, 2010 on Excess and Surplus Lines and E&O. Encourage Colleagues to sign up and attend. Lastly, remember Pecan Sales! See you all Tuesday. Beth Crouch Blackwell, AAI, CPIW President RAIP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THANK YOU!! To all who picked up the Operation Edith supplies!! Wow what a great response! You are awesome and the children receiving them will have learned something very valuable! Jeanne

PECANS!!!
ORDER FORMS ARE READY AND WILL BE SENT TO ALL MEMBERS!! Ordering Deadline is November 1st! See any member for ordering information. Jeanne Hess ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES: 1 Insurance Professional looking. Experienced in customer service, marketing and inside sales,
management and training. Experienced with all sizes of commercial accounts, however special in small business. Experienced in most in house rating systems. Have worked on Applied, AMS Afw, 360 and Sagitta. Can wear many hats at the same time. (added Sept. 2010)

Please contact Jeanne Hess jhess@iianc.com or 863-6524, if you would like more information.

Raleigh Association of Insurance Professionals can help employers find valuable employees and help those seeking employment opportunities find those employers!

We would encourage our members to pass my contact information along to their employers and HR Managers so that they can notify me when a position opens up. We need our members to help promote the use of our service for connecting employees & employers. I would be happy to send a request directly to their employers if they can provide me with the contact name and email address. These are tough times for everyone so we need everyone at RAIP to do what we can to bring people together.
EMPLOYMENT CHAIRMAN, 2010-2011 Jeanne Hess jhess@iianc.com or 919-863-6524

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EDUCATION UPDATE! Dr. Dave Wood, D.B.A., CPCU from Appalachian State University will be teaching a class for us called "Understanding Surplus Lines in North Carolina" & will meet at IIANC on 12/15/10 . The class will be a 3 hour class & will meet from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. More information will be forthcoming as the course has been filed for a new course number due to changes in the course. In addition, I am working with Chris McLeod from IIANC on several classes for next year. Please let me know of any classes that you might be interested in so we can get them scheduled. My phone number is 747-7788 (direct). Thank you. Pam Grimes RAIP Education Chairman

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

RALEIGH SHRED-A-THON (Wake County) Secure Your ID Day Saturday, October 23rd 8am- 12:30pm Coastal Federal Credit Union 1000 St. Albans Drive, Raleigh Local Sponsors: BBB, National Foundation of Credit Counseling CARY SHRED-A-THON (Wake County) America Recycles Day Saturday, November 13th

9am- 11am Garmon Operations Center 400 James Jackson Ave., Cary Local Sponsors: PROSHRED, Town of Cary *Three box limit Rigid plastics will be recycled as well (lawn furniture, flower pots etc.) RALEIGH SHRED-A-THON (Wake County) America Recycles Day Saturday, November 13th 10am- 2pm Shops at Seaboard Station 700 Semart Drive, Raleigh Local Sponsors: PROSHRED, City of Raleigh, Keep NC Beautiful *Three box limit This message brought to you on behalf of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper. Check with local sponsor for event changes. All shredding events are free but donations may be accepted at some events. The NC Department of Justice does not endorse any business or charity.

MINUTES OF THE RALEIGH ASSOCIATION OF INSURANCE PROFESSIONALS

September 14, 2010

The Raleigh Association met at the IIANC building in Cary, NC. The meeting was called to order at 6:00 PM by Beth Blackwell, President. Members & guests present enjoyed a wonderful presentation from our speaker, Kelly Rickets, Special Assistant to the Commissioner, NC Department of Insurance. She talked about revenue and cuts that the Governor wants from the department and ways they are trimming costs. Check out the Eye on DOI which is their online website/magazine. She discussed the different departments within DOI and their rolls from consumer information, consumer complaints to agent services, SHIIP and many other functions within NCDOI. We then took a break and enjoyed dinner with our guests. President Blackwell conducted a brief business meeting which included a few announcements as follows: NCAIW Proposed Bylaw changes if you did not get a copy, let Beth Blackwell know. Forms are available for NCAIW Convention if you would like to attend and had not received yours as yet. Project Edith supplies had arrived and see Jeanne Hess for pickup Locations were discussed for the December Christmas party. Pam Grimes Education Dr. Dave Woods course will be on December 15th, will be 3 hours on Understanding Excess & Surplus Lines. Jeanne Hess discussed the Pecan brochure and prices. Will complete the brochure and send to all members by email. With no further discussion needed, President Blackwell adjourned the meeting at 7:45 PM.

