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A Chat with the New HelmsmanNYSIR’s new executive director, BobLulley, hit the road running ashe stepped into the position Jan. 1,having had the advantage ofpreviously working alongsideNYSIR board members andPROFILESMore in ourprofessionals as Executiveongoing lookVice President of Wrightat NYSIRRisk Public Entity’s NYSIRfriends and facesprogram. We sat down withhim at his UniondaleIT COULDHAPPEN TO YOU office for a discussion aboutFrivolous“all things NYSIR.”46suits: an“unsettling”storyQ: Having a closeconnection to the organizationyou’re going to lead can have abig impact. How will yourexperience as the former head of WRM’sNYSIR program help with the transitionto NYSIR executive director?I’ve had theopportunity towork with agreat team ona wide rangeof projects andinitiatives,all to supportNYSIR’s goalof servingits memberschools andBOCES.A: I’m fortunate to have beeninvolved with NYSIR for thepast 17 years. During that timeI’ve had the opportunity to workwith a great team on a widerange of projects and initiatives,all to support NYSIR’s goal ofserving its member schoolsand BOCES. That experienceallows me to continue tobuild on the successes we havehad and to help my colleaguesensure that NYSIR remainsContinued on page 2.
NYSIR NEWSFEBRUARY 2017A CHAT WITH THE NEW HELMSMAN, CONTINUEDthe leading insurance and risk managementprovider for New York public schools.in New York State. Why is it importantthat NYSIR be seen as an innovative andrespected leader nationally?Q: How do you see NYSIR evolvingover the coming years in termsA: While NYSIR’s mission is focusedof coverages and services offeredexclusively on New York State schools andBOCES, the insurance community is highlyinterconnected. As we continue to buildand broaden the portfolio of coverages andservices available to our subscribers, wewill necessarily want to connect with otherplayers in the space. We do that alreadythrough many of the value-added serviceswe provide members, and through thereinsurance protection wesecure. Our national andinternational reputationfor excellence allows us toattract the best businesspartners at competitive costs.to subscribers?A: NYSIR’s mission includesproviding our subscribers with thebroadest coverages and servicesavailable. Beyond that, we makeit our business to try to address asmany of the insurance and riskmanagement needsROBERT W. LULLEY, JR.of our subscribersas we possibly can. Aschallenges confronting publicschools continue to grow cyber security, concussionmanagement and drivertraining, for example – ourchallenge is to continue togrow with them. Recently,for instance, we added newcyber liability coverage, andwe’ve expanded existing crimecoverages to include “socialengineering” losses. We’realso providing free base-linecognitive testing to manystudent athletes as part ofour support for concussionmanagement protocols,and we’ve recently expanded our licensemonitoring program to include all schoolemployees whose responsibilities includedriving district vehicles.As challengesconfrontingpublic schoolscontinue togrow cybersecurity,concussionmanagementand drivertraining, forexample – ourchallenge isto continue togrowwith them.Q: NYSIR is limited in terms of its marketto public school districts and BOCESPAGE 2Q: Tell us about the currentmove to bring NYSIR’s ITand financial operations inhouse? What advantagescome with that strategy?A: Those adjustments arevery important for NYSIRand very exciting. Byassuming responsibility forall accounting functionsand managing our ownoperating system, NYSIR is gaining anadditional measure of control over its future.Those changes also are a key component ofour enterprise risk management program.We’re very fortunate that the teams in placeto assume those responsibilities have beenworking either at NYSIR or through ourmanagement company, Wright Insurance,
NYSIR NEWSFEBRUARY 2017A CHAT WITH THE NEW HELMSMAN, CONTINUEDfor many years. We expect a seamless andvery effective transition that will make iteven easier for subscribers to do businesswith us.Q: NYSIR often characterizes itself asQ: NYSIR traditionally has maintainedA: While insurance and risk managementworking relationships with education-is what we do, our purpose is to helpmember districts and BOCES achievetheir goals by creating safe,related professional associations inNew York such as the NewYork State Council of SchoolSuperintendents and the NewYork State School FacilitiesAssociation (see recentNYSIR News special sectionon associations). Why isthat important to NYSIR andits subscribers?A: A key component of NYSIR’s“more than an insurance company.” Howdo we engage at levels that go