I used to be celebrating a win over a loopy case at a Florida Affiliation of Public Insurance coverage Adjusters (FAPIA) assembly within the late Nineties. My shopper’s soon-to-be ex-husband, who was not on the title to the property, appeared to have burned down the household residence—the police arrested him a block away from the home whereas he was sitting on a park bench with three empty fuel cans subsequent to him. The insurance coverage firm lastly agreed to pay the total declare to my shopper earlier within the day. I used to be very jubilant.
Mark Boardman got here as much as me and requested, “Chip, what’s your final aim?” I advised him, “To be one of the best.” For over 25 years, Boardman has been reminding me of that day. He can be needling me and asking how I’m coming together with reaching that aim.
I’m going to overlook telling him about my successes and failures. I’m going to overlook going as much as Gator soccer video games and visiting with him and Karen at their primary Gator-decorated home. I’m going to overlook speaking about Gator basketball with Mark. I’m going to overlook speaking concerning the upcoming political agenda in Tallahassee, the place he all the time appeared to have insider data.
My lately written suggestion about public adjusters having to lift the bar to acquire a license shouldn’t be a brand new concept. I voiced it as soon as to Mark Boardman, and he did one thing about it. He responded with the concept that public adjusters needs to be required to have an apprentice interval earlier than they follow public adjusting and obtain a full license. I assumed it was an awesome concept. I advised him that I doubted if he may ever get it by the legislature or acquire sufficient assist to make it a actuality. He wrote the legislation, lobbied for it and appeared to get the Florida public adjuster apprentice legislation handed virtually by himself.
Mark liked to poke at and needle others. He was particularly gifted at doing this to the opposing coach at Gator basketball video games. I liked it when he invited me to attend video games with him as a result of his seats had been proper behind the opposing group’s coach. The standard dialogue would normally include a few of the following:
“Coach, your guard seems fairly drained, do you assume it’s time to provide him a breather?”
“Coach, you should preserve below management, centered and never get upset with the ref’s horrible calls.”
“You’re doing nice, Coach. Simply preserve ignoring the scoreboard and deal with the basics.”
“I love your composure—most coaches can be dropping it after these previous couple of calls.”
“That was a daring name Coach, not what I anticipated. You could see one thing we don’t. Too dangerous it didn’t work.”
“Coach, is your zone protection meant to go away that shooter open within the nook?”
“Seems like your bench is admittedly quiet tonight—are they okay?”
It could go on like that your entire recreation. Most coaches would snort. Some would get upset after which crack a smile. One rotated and shook Mark’s hand.
Mark’s father was a lobbyist for Florida’s Dairy Farmers. Mark realized properly and used this information to assist FAPIA. He would invite me as much as Tallahassee and all the time to the Governor’s Membership to satisfy lobbyists and politicians. Mark appeared to know all of them. He was instrumental in acquiring FAPIA’s first lobbyist, Previous Senate President Ken Plante.
Mark’s lobbying efforts had been on his personal time and dime. He did it as a labor of affection, supporting all public adjusters and policyholder rights. Mark Boardman was all the time in Tallahassee preventing and testifying concerning the nuanced insurance coverage points that matter. He did this for about three many years. A lot of this work was completed with no fanfare and infrequently with out appreciation.
Mark was actually not afraid to publicly focus on and debate his views and opinions. Conferences between Mark and different public adjusters about the suitable plan of action would turn out to be fairly pointed, if not near combative. An instance of him publicly explaining his views was in an Insurance coverage Journal article about unbiased adjusters wrongly having their experiences modified by desk adjusters:
‘It’s extraordinarily widespread,’ stated Mark Boardman, president of Claims Administration Providers Inc., based mostly in Maitland, Florida. ‘Can I show it? No. However I’ve had a whole lot of anecdotal conversations with adjusters about it.’
Impartial adjusters are totally different from public adjusters, and are sometimes employed by insurance coverage corporations to complement in-house adjustment employees. Till now, many have been reluctant to talk out concerning the purported practices, fearing that they might lose out on insurance coverage firm enterprise, Boardman defined.
Each public adjuster in Florida ought to pause for a second to thank Mark for the contributions he made for different public adjusters. I had the possibility to say so privately to him after I realized how sick he grew to become. He appeared to be appreciative and advised that everyone ought to give again by collaborating extra in politics to any extent they’ll.
Going to Gainesville for soccer video games and basketball won’t be the identical with out my outdated Gator buddy. Going to the Governor’s Membership and into legislative rooms in Tallahassee with out Mark being there or calling to counsel a method to politically deal with a problem will appear totally different sooner or later. I suppose in the long run, when our associates move, all we’ve left are recollections of them, these occasions, these intimate discussions, the frequent challenges we confronted, and the instances we shared with one another.
Thought For The Day
“Generally you’ll by no means know the worth of a second till it turns into a reminiscence.”
— Dr. Seuss
