Canada Life's Kathy Kaskiw To Take Helm Of ICPA

<B> Canada Life's Kathy Kaskiw To Take Helm Of ICPA</B>

By Chris Davis

In a rapidly changing industry where permanent roots are rare, building membership of a professional organization is not easy, especially for one as specialized as the Insurance Conference Planners Association. But it's a challenge ICPA president-elect Kathy Kaskiw is ready to meet.

Kaskiw, senior consultant for meetings and incentives at Toronto-based Canada Life Assurance, will take the ICPA reins from current president Dale Huff at the group's annual meeting in Palm Springs, Calif., next month.

Under Huff, who is an assistant vice president for Amica Mutual Insurance, ICPA started a speaker-exchange program with the Society of Incentive Travel Executives and opened up its annual meeting to non-members for the first time. Its goal was to increase ICPA's profile and membership, which has remained between 400 to 500 for the past few years.

"ICPA will only continue to remain viable if we keep our membership growing, and in our industry today, that's a real challenge," Kaskiw said. "Insurance companies are merging and downsizing; they think they can outsource their meeting planning units and still get the same quality service. All of that directly impacts on our membership."

Meeting planners in the insurance industry have distinct professional needs and goals, said Kaskiw, and only a specialized organization like ICPA can offer them education and networking opportunities specific to their industry.

"Insurance is the most difficult product to sell. Intangible products are always so much harder to sell, and a product like life insurance, which is not a demand product, is even more difficult to sell," Kaskiw said. "You're selling intangible products in a highly competitive market and regulations are changing all the time, which changes how we market and distribute it. And all of this goes back to how do we motivate the people to sell our products."

In such an environment, the job of the professional planner is "to provide the suitable venues and the opportunities, and help our companies motivate and provide the incentives to go out and sell our products. We're all in the same boat together, so we share and we all benefit," she said.

Of perhaps more immediate benefit is the opportunity for networking. As a unique market, the insurance industry has a distinct relationship with its suppliers--and here, Kaskiw said, is one of the most important rewards ICPA can offer.

"The biggest benefit, I think, is networking. It's huge," she said. "The insurance industry is insular in many regards, and sometimes that's to its credit, because we have unique business needs. By networking with our peers from all over the world, we get many, many benefits. We're also recognized as a special market for the hospitality industry. So keeping together as an organization helps us strengthen out partnerships with suppliers."

Kaskiw is a seasoned insurance industry veteran. Before entering into meeting planning in 1989, she served as manager of conservation services and assistant director of research and development in a career at Canada Life that has spanned nearly 23 years. With that depth of experience, Kaskiw has developed the tools and skills that she hopes can help take ICPA to the next level.

"I've had three main careers with the company, and I'd like to think I've gained some leadership skills and the ability to help people share their ideas openly," she said. "My experience on the life insurance side of the industry has resulted in good partnerships with hospitality partners."

But above all, she added, "I have a tremendous respect for the role of the meeting planner in the insurance industry. I know what value we bring to the table.