Dear Member

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you, our members to the website for the Insurance Institute of Leicester.

As recently elected President of the Insurance Institute of Leicester for the coming year, it is my role to host, facilitate and co-ordinate the various events which we organise (with much assistance from our Council Officers). I have been employed in the insurance sector for all of my career (over 29 years now), and I continue to find our industry to be always interesting, often exciting, and certainly challenging.

On behalf of The Insurance Institute of Leicester, I would like to thank Henryk Cynkar, the 2007/08 President, for the important role that he has played in ensuring that our local institute continues to survive and flourish. Despite his demanding and busy workload, Henryk was able to achieve much during his Presidential Year which I will look forward to matching if not exceeding.

There are many hard working individuals which I am proud to say will remain on the Committee for my year. Whilst it is not appropriate to mention them all here I do wish to thank Mal Fairhurst and his duties in assisting with the examinations and quizzes and also Mary Rogerson for her secretarial duties and for ensuring the dinner went without a hitch in November 2007.

The members of the Council of the Insurance Institute of Leicester dedicate their own personal time to ensure that our programme of events is a success. Everything from the provision of our examination facilities to the educational seminars which we hold, the Annual Dinner, our charitable donations, our social functions etc, would not have been possible without our Council having given up their own personal time to make such events happen. I would strongly urge you to show your appreciation to our Council members by making a very small gesture - namely supporting our events. Our Programme is designed to cater for a wide cross-section of our membership, and I would be grateful to see some new faces (as well as the old ones!) over the next 12 months or so.

The insurance industry is currently facing some challenging times - with the advent of regulation, contract certainty, the soft market, delivery of service levels - and so on. I firmly believe that a problem shared is a problem halved, therefore, if we, as your local institute, can assist you with any particular difficulties that you are experiencing, please do not hesitate to get in touch. Whilst we may not always have all the answers that you need, we do have access to a wide range of contacts in the industry, and we will do our best to answer your query, or to get your point of view or concern to the relevant person or company.

We are always pleased to receive feedback/suggestions from our members, therefore, if there are any events that you would like to see us organise, or if you have any comments regarding our Programme, please let us know. Also, if you feel that you would like to contribute to the running of our Institute, please get in touch. we are always appreciative of assistance. Additionally this year I, or my fellow committee members will be attempting to visit as many office contacts as possible to receive your feedback face to face.

On a lighter note my nominated charity for my presidential year is the Special Olympics to be held in Leicester in 2009. It will be the largest sporting event ever held in Leicester and the fund raising has already commenced. For further details please log into www.sol2009.com.

From a personal point of view, I am very proud to be involved with The Insurance Institute of Leicester. To have been elected President is very special to me, and I am looking forward to servicing this excellent local institute.

Best Wishes

Brian Brookes,

President

Leicester Insurance Institute.