Houston’s Finest

Writing this shortly after wrapping up CLM’s 11th annual conference in Houston, it’s hard not to be inspired by the three days of education, collaboration, and networking.

We started off on the field of Minute Maid Park honoring Westfield Insurance’s Rob Bowers as our claims professional of the year, Red Bull’s Simon Keshishian as our litigation professional of the year, and Lincoln, Gustafson & Cercos LLP’s Teresa Beck as our outside counsel professional of the year. All three willingly contribute to and help make our association bigger and better, which is why I really hope they enjoyed their big-screen moment on the field—they certainly deserved it. Then, with all three of these champions on base, Sedgwick’s Dave North hit a grand slam with his CLM Lifetime Achievement Award acceptance speech.

Speaking of North, he kicked off day two of the conference by moderating a thought-provoking panel discussion that encouraged a lot of discourse and, frankly, some fun exchanges between panelists Deborah Saunders of Comcast NBCUniversal, Dawn Watkins of Los Angeles Unified School District, and the aforementioned Bowers. If you didn’t have the pleasure of hearing these four debate each other, then you missed out because it delivered on everything it promised.

Lastly, I want to thank our sponsors, CLM staff, and planning committee for making this such a memorable event. To those who participated and supported our athletic endeavors, which included a 5K and golf and tennis tournaments, I thank you for helping contribute to the CLM Foundation. Many also gave up their mornings to participate in community service efforts throughout Houston, too (you can read more on page 63). That’s the CLM way, and I can’t wait to do it all over again in Orlando next year.

Adam Potter

CEO, CLM