aboveand beyond insurance?Whileinsuranceand riskmanagementis whatwe do, ourpurpose is tohelp memberdistrictsand BOCESachievetheir goalsby creatingsafe, healthylearningand workingenvironments.success is the “marriage” betweenschool professionals on ourboard of governors andinsurance professionals inadministration and at themanagement company. We eachbring a distinct and essentialperspective to the process thatallows for the best possibleoutcome. It is a natural extensionof that concept to work closely witheducation-related associations in NewYork. We all have overlapping interests,especially when it comes to creatingsafe and healthy learning and workingenvironments for students and staff.We’re very pleased to share ideas withprofessional groups and, whereverpossible, to coordinate our efforts in away that is mutually beneficial andin the interest of our shared goals offurthering public education.healthy learning and workingenvironments. We do thatby helping them recoverfrom unexpected losses, bydefending them when theyare accused of negligence, byproviding tools to enhancetheir operations, and by beingavailable with courteous,timely and accurate customerservice. In other ways, suchas through our expansiveannual scholarship programsfor students and professionalorganizations, we takeseriously a commitment togive back to the community.Q: What does it meanwhen NYSIR says it providesprice stability to its subscribers?A: It means charging our memberspremiums that reflect the value of ourprogram and their own experience notwhat the market will bear. When NYSIRwas founded, schools were facing yearover-year premium increases in the doubledigits, notwithstanding the fact that theirown experience had been, for the most part,unchanged. School insurance programsContinued on back page.PAGE 3
NYSIR NEWSFEBRUARY 2017Ron F. AcebalIn partnership with CBIZValuation Group, LLC,one of the nation’s largestindependent, full-servicevaluation companies, NYSIRoffers subscribers a fixed-assetappraisal every five years.Acebal is National Directorof CBIZ. n WHAT’S YOURHOMETOWN? Shrewsbury,NJ. n WHERE DID YOURON ACEBALGET YOUR DEGREE? Iattended Westchester CommunityCollege and Mercy College. nHOW DID YOU GET INTO THEBUSINESSYOU’RE IN?NYSIR ProfilesI started mycareer in thebanking industry and was recruitedby a national appraisal firm ton HOW LONG HAVE YOUBEEN INVOLVED WITH NYSIR? Almost 20years. n WHAT’S ONE THING YOU WOULDLIKE PEOPLE TO KNOW ABOUT NYSIR?work with them.It’s been interesting to see how NYSIR has been astandard bearer in the public entity pooling spaceover the past 25 years, and how many of the thingsthey’ve implemented were firsts in the pooling arena.GROWING UP, I ALWAYS WANTED TOBE A football player. n MOTTO TO LIVE BY:n“Virtually nothing is impossible in this world ifyou just put your mind to it and maintain apositive attitude.” – Lou Holtz n IF YOU COULDGO ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, WHEREWOULD IT BE? Barcelona, Spain, with my family.n FAVORITE MOVIE: “Saving Private Ryan.”Acebal has two adult children, Amandaand Alex. Ron’s fiancee’ Dawn also has twochildren, Melinda and Benjamin. Ron andDawn have two dogs, Roxy and Sampson.Robert W. Lulley, Jr.Bob Lulley is the newexecutive director ofNYSIR (see cover story).WHAT’S YOURHOMETOWN? Deer Park,NY. n WHERE DID YOUGET YOUR DEGREE? LenMoyne College, Syracuse.HOW DID YOU GETINTO THE BUSINESSYOU’RE IN? A familynROBERT LULLEY, JR.friend owned an insurancebrokerage in New York City. Aftera conversation with my dad, hemet with me and then ultimatelyrecommended me for an underwritingtraining position with Aetna Life &Casualty. n HOW LONG HAVE YOUBEEN INVOLVED WITH NYSIR?A couple of months, but I worked withNYSIR for almost 17 years at Wright RiskManagement. n WHAT’S ONE THINGPAGE 4YOU WOULD LIKE PEOPLE TO KNOWABOUT NYSIR? We are committed to providingall our members with the finest insurance and riskmanagement solutions available. n GROWINGUP, I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A collegebasketball coach. n BEST ADVICE YOU’VEEVER RECEIVED: The best advice I receivedabout work was, show up early, put in an honestday’s work and treat the people you work withfairly. n IN 2017, I HOPE TO Continue tostrengthen NYSIR by broadening our coveragesand services, expanding our membership,supporting our subscribers and completing theimplementation of our new operating system. nWHAT INSPIRES YOU? I am inspired by goodpeople, working together to support each other andproduce outstanding results.Bob has been married to his wife Pat formore than 27 years. They have four daughtersranging in age from 17 to 22. Their names areChandler, Shannon, Madison and Morgan.
