Member Update From Rick Mills
Updates from UE’s President and CEO
Sept. 2024
Today marks a year since I first walked through the doors at United Educators.
Hearing from our members and brokers has been a powerful reminder of our mission’s importance. And today’s troubling risk landscape for education highlights the importance of our collaboration with you.
While you are wrestling with an intense pace of change for education, including economic and societal pressures, K-12 schools and colleges are also feeling the impact of the increasing severity of claims in insurance premiums. That is true for all insurance, not just the liability component.
The ads for plaintiffs’ attorneys peppering the highways I see while traveling to visit our member campuses reflect a fragment of the big investments in litigation that contribute to the rising cost of claims. In fact, for 2023 that amounted to an estimated $1.2 billion on TV ads and $13 billion in third-party litigation financing.
Those external factors will not diminish our commitment to supporting education. Education is all we do. One of the strengths of our captive is the breadth of our membership. From large state university systems to small boarding and charter schools, to rural, suburban and urban locales, to public, private and independent structures, our members serve diverse communities.
At the same time, our focus on education gives us unique insights to help you with risk management and risk transfer. Our expertise, built over more than 35 years, is unmatched.
We look forward to working with you and exploring whether there are new ways we can help you better address your evolving risk transfer and coverage needs. Send your ideas and questions via email so we can connect you with the right person here at UE.
Thank you for your trust and partnership. It is our privilege to serve you.
Best,
Rick
Richard Mills
President and CEO