Respectfully submitted, Jeanne M. Hess, CPIW, CISR, DAE, AAI, AIS For RAIP Secretary, Shirley McLamb Hudson, AAI, ARM, CPIW, CISR, DAE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

RAIP MEMBERS PAGE

CONGRATULATIONS!! (Let me know your good news!!)
(come on nowsomeones got something good to share!)

CONCERNS
NEW BREAST CANCER BATTLE Beth Blackwell has started her treatments. So far so good! Please add Beth to your prayer list!

GET YOUR MAMMOGRAM!!!!! Did you have yours in the last 12 months??
Visit the site below daily, click to help women in need get a free mammogram!
http://www.thebreastcancersite.com

Your click counts - see the results of clicking daily!

WHO HAS A NEW DESIGNATION THIS YEAR?? Please let me know for our year end information! IS ANYONE QUALIFYING FOR CPIW OR DAE AND NEED HELP? Just ask if you need assistance.
This is your page to send me whatever you would like to share with the other membersjoys, concerns, accomplishments just whatever you have in your life that you would like to share. Let me know if you have passed a class or received a new designation so we can say CONGRATULATIONS!

Ten Things You Can Do to Make Your Office Greener

With all of the focus on the environment and climate change these days, going green is not something that can (or should!) be ignored or put off. And while Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle may seem like a quaint and outdated phrase, the concepts embodied within it are as solid as ever. Using those concepts, though, can sometimes be overwhelming to us as individuals and it often feels like we cant make a difference especially in the workplace. They may seem like small things but remember: a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step #1. Set up recycling bins for glass, plastic, paper, cardboard, aluminum whatever your office uses in quantity. Make recycling these items a habit and it will become an easy thing to maintain. #2. Re-use plastic water bottles. Dont throw out a bottle just because its empty. Clean it out and use it again! Once it is no longer re-useable, then it can go into the recycling bin. With simple cleaning, bottles can be re-used many times before they reach that stage. Better yet, dont use disposable bottles at all! Keep a ceramic mug or a plastic or metal sports bottle at your desk for drinking water (or other beverages of choice) throughout the day. Hydrate while minimizing your carbon footprint. #3. Replace incandescent bulbs with energy efficient bulbs. CFLs (compact fluorescent lights) last longer and use less energy than standard incandescent bulbs. You can do this for a personal desk light or workspace light even if you cant get the main room lights changed. #4. Turn off lights in unused rooms; turn them on only when needed. The reduced power use could save you some green as well as helping you be green. Installing timers or motion sensors on the lights can be a good backup as they can turn the lights off when people forget to do so or after a certain period once the motion in the room ceases. #5. Make sure your computer is set for maximum energy savings. Most people know about these settings for their laptops since they are trying to eek out every last bit of power from the batteries but did you know that most desktop computers can also be configured for energy efficiency? Change your settings so that the monitor goes to sleep after a few minutes of idleness instead of always
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being on and the hard drive goes to sleep as well after a certain period of inactivity. Ask your IT person about this if you are not comfortable doing it yourself. #6. Dont print emails unless absolutely necessary. How many times do you print an email, only to throw it out a short time later? More and more people are asking readers of their emails to think about the environment before printing. Join the thinking crowd and consider whether or not you really need that email in hard copy form. #7. Use electronic documents whenever possible. This is not just an extension of number 6. Nearly any document that needs to be reviewed or edited can be sent electronically or shared over a network, so why not save your paper and ink just for those jobs where it is absolutely necessary to have a hard copy? #8. If you do need to print a document, print on both sides of the paper. Many software programs are capable of printing documents double-sided. Check your printer to see if it can do this more modern printers are able to do two-sided printing, especially office models. #9. Recycle used printer paper. If you can only print one-sided on your printer, dont throw out old printed documents reuse them! In our office, we have a printer that is dedicated to using just recycled documents. We take junk faxes, draft documents, and other non-sensitive printed materials and use them in that printer, especially for in-house, working documents. Of course, once you are done with the second use of the sheets, dont forget to add them to the recycling bin! #10. Spread the word! The more people who take even these simple actions, the more we can reduce our impact on the environment. Many small actions add up to large resultsso what will you do?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EVER WONDER ....

Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin ? Why women can't put on mascara with their mouth closed? ! Why don't you ever see the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery"?

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Why is "abbreviated" such a long word? Why is it that doctors call what they do "practice"? Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons? Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker? Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour? Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food? Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes? Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections? You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes? Why don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff?! Why don't sheep shrink when it rains? Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together? If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress? If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?

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