Concluded

My father’s older sibling was our beloved Uncle Spaghetti. His real name was Uncle Tony, but my brother Orlando and I pretty much always called him Uncle Spaghetti. He came by his nickname gastronomically.

In 1960 when my family arrived in the United States, my mother did not know how to cook—we had been fortunate to have a cook in Cuba. When we found ourselves exiled to the United States, under completely different economic circumstances and sans the cook, things radically changed. Saddled with a husband and three young kids who enjoyed eating regularly, my mom set about learning the culinary art of preparing meals. Her method consisted of learning a new dish and serving it continuously until she felt she had mastered it. While others can mark family stages with current events, my family can do the same by recalling the cooking phases of my mother. I clearly remember going through her fish sticks phase, the beef stroganoff phase and the tuna casserole phase. However, I most painfully recall when my mother discovered Spam®! We had fried Spam, sliced right-out-of-the-can Spam, Spam sandwiches, Spam and eggs. It seemed like one could incorporate Spam into breakfast, lunch and dinner—and my mother certainly did!

One particular evening in the spring of 1961, Uncle Tony and Aunt Margarita came over for dinner and my mother served spaghetti. It was a good and tasty meal prepared by someone who by then had considerable practice with noodles and tomato sauce. Six weeks went by and my aunt and uncle again found themselves as guests at our dinner table. During the meal, Uncle Tony noted the coincidence that both meals they shared with us had included spaghetti. That observation made Orlando and I laugh uncontrollably until we had tears running down our faces. What Uncle Tony did not know is that coincidence had little to do with the twice-served spaghetti. The residents of our household had been relentlessly dinning on spaghetti during the intervening six weeks! From that night on, Uncle Tony became Uncle Spaghetti.

My mother, who would never threaten Julia Childs’ career, was nevertheless focused and tenacious about learning to cook and doing her best at it. While she did not completely master the art, she certainly gave it the “college try” and we were the better for it.

And so with my mother as my role model, I set out last September to learn the art of being president of the Big “I.” What I lacked in background and training, I tried to make up for with tenacity and focus on a simple mantra: Pay the most attention to those activities that are for the promotion of the independent agency system and those activities that are for the defense of the independent agency system. The rest will take care of itself.

• So what should we promote and what should we defend?
• We should promote Trusted Choice® every time, everywhere. It is our brand and will help us and our companies grow our businesses.
• We should defend the fair and adequate payment of compensation to agents, including incentive compensation. It is right, proper and aligns the interest of the client, the agent and the company.
• We should promote real-time computer interface for it brings efficiency and economy to agency and company operations.
• We should defend the McCarran-Ferguson Act. It promotes competition and it is good for consumers and the insurance industry.
• We should promote curbing the improper and abusive use of certificates of insurance that continually expose agents to inappropriate demands and unreasonable exposure to liability.
• We should defend regulation of insurance close to home and promote the modernization of this system.
• We should promote a cooperative partnership between the private and public sectors to adequately insure our citizens for the mega catastrophes in our future.
• And most importantly, we should always promote and defend the insurance industry. It is an economic system that works well for America by delivering daily on the promise to restore lives and dreams.

Those of us who are invited to positions of leadership in our insurance associations at the local, state or national levels do well to always remember that we serve for the betterment of our fellow agents, our companies, our clients and our industry. This is and has always been my philosophy.

At the end of this month, I will turn over the presidency of our association to my good friend from Iowa, Bob Fulwider. None that I recall comes better prepared by experience and temperament to this job. Bob and his wife Jan are wonderful people who have become important to Patt and to I. He is very talented, as is Brett Nilsson who will serve as president-elect. Also, it has also been my good fortune and privilege to work closely with the other members of the executive committee, incoming Vice President David Daniel and at-large members Mike Miley and Mike Donohoe, plus Immediate Past President Bill Stiglitz. Each of these individuals is high-minded and truly concerned for the welfare of our members.

My thanks go to the members of our national board of directors who collectively have demonstrated a tremendous amount of wisdom, and to our wonderful staff in Washington D.C., led by CEO Bob Rusbuldt, who carry out their professional duties with zeal and constant preoccupation for the wellbeing of all of us.

I would be remiss if I did not thank my InSource, Inc. family who pitched in to cover my back with my clients and corporate obligations, which allowed me to take on this national responsibility.

Finally, my deepest gratitude is to the members of this great association who afforded me the rare privilege and opportunity serve as their president. Thank you!

Alex Soto