15
THOUGHTS AND PERSPECTIVE FROM THE
2017 CONFERENCE CHAIR
Just about 40 years ago last month,
I attended my first Virginia State
Claims Association Convention at the
Fort Magruder Inn in Williamsburg,
Virginia. For less than two years,
I had operated a ServiceMaster
restoration franchise in the Roanoke
area. I came to Fort Magruder as a
junior member of a large group of
ServiceMaster franchise owners, led
by Master Franchise Coordinator
Robert Lumpp of Charlottesville,
Virginia, who quickly became my
friend and mentor. As a junior
member of a rather large contingent
of 17 business operations, my share
of the sponsorship was only $175. For
someone just starting out in business
for himself, although I had taken over
a business that had existed for more
than 15 years, that $175 was a lot of
money. It was well worth the cost and
effort, as the experience with the VSCA
introduced me to a real professional
claims-handling culture and other
connections in the working claims
business. I participated as a vendor/
sponsor for another 2 years, after
which I had transitioned to a claims
position with Kemper Insurance and
was no longer a sponsor, but an
active adjuster member.
I paid my first dues as an active
Roanoke Claims Association member
as soon as the 1981 meeting season
began anew in Roanoke that
September, and attended my first
VSCA convention that fall as a full-fledged
member at the 17th Annual
Convention in Richmond. As a “junior”
active member, I kept relatively
quiet, enjoyed the various seminar
offerings and generally soaked up
some good claims education, but
in December, just a few months
after I attended that Convention, I
was asked at a VSCA Board meeting
(held at the old Virginia Farm Bureau
headquarters in Richmond) to
edit and prepare a newsletter for
the organization; separate from,
but complimentary, to the fine
Claimsman Magazine you’re reading
right now. While this newsletter was
a limited venture, fading away in less
than 2 years, it introduced me to the
business side and administration of
the professional organization that is
the Virginia State Claims Association.
I continued to learn the ins and
outs of the Roanoke Valley Claims
Association, beginning a run through
the chairs and becoming a candidate
for their Adjuster of the Year, as well
as the state nominee in 1982; an
honor repeated three times into the
early 2000s, but without success at
the state level. In the year following
my involvement in the planning and
execution of the 1995 Convention
at the Hotel Roanoke, I began a run
through the VSCA chairs as Secretary
in 1996-97, and advanced to President
of the VSCA for 2000-01. Most of the
period thereafter and at the present
time, I serve as Roanoke Valley’s
State Director. I’ve attended all but
one of the Annual Conferences since,
and, at the 2011 Conference at the
Stonewall Jackson Hotel Conference
Center in Staunton, on my fifth
try, I was announced as the VSCA
Outstanding Adjuster of the Year at
the Annual Banquet. Since that year,
I’ve continued to serve the RVCA as
their State Director, as well as chair
the VSCA Membership and Publicity
Committees. Then, at the 2013 VSCA
Leadership Conference hosted by my
own Roanoke Association, my good
friend, Mary Taylor, and I received
what I consider the most singular
honor the VSCA has to give, that of
Life Membership.
Why all the ancient history involving
the VSCA and my home association
in Roanoke? Well, I’d just like to point
out my relatively humble beginnings
in both of these organizations. Step
by step, task to task and with the
confidence of a dozen or more
mentors in these organizations, I
progressed from an observer to a
contributor to an organizer; then
finally, to a leader with others looking
to me for some order, confidence
and competence.
To all of us who have been around
VSCA Programs for a while, even for
as little as three to five years, you
need to give your time and counsel
to the less experienced of our
numbers, and bring their ideas and
concerns forward for consideration.
To many of our local associations,
this not only means our adjusters
new to the industry, but, thanks to
flexible membership rules and even
more recent By-Law changes, it
means young attorneys as well. I’d
certainly include those of our vendor
members who are just beginning their
careers in the fields of mitigation,
restoration, collision repair, medical
& rehabilitation services, housing,
safety, reconstruction and, my
personal favorite, risk management.
Both the State and local associations
need to concentrate their efforts on
reaching these folks, and developing
both programs and resources that
are convenient to their needs and
schedules. We’ll either rise or fall
on the success of this effort, which,
when you really get down to it, costs
us little, but gives us a lot of pure
satisfaction.
RANDY S. LAYMAN, AIC