CLM is nothing without its members and fellows, who collaborate on everything from webinars to conference programming to articles published right here in CLM Magazine. Let’s recognize and honor some of that excellence with our own end-of-year awards show.
Top Magazine Contributor
So many CLM professionals take the time to contribute thoughtful, interesting, and practical content to CLM Magazine, but some writers take it to the next level by developing a regular series of articles. This year’s nominees went beyond the call of duty to develop truly original content for CLM Magazine. They include:
• Jim Foster, Partner, Cassiday Schade LLP, “The Roundabout”
• Robert Tyson, Strategic Managing Partner, Tyson & Mendes LLP, “Litigation Management”
• Roger Lear, Cofounder, Great Insurance Jobs, “Careers”
And the winner is…Jim Foster’s “The Roundabout” series! Published semi-annually, this panel presentation has been analyzing some of the most pressing issues affecting the transportation line since 2017. The diverse panel is assembled and moderated by Foster, and it remains one of the most insightful and longest-running series in CLM Magazine’s history.
Best Virtual Event
When the pandemic shut the country down just a week prior to CLM’s 2020 Annual Conference, everyone involved in its planning leaped into action to find a solution. Little did we know from that point on that CLM would remake its entire slate of conferences into virtual events—from scratch. Here are the nominees for Best Virtual Event:
• CLM Day of Learning
• CLM Claims College
• CLM Construction Conference
And the winner is…CLM Claims College! Pulling off March’s virtual Day of Learning just a week after having to cancel CLM’s Annual Conference was indeed a feat accomplished through sheer willpower, but CLM’s Claims College really showed what CLM could pull off with a bit more time to plan. The conference brought together 1,000 attendees across 11 schools and 400 classes—all on a brand-new custom, homegrown platform that was optimized to create the best virtual classroom experience possible.
Top Webinar of 2020
CLM’s Webinar Wednesdays expanded to include Tuesdays and even some Thursdays in 2020, and it remains one of the association’s best ways to demonstrate a sharing of knowledge, as each event pairs at least one member and fellow together. This year’s nominees for Top Webinar of 2020 include (in order of date presented):
• Don’t Let Your Policyholders and Companies Become Infected (presented June 4, 2020 by Anne Blume, CLM; Michelle Rafeld, Ohio Department of Insurance; Celeste Dodson, State Farm; and Matthew J. Smith, Coalition Against Insurance Fraud)
• Institutional Bad Faith: Putting the Insurer’s Practices, Procedures, and Integrity on Trial (presented on July 15, 2020 by Ted Colquett, Colquett Law LLC; Meg Weist, EMC Insurance Co.; and R. Wade Vandiver, Argo Group U.S.)
• Seven Habits that Define a Highly Effective Claims Team (presented Aug. 18, 2020 by Terence Kadlec, Envista Forensics; Charles Wamsley, National Claim Services Inc.; Jason Klein, Wood Smith Henning & Berman LLP; and Stephanie Hillman, Vela Insurance Services LLC)
And the winner is…“Don’t Let Your Policyholders and Companies Become Infected”! Presented as part of CLM’s COVID-19 webinar series, this presentation attracted 1,064 registrations, by far the most of any non-sponsored or non-conference-related webinar of the year. The other two webinars on this list also saw impressive registration numbers, due in large part to the complimentary CE/CLE now being offered for many of CLM’s webinars. To view CLM’s webinar archive, go to theclm.org/webinars.
While 2020 may be a year that many in our organization want to soon forget, the spirit of collaboration and teamwork so essential to CLM still rang true throughout. Congratulations to this year’s winners!