Times Square

This week I was in New York for the 2025 PLUS D&O Symposium, along with a thousand or so other professionals from around the D&O insurance community. The Symposium took place at the Marriott Marquis hotel in Times Square, the bright, beating heart of NYC. No matter how many times you visit, there is still something special about being in New York. The conference was great as well, a great chance to catch up on the latest news and developments, to meet with my many friends in the industry, and to make some new friends, as well.

It was my honor and pleasure to be able to moderate one of the panels at the Symposium. The panel, which was entitled “Hot Topics in D&O 2025,” took place on the morning of the event’s second day. I was joined on the panel by Jennifer Odrobina of Sompo International; Larry Fine of WTW; and Adam Ziffer of the Cohen Ziffer Frenchman and McKenna law firm. It was a great session.

Here’s a picture of our panel taken immediately after our great session. To my left in the picture: Jennifer Odrobrina; Larry Fine; and Adam Ziffer. I always feel that if I am having fun during a session, then it must be going well. I had a lot of fun during this session.
Many of you may have always wondered what it looks like from the stage at the Symposium. Here’s a picture of the audience I took at the end of the session. As you can see, it is a big room full of a whole lot of people — and the lights are very bright!

As always, the PLUS staff did a great job preparing and organizing this conference. This event really is the premier event in our industry. Not only does it attract industry professionals from around the country, but in fact there were people from around the world. I talked to Symposium attendees from a variety of different countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and Bermuda.

Among the many International attendees at the Symposium were these two, who came all the way from Sydney, Australia — Keith Bethlehem and Michael Russell, both of the Colin, Biggers & Paisley law firm. I will be seeing both of them again in September, when I will be in Sydney for the Australasian Professional Indemnity Group (APIG) annual meeting.
One of the great things for me about the PLUS D&O Symposium is seeing so many old friends — for example, David Williams of DB World LLC. Dave is not only an old friend, but a seasoned industry veteran, a former President of PLUS, and an all-around great guy. Those who know Dave were all particularly glad to see Dave at this year’s conference.
I also had lunch on the event’s first day with Aisha Anwar of Munich Re, another one of my long-standing friends in the industry . Aisha and I have to get together at least once a year to talk about what is going on in the D&O risk arena.
Though it is always great to see old friends, one of the things I particularly love about the D&O Symposium is the chance to make new friends as well. At the lunch on the second day, I was very happy that Muskan Effendi of Odyssey Re approached me to introduce herself. Muskan is just out of college and new to the industry. This was just her first D&O Symposium — and look, here she is on The D&O Diary!

On the second day of the event, I met Margaret Donahue of Arch Insurance, who also approached me to introduce herself. Margaret is also new to the industry. I was very happy to learn that she is already acquainted with The D&O Diary.
Here’s a group picture with several of my friends from Hylant, taken before the first session on the morning of the event’s first day. From left to right: Sandra Carroll; Luke Thompson; and Alex Shparber.
At the reception on the first night of the event, my friend Maurice Pesso of the Kennedys law firm took this picture of me with his Kennedys London office colleague, Jennifer Bolton — another one of the event’s International attendees.
I was particularly happy that I was able to meet with my good friend Sarah Abrams of Bowhead Specialty at the RT Specialty reception. Many of you may know that Sarah is a frequent guest contributor to The D&O Diary. Sarah and I always have a lot to talk about when we get together, and I was quite happy that the timing worked out for us to be able to meet.
I was also happy to get a picture with Laura Lang of Swiss Re, whom I also met for the first time at this year’s Symposium.
It was also great getting a picture with Shawn Dilworth of Business Insurance. Shawn and I talk all the time but it was great to finally meet him.
Ya gotta love New York. While I was trying to position myself to take this picture, there was a guy standing next to me — and obviously also standing RIGHT IN FRONT of these two cops — with a carboard box of joints. The guy was calling out to passersby “Handrolleds, only ten dollars each, and no sales tax!” I found myself wondering what our many International guests thought of the scene in Times Square. I for one appreciate the dealer’s generous offer to forego collecting the sales tax.