In keeping with our mission to provide “leadership for regional solutions,” in late 2023, GCBC held the first of a series of planned Regional Policy Forums. Coastal Insurance was the topic, and the event was attended by 200+ people at MGCCC’s IMPAC center in Gulfport. The high attendance and positive feedback validated a need for GCBC to play a role in addressing important coastwide topics.
As a result of this success, we’re planning three Regional Policy Forums in 2024, the first of which will be covering the Sackett Supreme Court ruling last year –– a major shift in wetlands designations that are not touching major bodies of water –– which stands to affect areas like the Mississippi Gulf Coast in a big way.
Addressing the Desire for Increased Regionalism
That first GCBC Regional Policy Forum (RPF) was inspired by GCBC’s own program of work. Through multiple years of Masters Leadership Program classes, the need for increased, tangible regionalism has emerged repeatedly. Additional data through our yearly CEO Confidence Surveys has reinforced the idea. The 2021-22 Masters Program took these cues and made regional alignment its entire focus.
That year’s class was constructed differently from normal years. We handpicked the best of the best from the previous five years of classes. We dubbed this class “Masters All-Stars.”
The Masters All-Stars class included a cross-section of industry sectors, and participants who visited the model cities of Nashville and Atlanta—two metropolitan areas currently having a great deal of success and growth. The participants met with and heard from a wide variety of regional organizations and government entities. After nearly 18 months of sessions, the class presented a yearly regional alignment summit as its final white paper and recommendation.
This marked the first time in Masters’s history that a class recommended a tangible program or event, and it represented a turning point in how we will conduct future Masters programs. Each year’s class will develop, workshop and deliver recommendations for a tangible deliverable such as a program, event effort/initiative.
While GCBC leadership embraced the group’s idea, we took it a step further with the decision to have three forums each year, since so many important topics emerged.
Building the Model for Future RPFs
The model for the November event, which will be repeated and built upon, included GCBC partnering with the South Mississippi Planning and Development District (SMPDD) and the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (MGCCC) to host the November 2023 forum. The audience heard from a panel of insurance industry experts, regulatory agencies, and stakeholders. The panel of industry experts included representatives from regional insurance companies.
Panelists were: Frank Bordeaux (Executive Vice President, Cadence Insurance), Ian Cross (Vice President-Agent, Pyron Coastal Insurance), Joel Verdon (Senior Vice President, Lemon Mohler Insurance), and Angelyn Zeringue (President, Southgroup Insurance). These experts in the field provided detailed insight into factors affecting regional availability those that have driven significant cost increases in recent years.
Attendees also viewed presentations from policy experts and regulatory agencies, including David Browning (Director of Financial & Market Information) with the Mississippi Insurance Department, Lee Harrell (CEO) of the Mississippi Wind Underwriting Association, and Thomas Quaka (Director & President) of MississippiMitigationGrants.com.
GCBC provided presentations from Kristyn Gunter (Director-Special Projects, SMPDD) on the current SMPDD Flood Map Revision Project, and from Peter Waggoner (Public Policy Director, Greater New Orleans Inc) on the National Flood Insurance Program 2.0).
Lastly, a panel of regional stakeholders closed out the half-day forum discussing how all these factors affect various industries and organizations. Those panelists included Scott Delano (MS Senator, District 50, Principal, Southeast Commercial Real Estate), Mary Martha Henson (Deputy Director, Jackson County Economic Development Foundation, and Peter Waggoner (Public Policy Director, Greater New Orleans Inc).
To bring the forum full circle, GCBC distributed the slides from the event to the entire membership as well as to other attendees, via email.
We are actively working on the remaining topics that will follow the next forum on the Sackett ruling. Subject matter is being prioritized based on regional importance and will be announced at a later date.
