If insurance is deadly dull, where does that put insurance executives? If those executives are at CNA Insurance Companies, there appears to be an inverse relationship between the subject and the people.
Last week, CNA`s top brass shuffled down to Dallas to strut their stuff for their top agents, and the result was . . . well, if not a particularly memorable moment in American musical history, certainly it was a real good time.
The setting was a three-day convention for about 800 independent insurance agents who account for half of CNA`s business. As CNA Chairman and Chief Executive Edward J. Noha described it, ”unlike a regular agents`
convention, there was no formal fun-and-games time.” Instead, the agents went to workshops and listened to big-gun speakers, including Illinois Insurance Commissioner John E. Washburn. But since most news of the insurance industry these days being of the doom-and-gloom variety, Noha decided some fun and games was in order.
Instead of the usual welcoming speeches, Noha opened the event with the first (and, he swears, last) performance of ”The CNA Shuffle.”
Donald E. Harder, vice president of national accounts, led the jersey-clad Big Red Shuffling Team onto the stage, making noise, if not music, with his cowbell and drumsticks. Dennis H. Chookaszian, vice president and controller, brought his guitar. William J. Gilmartin, senior vice president of reinsurance, shook his tambourine. On the saxophone CNA introduced assistant veep John R. Lusk. Filling out the ensemble were Philip L. Engel, vice president of marketing, playing the role of Walter ”Sweetness” Payton;
Carolyn L. Murphy, vice president of field operations, standing in for Jim McMahon; David W. Koester, vice president of administration; Ernest A. Lausier, vice president of underwriting/services; and James B. Mullins, vice president of claims. Noha, wearing Jersey No. 1, said he was Mike Ditka.
The dancing, we`re told, was of true boogie quality.
The inspiration for the CNA Shuffle came at an earlier agents`
convention, at the height of Super Bowl mania, when Noha noticed everybody was fascinated by the ”Super Bowl Shuffle” video. He decided a CNA takeoff would catch attention.
The rest, as they say, is history. Noha and Engle wrote the lyrics. Alas, we can`t provide a review of that effort, because Noha wouldn`t part with the words. According to witnesses, there were thinly veiled references to the competition, as well as inside jokes about the performers themselves. We figure the competition can`t complain about any company that refers to its headquarters–before 800 of its agents, yet–as a ”big red palace.”
”We just had a lot of fun with it, with lyrics that had a little message that was amusing,” Noha said.
To avoid stage-fright disasters, the executives-turned-performers taped their lines and lip-synched while on stage. But the performance itself was not saved for posterity, partly to avoid any impression that CNA is trying to compete with the real thing.
”We said this is the first and last time,” Noha said. ”We had fun with it. It just presented a different side of a management team that had enough confidence to come out and make fun of themselves. It went over like gangbusters. The agents were screaming and applauding.”
Just how much did the agents like it? We`ll wait for the next quarter`s sales figures.
A MILLION APOLOGIES
From our haste-makes-waste file, Peter B. Fox, former director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs and now a public finance specialist at Bear, Stearns & Co. in Chicago, has been apologizing to state officials for a snafu on a $90 million revenue-bond issue for civic center financing.
The error, which occurred during the year-end rush to issue municipal bonds, will force the state to issue about $1 million in new bonds this year. However, pending tax law changes have clouded the municipal bond market since Jan. 1.
Bear, Stearns, as adviser and comanager on the civic center issue, mistakenly concluded that certain money held in escrow by various civic center authorities around the state would be available to pay principal and interest on the new bond issue. To make up for the error, about $1 million initially earmarked for new projects will have to be shifted to debt service.
Fox believes a new issue can be floated that won`t be jeopardized by the proposed tax law changes. There`s also a silver lining: interest rates have fallen on municipal bonds since Dec. 31, and the state may get a favorable rate that would make up for the cost of a second issue.
