By Sherri Phillips, Educational Service District #112
President, WSIA

An association is a voluntary collection of members, unified to serve a purpose.  That’s no less true of the Washington Self-Insurers Association.  While we have a paid staff that does an admirable job helping to provide us with the services we want, it’s important that we take time to thank those in the Association who have volunteered their time to help represent us, or who have helped provide leadership and guidance on a specific or on-going basis.

We need to thank Andy Rowlson of the City of Bellingham for heading up the Hearing Aid Request For Proposal Committee, and his committee members consisting of Lisa Vivian of Eberle Vivian, Erik Samuelsen of Broadspire, Teresa Fager of King County, and Bill Johnson of Simpson Investment Co..  This is not the first time Andy has volunteered to lead the charge on this topic, nor the first time for Lisa, and their efforts are greatly appreciated.

We need to thank Lori Clavin of Eberle Vivian, Katie Cederburg of Comprehensive Risk Management, Tammy Hetrick of the Washington Retail Association, Luis Cadavid of TOC Management Services, and Pat Bower of PACCAR, Inc. for participating on a stakeholder committee that reviewed a number of issues related to Independent Medical Evaluations.  It is in large part due to their efforts that punitive and overly restrictive legislation did not get considered this legislative session.  New rules will come out of this effort that will hopefully result in more positive outcomes for all parties.

We need to thank Herb Sherburne of Specialty Safety Services, and Angie Krittenbrink for representing our interests on the Self-Insurance Section’s Curriculum Review Committee.  While we have concerns about the number of continuing education credits being awarded our programs, Herb and Angie have been acting as strong advocates for the content and quality of our educational programs, regional meetings, and conferences.  I’m not sure where we’d be without them.

We need to thank Brian Earl of Puget Sound ESD #121 for his many years of service as the chair of the Assessments Committee.  His bulldogged pursuit of data from the Department, so that an honest assessment could be made of our contributions made to and benefits received from the Supplemental Pension Fund could be analyzed, in an effort to limit and get control of our assessments.

We need to thank Harry Smith of United Parcel Service, and Bob Haugen of Nordstrom for representing our interests on the Insolvency Trust Fund.  They review and take note of trends in the claims information provided, and ask the difficult questions about the management of claims and the impact that has on the surety provided by companies no longer meeting their financial obligations as self-insured employers.

We need to thank our Liaison Committee members Tammy Vibbert of Lakeside Industries, and Karen Hintz of Sedgwick CMS.  Every six weeks they sit down with the Department to address your specific claims issues, and policy issues that crop up affecting many self-insured employers.  They have been on the front line in helping to get answers on difficult claims, and on holding the Department accountable for the promises they make to improve the claims process.  The claims checkoff lists posted at the website are but one small example of the clarifications we’ve received from the Department due to the efforts.

We need to thank our Safety Liaison Nikki Cross of Lumbermans/ProBuild for her attendance at the WISHA Advisory Committee meetings, and for staying on top of the slew of recent safety rules dealing with heat stress and crane safety.  While we have no official appointments on that committee, Nikki has provided us with a voice and a set of eyes that keeps our perspective emphasizing safety out in front.

There are a lot of other volunteers, and I’ll be recognizing them in the months ahead, but I do want to take note of two people in particular: Lisa Vivian of Eberle Vivian, and Pat Bower of PACCAR, Inc.  These outstanding women are everywhere, and volunteering to help out with almost everything!

Lisa Vivian has been involved in helping to improve the vocational rehabilitation training that the Department is to provide later this month, to the Hearing Aid RFP committee, to assisting with feedback on legislative and policy issues, and with her work as Chair of the Industrial Insurance University Board of Regents – the Association’s umbrella for our training programs, most notably the Washington Workers’ Compensation Professional courses.  She’s been a tireless advocate for the Association, and her efforts were recognized a number of years ago as a President’s Evergreen Award winner.  We are lucky to have someone of her caliber willing to commit the time to our goals, and we hope to continue taking advantage of her skills and good humor in the years to come.

Pat Bower also seems to be everywhere, helping out on the IME stakeholder committee to presenting at conferences, volunteering on the Program Committee, providing feedback on legislative and policy issues, and now co-facilitating the WSIA Annual Conference in Kennewick.  She previously served the Association on the Board of Directors as a Region Director, and she infects everyone with her positive attitude and bright sunny outlook.  She’s a credit to the Association and PACCAR, and we know we can always count on her.

Lastly, though he’ll be embarrassed by this, I want to thank our Executive Director Dave Kaplan.  For over 14 years he’s been committed to the purpose of WSIA, pushing for policies that will provide a system of sound and conservative self-insurance for our members.  Dave has always been and continues to be a strong advocate for us, and has worked hard to have the Association meet our members’ current and future needs.  As Executive Director, his leadership over the past 7 years has given us financial stability, a capable staff, credibility among policy makers, and has allowed us to address the long-term educational needs of our members by expanding our training programs.  And despite all of the good things he has done over the years, he modestly takes no credit for our accomplishments, instead commending and noting the efforts of our volunteer membership.  Dave is far too modest, and far too talented to go unrecognized.  So please, when you see or talk to him, thank him.  The thank you is well-deserved.

With that, I hope to see you at the Spring Conference on March 14th, and at our Annual Conference in Kennewick April 30 thru May 2.

Sherri Phillips, ESD #112

President

Washington Self-Insurers Association

Updated 12 March 2008

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