National Cannabis Industry Association Forms Insurance Sector Committee

Two cannabis Surplus Lines Brokers Cannasure and Next Wave Insurance have formed a committee to change the cannabis insurance industry courtesy of the National Cannabis Industry Association ("NCIA").  For NCIA members and non-members, the NCIA offers several committees involving industry experts on a variety of topics.  As such, a committee to tackle and parse through the myriad of issues associated with insuring cannabis made up of lawyers and insurance professionals. 

The chairperson is Cannasure's very own Mr. Patrick McManamon with Mr. Ian Stewart, Esq. as its vice chairperson from the law firm of Wilson Elser.  The committee has two members from Next Wave Insurance, Mr. Michael Aberle and Mr. Jeff Ward to be certain they are properly represented.  

The first committee of its type appears mandated to discuss risk management, insurance coverage issues, and deciding where the next lawsuit will arise involving insurance.  Cannasure and Next Wave Insurance are both licensed surplus lines brokers that operate throughout the United States appointing insurance brokers to sell their specific cannabis program.  Most recently, Cannasure aligned itself with Topa Insurance offering a wide variety of cannabis products.  Next Wave Insurance was one of the first comprehensive programs that continues to offer current NCIA members a discount of 10% on their premium.  

Please note, there are many other cannabis insurance programs and carriers.  However, Next Wave Insurance and Cannasure are well established news makers.  Our agency does not represent either Cannasure or Next Wave Insurance.      

If you've been contemplating the value of your membership, the NCIA promotes on their website the opportunity for all members to become involved in specific industry issues.

NCIA Committees

NCIA committees are an opportunity for a members to get directly involved in specific industry issues and sectors. These volunteer-driven efforts engage members’ expertise and passion to drill down in areas of expertise and passion to effect change, provide professional development opportunities, and develop best practices and guidelines that will shape the future of our industry.  

Take your involvement with NCIA to the next level, and reap the benefits for your industry and your business.

NCIA’s 2017-2018 committee appointments are confirmed; applications for the 2018-2019 committee term will open in the spring of 2018.

We reached out to Mr. McManamon as we were unaware of the groups formation through email below with questions on its purpose, notifications, and practices:    

You are the chairperson for the NCIA insurance committee.  As a fellow member, I would to know the following for an article I'm writing:

• When was the committee formed?  Formed in mid-2017
• How were committee members selected? Members from NCIA requested to be a part of the committee, I do not believe that at time of formation anyone was turned away.
• What are the goals for the committee? The goals for the committee are to provide the members of NCIA with actionable information and advice.  We have broken our committee up into 3 sections: Insurance, Risk Management and Legal.  Each sub-committee is working on white papers on specific topics.  I believe the first one will be coming out shortly.
• How do non-committee members gain access to information being discussed?  We will be producing white papers on different topics throughout the year.  Not sure what you are asking. 

According to McManamon, "the papers will be up on NCIA’s website for all to access."

The other committee members include John Bailian, Wood Gutmann & Bogart Insurance Brokers, Chris Cassese, Faces Human Capital Management, Sam Fenterstock, Ag Adjustments, Jason Horst, Horst Legal Counsel, Marco Materazzi, Emerge Law Group, James Nelson, New Growth Insurance, Dean Rocco, Wilson Elser, Jeffrey Rosen, CBZ insurance, Jeffrey Samuals, Alpharoot, Jamie Shetzer, Venbrook Insurance Services, Hailey Stephenson, Norick Risk Funding Concepts. 

This article is reprinted with permission by Greenpoint Insurance Advisors, LLC.  The article may be discovered at Marijuana Insurance Quote