NYSIR NEWSFEBRUARY 2017Eric M. StarkERIC M. STARKEric M. Stark, theAssistant Superintendentfor Business at CarmelCentral School District,has been on the NYSIRBoard of Governorssince the fall of 2011 andis currently chairpersonof the FinanceCommittee. n WHAT’SYOUR HOMETOWN?Hartsdale, NY, inWestchester County. n WHERE DIDYOU GET YOUR DEGREE? I havea BA from Brandeis University andan MBA from BaruchCollege. In addition, Ihave two post-masterlevel certificates, onefor secondary teachingfrom Pace Universityand one from SUNYNew Paltz for schooladministration andschool business.Although on severaloccasions I’ve said “I’m never goingback to school again,” I currently amin the doctoral program (Ed.D) atManhattanville College. n HOW DIDbusiness. Altogether, I’ve been at Carmelfor about 18 years 10 in the businessoffice. n HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEENINVOLVED WITH NYSIR? Carmel’sNYSIR representative, John Peppard, wasalways very good at meeting with newbusiness officials and educating them onNYSIR and its benefits and advantages. So,from Day One in the business office, I wasinvolved from that perspective. When a spotopened up on the NYSIR board in my area,I ran for the seat and was lucky enoughto have the support of my colleagues. nWHAT’S ONE THING YOU WOULD LIKEPEOPLE TO KNOW ABOUT NYSIR?NYSIR isa reciprocal,which meanswe’re allin it togetherand supporteach other.YOU GET INTO THE BUSINESSYOU’RE IN? I was an investmentbanker for a Kuwaiti investmentfirm, but I wasn’t thrilled with thebusiness world. My mother had beena reading teacher in the Bronx and Idecided to follow her lead and go backto school to become a teacher. I startedteaching at Carmel Central School Districtin 1999. During that time, I met a retiredsuperintendent while golfing who saidmy background would be perfect for thebusiness office. I found the program at SUNYNew Paltz and really enjoyed my first class.That led to me taking an internship with mypredecessor in Carmel and eventually movinginto the position of assistant superintendent forNYSIR is a reciprocal, whichmeans we’re all in it togetherand support each other.NYSIR board members, likemyself, are school peopleand understand schools andknow what we need as faras coverage. I think thatreally sets us apart from ourcompetition. n MOTTOTO LIVE BY OR BESTADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED:From my favorite Tommy Bahama shirt:Work hard, relax harder. I work at myjob really hard, but in order to do that longterm, you have to recharge yourself. Also,family first. And that’s how I managemy staff, too. n IF YOU WERE ON ANISLAND AND COULD ONLY BRINGTHREE THINGS, WHAT WOULD YOUBRING? Just one thing. A boat. n WHATWAS THE FIRST CAR YOU OWNED?A 1966 teal Ford Thunderbird.Eric and his wife Kate have been marriedsince 2004. Eric’s son Jake is a seniorin high school and currently applyingto colleges for aerospace engineering.The couple also have a fourth-gradegirl, Alexa, and a first-grade boy, Tyler.Shamrock, their energetic Weimaraner,keeps them all very busy as well.PAGE 5
NYSIR NEWSFEBRUARY 2017It’s a complicated enterprise. Faculty.Staff. Students. Supplies. Transportation. Buildings and grounds. Withseemingly a thousand things demanding attention all at once, it can be easyto forget that, as a NYSIR subscriber, you’re committed to standing againstbaseless claims and lawsuits. Here’s why it’s important to focus on fightingthe good fight, and consider that NYSIR’s founding principles didn’t just fall intoplace when the reciprocal began insuring publicschools more than 25 years ago. As thevery first member districts and board ofgovernors sat down to decide what kindof organization they wanted to be, therewas very little opposition to the ideathat NYSIR should be an insurer thatstood against costly false, fraudulent andfrivolous claims. As revealed in this reallife court case from the files of NYSIR’sClaims Department, a willingness to say“no” doesn’t just define an organization’scharacter. It saves money.Withoutsubscribercommitment,a teamapproach,and alitigationphilosophythat standsagainst falseand frivolousclaims. itcould happento you.Several years ago a second-graderat a NYSIR member school whosuffered from brittle bone diseasedisregarded a classroom aide andgot out of his wheelchair to sit in a regularchair, supposedly to get a better viewof a video presentation. In doing so heblocked other students’ view, and theaide intervened to help him back to hischair using a transfer belt.He sat down before the chairwas fully under him, though,and the aide was forced tolower him to the floor asgently as she could. Despitedirectives from the aide,the student then began to crawlPAGE 6on the floor and got about eight feetbefore grabbing his leg in pain. A nursewas called and the student was takento a hospital, where it was determinedthat he had sustained a fractured ankle.His parents initiated a personal injurysuit, claiming the school district hadbeen negligent in failing to provideboth a suitable individualizededucation plan and a properly trainedone-on-one aide for the student.Part of their original demand wasfor 150,000 in compensation.After offering expert testimonydemonstrating that it had followed anacceptable standard of care, and thatdistrict personnel who had been directlysupervising the second-graderwere well-qualified andappropriately trained,the districtmade amotionfor asummaryjudgementby the court, which wasgranted. The complaintwas dismissed.Following an appeal by theplaintiff, that decision was reversed by a
