them a broad array of products that can be accessed either online or via our underwriters.

What are some of your priorities
for NAPSLO this coming year?

NAPSLO’s priorities do not change year to year and are the result of the collaborative work of NAPSLO committees, the board of directors and the executive committee.

Over the past decade, NAPSLO as an organization has grown in stature and value to our members as our industry has prospered.

We have invested the resources to build an impressive staff and to expand initiatives across a broad front that have increased the value of NAPSLO to our members.

Without a doubt, NAPSLO is one of the premier national associations. It represents the top firms, both carriers and agencies, who are committed to the specialty insurance marketplace and the wholesale distribution system.

More specifically, I think it is important for NAPSLO to con-

DAILY NE WS DAILY NEWS THURSDAY September 10, 2015

SAN DIEGO, CA. WWW.NAPSLO.ORG
Q&A continued on page 4 A

Q&A With Gil Hine: A Profile in Excellence

How did you get into the insurance business?

After I graduated with an MBA from the University of Texas in 1974, I joined the Mergers and Acquisitions Department of a large Houston-based international food company that owned an insurance subsidiary. The first few projects I worked on were insurance transactions. I jumped at the opportunity to move to the insurance company to be a little closer to the action.

They were underwriting some very
heavy catastrophe casualty and
auto business. They also owned an
excess & surplus lines agency. I was
able to gain valuable underwriting
experience, and it wasn’t too long
before I knew I wanted to return
to my hometown of San Antonio
and start my own agency.
In 1982, I left Houston and
returned to San Antonio and
partnered with a recently retired
agency executive and one of the
finest men I have ever met to
start McClelland and Hine. We
struggled for the first five months,
turned a profit the next month
and never looked back.

What appeals to you about the
surplus lines sector, and what
are some of your (and your firm’s)
specific areas of expertise?

I love the never-ending sense of urgency, the commanding need to be entrepreneurial and to balance the objectives of our carriers with the needs of our retail agents and their clients. Even with all the mergers and acquisitions and consolidation, there is still room for independent wholesale agencies to grow and prosper by being nimble and disciplined.

San Antonio was never a hotbed of heavy E&S business. To grow our agency had to adapt to the needs of our market. Small is beautiful. We are committed to being able to profitably produce and underwrite small commercial and personal lines business by investing heavily in proprietary information and communication systems. We have focused on agencies serving smaller commercial clients and provided

New territory, new limits.

Colony Specialty’s Environmental division now offers increased excess policy limits of up to $25 million, available over unsupported primary coverage. Plus, we’ve added some new stars to our underwriting staff to build up our expertise and service throughout the country.