THE ADJUSTERS’ DIPLOMAT

The Ontario Insurance Adjusters Association’s (OIAA) new president Garth Roscoe carries himself, both in character and as a leader, as a diplomat. In presence, he is low-key, deferential and occupies the studious but sympathetic air akin to a Supreme Court judge. He answers questions with brief and to the point answers with very little reference to himself.

Early on, at the five minute mark of the interview, it becomes apparent that Garth Roscoe does not relish talking at any length about himself. What he does enjoy conversing over is the future of the OIAA — a provincial organization comprised of independent and in-house insurance adjusters.

At the top of the list of priorities facing Roscoe in the year ahead is the OIAA’s education initiatives and its upcoming conference entitled Claims ’99. Roscoe believes the adjusting profession will play a pivotal role in the reshaping of the insurance industry due to its frontline customer service interaction.

The sense of dealing with the public may form the cornerstone of Roscoe’s soft diplomatic approach. Or, perhaps, his approach may be borne after having served a lifelong career as a professional adjuster, a career direction that he describes as having had him “totally hooked from the start”.

In the beginning

In 1967, Roscoe was at the tail-end of a five-year tenure as a book-keeper for Eastview Engineering, an Ottawa industrial maintenance shop. A family friend recruited him to fill a trainee position at Underwriters Adjustment Bureau Ltd.’s (UAB) Ottawa office. After only a few days on the job, the future OIAA president was sold on the profession. “As soon as I took the job, I found adjusting to be interesting and exciting. It is a job where no two situations are ever the same.” The job also appears to have taken to Roscoe for within a brief time he worked his way up the UAB ladder to become the claims manager of the company’s Ottawa office.

It was then that Roscoe first became involved in the industry at an association level. He became active in the Ottawa Valley Adjusters Association, serving as chapter president from 1975 to 1976. To hear him put it, the issues his members prioritized in the seventies were not a far cry from the current. “The issue of telephone adjusting was just beginning to become a hot topic — adjusters were concerned than as they are today about its consequences,” he says. Another familiar issue, which was gaining prominence during the seventies was the drive to recruit women into the adjusting ranks.

It was soon after his tenure as president that Roscoe left UAB to pursue an eight year sabbatical from the industry. He had no intention of leaving adjusting for good, rather he was appointed to a government post. In 1981, Roscoe was selected to become the local registry by then-attorney general Roy McMurtry. Roscoe, who had no previous connection to McMurtry, had been given responsibility to manage the files and provision of local court services. “The drive to put me into public service was initiated by local politicians. Being appointed, I had no choice but to become involved,” he says.

Through the next eight years, he missed his true vocational calling to adjusting, “I certainly enjoyed working for the attorney general, but I definitely missed the liaison with the public, a task I relished”.

The interest would not let go

The lure of the industry did not fade, and in 1989 Roscoe re-entered the adjusting field becoming a partner at H.R. Garneau & Associates, a firm managed by the same old friend who had been his professional mentor. Getting back into the saddle was not difficult he notes, “it was like riding a bicycle, you can pick it up once again very quickly”. And, with his return to the industry, Roscoe returned to the responsibility of the associations, participating in the Ottawa Valley chapter which had by then become a member of the OIAA. In 1992, Roscoe began taking a more active and direct role in the OIAA’s dealings, sitting on the board and moving through its ranks.

Roscoe’s last major move occurred earlier this year when he left his post at H.R. Garneau and moved to Quelmec Insurance Adjusters where he now manages disaster claims filed by victims of the ice storm. His current position calls for him to liaise between insurers, policyholders and the government, a natural fit for this career diplomat.

“I’ve enjoyed the industry from day one,” he remarks, perhaps revealing one reason for his contented demeanor. “The more experiences you have, the more complex claims you can do. I have been lucky in that I always seem to get thrown into complex claims scenarios that help boost my knowledge and experience.”

Looking ahead

Which puts Roscoe in the unique position of recognizing the trends and concerns facing adjusters today. “Certainly consolidation and all of the mergers are a major concern . . . how it affects job security, how it affects the health of the smaller independent adjuster.”

Telephone adjusting is another bone of contention for Roscoe and the industry. He points out the practice has two major drawbacks, “It allows no real cost control safeguards to ensure realistic and accurate claim payments and denies the insured the personal face-to-face contact and comfort that an adjuster can offer a consumer who is undergoing a traumatic event,” he says.

He notes future adjusters are looking towards branching out into other fields, namely the risk management segment as claims handlers. He notes, consolidation and mergers will not render the small independents extinct, “I don’t think the small adjusters will disappear . . . national adjusters are only as strong as the weakest link in their branch chain.” As these and other adjusting issues continue to play out, Roscoe and the OIAA continue to provide network and educational support for province-wide adjusters. The association will continue with its education initiatives this year and will award its annual $500 bursaries in May to two individuals from each chapter across the province and four in Toronto. The bursaries assist adjusters continuing with their education.

Claims 99

The association is also organizing its annual conference, Claims 99, to be held February 10 at Toronto’s Convention Centre. The event will feature education seminars, over 150 exhibitors and a keynote address by former Toronto Maple Leaf great Darryl Sittler. Roscoe, a sports fan, personally selected Sittler who will discuss the individual’s role in contributing in a team environment.

The education events offer a wide spectrum of subjects covering Bill 59, stress management, Y2K claim handling, disaster planning and enhanced appraising.

All of which continues the OIAA and Roscoe’s mandate to stick to learning and stay out of politics, “we are in an unusual situation at the association in that we represent both independents and in-house adjusters. We are not political . . . we do not lobby the industry or push policies into enactment. We are cognizant of our role as an in-house and independent representative and we try our best to seek equal representation on our board and our membership from both areas.”

A leveling market (in billions)

Source: Insurance Bureau of Canada

External claims dropping

% of DWP allocated towards claims exposure

Source: The Information Centre of Canada