Chicago PLUS Conference 2024

By Kevin LaCroix on November 17, 2024

This past week, The D&O Diary was on assignment in Chicago to attend the 2024 PLUS Conference. Hard to believe, but this year’s version was the 37th installment in the annual series. It was as well-attended and well-organized as always. The event was held at the Sheraton Grand Hotel Riverwalk, right on the Chicago River. Chicago is one of my favorite places to visit and it was great to be back again. It was also great to see so many old friends and to make some new friends as well, as reflected in the pictures below.

The Sheraton Grande Riverwalk Hotel, right on the Chicago River. It certainly is a big darn hotel. Unfortunately, the mid-November weather was really not that conducive to walking along the river.

One of the great things I really enjoy about attending PLUS events is that I get the opportunity to meet so many young people who are new to the industry. I was fortunate on the first morning of the event to meet these two, Sydney Reule and Lauren Kalinich, both of AON.

I also had the chance before the first session to meet these two underwriters from AIG, John Wang and Allison McCue

I also had the chance on the first day to meet up with my friend Nessim Mezrahi (on the right), and his new colleague Anthony Kabanek, both of SAR LLC. Many of you may recognize Nessim as a frequent guest post contributor on this site.

At the reception on the event’s first evening, I was able to catch up with my old friend, Dave Williams, one of our industry’s great guys. Here’s a picture with Dave and one of his former colleagues, Sarah Pye, now of Philadelphia Insurance Companies.

Here’s a picture with Jonathan Cipriani of CNA. Jonathan wanted to get a picture with me to show his wife; he reports that she’s a big fan of *The D&O Diary*. Here’s the part I can’t figure out. His wife is not in insurance, she’s a doctor. Well, OK — Hello, Mrs. Cipriani! Or should I say Dr. Cipriani?

I had to get a picture with Nicole Sheth of the Kaufman Borgeest & Ryan law firm. Nicole’s term as the President of PLUS ended on the last day of the conference.

I was happy to meet Megan Black, of AON, one of the more enthusiastic insurance nerds I have ever run across.

Megan is such an enthusiastic insurance nerd that she wears a home-made bracelet that says “Bind D&O.” Setting new standards in insurance nerdiness!

At one of the educational sessions on Thursday afternoon, I sat next to these two, Sydney Burns and Rachel Smith of Arthur J. Gallagher. After the session, they asked if they could get a picture with me, so here they are!

After I got the picture with Sydney and Rachel, these guys decided they wanted to get a picture with me as well. From left to right: Nick Geier of Hylant; Reuben Hall of Hylant; me; Cole Petty of Old Republic; and Zachery Fricke of Old Republic.

With my good friend and frequent *D&O Diary* guest contributor, Sarah Abrams of Baleen Specialty (a division of Bowhead Specialty). I owe Sarah a public apology for messing up and missing our first planned meeting. Sarah, I am so sorry! Thank you for forgiving me.

The best part of the Conference for me this year was the opportunity I had on Friday afternoon to speak to a group of members of Future PLUS. PLUS CEO Robbie Thompson had asked me to speak to the group; my presentation came in the form of a Q&A with Robbie. It was a lot of fun and it was great to meet and to talk to the group of young professionals from our industry. My thanks to Robbie for inviting me to be a part of this event. Here are a few pictures of some of the Future PLUS event attendees.

With Jake Labow of Travelers. Jake told me he used one of my blog posts to help try to explain to his girlfriend what he does as a management liability underwriter. Just one of the many uses of *The D&O Diary* blog!

With Joseph Martinez of Hub International

With Kristen Covington of Travelers. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to sit next to and chat with Kristen at the Future PLUS lunch.

I really enjoyed the chance to meet and talk to this group of insurance professionals at the Future PLUS lunch. Always fun to enjoy a few laughs at an industry event. From left to right: Anna Holdeman of Great American; Bethany Greenberg of CRC; and Carrie Boruta of Great American.

This seemed like an appropriate picture to end this post with. Here I am with Jackie Waters of AON, who started her year as PLUS President on Friday. Jackie was also in charge of the event committee that planned and organized this year’s Conference, which was a terrific success. Congratulations to Jackie for a great job in organizing the Conference and good luck to her in the coming year as PLUS President.

I would be remiss if I did not also acknowledge here the great job the PLUS Staff did in orchestrating yet another successful PLUS conference. The event went so smoothly because the PLUS Staff did such a great job. My thanks and congratulations to the PLUS Staff.