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Anyone who's sat down with Angelo Gioia knows he always speaks his mind. His views on PLUS are illustrative of that. As the founder of PLUS, he appears to view the organization much as a parent who has seen his child grow into a rather unruly teenager.
"The growth is and it isn't astounding," says Gioia, a partner with Rigdon, Powers & Gioia in Naperville, Illinois. "It's natural growth in terms of sheer numbers. There's been an ever increasing demand for and awareness of professional liability. The organization's formation was extremely timely. It was the first time a group was set up on a national level to deal with the various specific issues of one market segment. It captured the attention of the markets.
"There also was a void in the education process. Certain complex coverages were not being specifically addressed within the industry.
"The original idea was to bring people together to discuss issues," Gioia notes. "There was always the social aspect but, at the same time, we were able to capture the void of information and education. PLUS has been able to address these needs for information and education and they've been key to our growth.
"More companies are getting into professional liability. They've exhausted other lines of business and are looking to professional liability as a way of expanding expectations and writings. Certainly, we've helped this process by providing information. The people who are getting into the marketplace today are more aware of what to expect than those who got into it 10 years ago.
"But will they be able to compete?"
Gioia goes on to warn of problems ahead for the market and the organization.
"The real issue is that most of the companies do not control their distribution system. Basically, all the companies are trading business. They're all going after the same business and using the same production sources to get it. This inevitably leads to problems. A lot...