NYSIR NEWShigher court basedon the fact thattestimony from thestudent himself hadnot been considered,a developmentthat initiated ayears-long series ofmotions from theparents’ counsel toamend witness disclosures, re-arguecourt orders, move for discovery of itemsto which plaintiffs were not entitled,and more. As summarized in a defensetrial report, the case was burdenedby “a lot of unnecessary motion practiceand resistance for basic discovery byplaintiff’s counsel.”In the end, all those extraneousmotions were decided in favor of theschool district, and a final datefor jury trial was set. In the interim,however, the sitting judge – thesame one who had originallydismissed the case stronglysuggested a settlement.The defense counsel refused,declaring the defendantschool district and itspersonnel had doneeverythingright,andnothingwrong.Therewaseven thehint of adeclarationof mistrialFEBRUARY 2017based on the possibility that a jurormight have to be replaced.The trialproceeded, andultimately thejury returneda unanimousdecision: Theschool districthad not beenguilty ofnegligence in anyof its actions.LESSONLEARNEDBased on thegenuinelysupportiverelationshipbetweenNYSIRand itssubscribers,this casedisplayed ourcommitmentto defendwhenappropriate.“Based onthe genuinelysupportive relationship betweenNYSIR and its subscribers, this casedisplayed our commitment todefend when appropriate,” notesRonald Falcone, Senior Vice President,Claims, with Wright Public Entity.“We were threatened by the judgeprior to trial when we wouldn’t settle;we were threatened, as well, witha mistrial during trial. In the face ofall that, we maintained a unifieddefense posture, supported by schoolemployees and the district superintendent, and the jury returned averdict in our favor.”Few things are as unfair as thesettlement of baseless litigation. Withoutsubscriber commitment, a teamapproach, and a litigation philosophythat stands against false and frivolousclaims it could happen to you.PAGE 7
NYSIR NEWSFEBRUARY 2017A CHAT WITH THE NEW HELMSMAN, CONTINUEDwere subject to the whims of market cyclesand insurer profit goals, which wreakedhavoc on budgets and diverted funds frommore important education programs. Byforming and joining NYSIR,schools were able to availthemselves of quality, schoolspecific products and servicesat fair and consistent pricing.Here’s a good example: Forthe 2017-2018 policy year,NYSIR will be holding ratesunchanged for the third yearin a row.Q: How important is anintelligent reinsurancestrategy to NYSIR’s success?A: Reinsurance is a littlemillions of dollars over the years throughloss transfer, and has also allowed us to offeran insurance program that is the broadestand deepest in the market.Reinsuranceis a littleunderstoodconceptoutside theinsuranceworld, butit is a keycomponent ofany insurancecompany’sbusinessstrategy.understood concept outside theinsurance world, but it is a key component ofany insurance company’s business strategy.A well-developed reinsurance program allowsan insurer to expand its writings, minimizeits exposure to catastrophic losses, stabilizepricing and support surplus growth. That’swhy NYSIR works with only the mostfinancially secure reinsurers in the worldand the best intermediaries in the market.Our reinsurance program has saved NYSIRfrom other public schoolinsurers in New Yorkin terms of added value?What can we offer thatthey don’t?A: I believe the union ofeducation and insuranceprofessionals allows us to betterunderstand the needs of publicschools, and as such, bettermeet their needs. Our board ofschool administrators and ourteam of insurance professionalsinteract on a daily basis, sothey’re never far removed from each other.That helps us to understand school budgetconstraints, for instance, as we make pricingdecisions. It also helps us to better understandloss exposures schools face as we makecoverage decisions. Those same advantagesapply as we contemplate enhanced servicesand manage claims to protect subscribersfrom frivolous lawsuits. That’s the added valueNYSIR brings, and that no other provider has.33333 EarleEarle OvingtonO ingOvingtonngton Blvd.B vd.BlvdSuiteSu te 905Sui90Uniondale,UniondUnUniondaleondale,, NYaleNY 115531155115515533Phone:Phone:ne 516.393.23205116.393.6.393.6.393 2322 0Fax:Fax: YSIR iss on TwitterTwitteTwt ttter.e R nsun ranranceancePAGE 8Q: What sets NYSIR apart
business office. I found the program at SUNY New Paltz and really enjoyed my first class. That led to me taking an internship with my predecessor in Carmel and eventually moving into the position of assistant superintendent for business. Altogether, I've been at Carmel for about 18 years 10 in the business office.n HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN
