Why I Am No Longer a Member of the CPCU Society

I have been a member of the CPCU Society for over 43 years. As of January 1, 2024, I am no longer a member of the Society. Here’s why….

For many years, the CPCU Society, in keeping with the CPCU Code of Professional Conduct (Canon 2, Rule 2.1), had encouraged continuing education via its Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program. On July 1, 2016, this program was replaced by the “CPCU in Good Standing” program.

The CPCU Society maintains a list of “CPCUs in Good Standing,” so anyone who wants to know if someone displaying the CPCU designation is “in good standing” can visit that page. If a CPCU is NOT in good standing, that person’s name will not be on the list.

So, what might this mean to someone trying to determine if a CPCU is “in good standing”?

According to the “CPCU in Good Standing FAQ” public web page [emphasis added]:

The term “Good Standing” is defined as an individual who has complied with specific requirements and is not subject to disciplinary or punitive action. The goal of the program and Good Standing terminology is to recognize the professional commitment that CPCUs adhere to through the Code of Professional Conduct. This term was also determined to be standard across other designations for which research was completed throughout 2014 and 2015.

To someone reading this, a reasonable presumption is that, if someone displaying the CPCU designation is NOT “in good standing” in their professional society, it is because:

1. They have not complied with “specific requirements,” and/or
2. They are subject to disciplinary or punitive action.

My first concern is that anyone who is familiar with my background in writing or speaking on literally thousands of industry topics might presume that I am easily in compliance with any “specific requirements.” That leaves #2 above…a possible presumption that I am subject to some sort of disciplinary or punitive action. That is not a presumption I would remotely want anyone to consider about me.

But back to the “specific requirements” issue.

According to the FAQ page, the following are considered CE-qualifying activities [emphasis added]:

Practice-oriented activities that are relevant to career performance in both risk management and insurance and are verifiable in some way qualify. Some examples include:

• Passing an exam for a course (either with The Institutes or with an outside organization)
• Licensing CE activities, including CE courses in insurance, medicine, law, finance and accounting
• Attending educational events, conferences, webinars, or employer training

So, for example, educational programs that “are verifiable in some way” qualify. To illustrate, if I registered for an hour-long Society webinar, I’d get an hour’s worth of credit towards my bi-annual requirement of 24 hours in order to remain “In Good Standing.” Note that I said “registered.”

In the past, when I registered for a Society webinar, I got a message, quoted verbatim below, that my “In Good Standing” account had been credited with an hour:

CE for CPCUs

1 hour of CE for CPCUs credit will be automatically reported with your registration for this live webinar.

Keep in mind that I have not attended the webinar yet and might never attend it, yet I get credit. Apparently, simply registering for a webinar makes attendance “verifiable.”

But what apparently is not verifiable and/or educational is what I do…write about insurance and the insurance and risk management industry. When I was employed full time, I spoke on industry issues all over the country, many times at the annual CPCU convention, and attended industry conferences, seminars, and webinars, and engaged in training activities. That was apparently the preferred means of remaining “In Good Standing.”

Since retiring from full-time work at the end of 2016, I have invested literally thousands of hours in writing hundreds of articles on my blog at www.InsuranceCommentary.com. I also write a monthly column for the Insurance Journal and a bi-monthly column for another regional industry magazine. I’ve written many articles for the CPCU Insights journal. In addition, I’ve published six books, including two industry books, “When Words Collide: Resolving Insurance Coverage and Claims Disputes” and “Why Insurance Doesn’t Cover the COVID-19 Pandemic” which have sold thousands of copies.

So, how much “In Good Standing” credit have I received for this? None.

That’s hard to understand given that these activities are highly “verifiable” I really did write them and tens of thousands of people can verify that (though no one can verify if I attended a webinar). I’d also like to think that what I write is educational to many people, as attested in part by the 5-star ratings of my books on Amazon. I can personally attest that writing a 356-page book takes more than 24 hours over a two-year period. Writing a 1,000-word magazine column typically takes 8-12 hours, not counting the time spent researching the topic. But you’ll have to take my word for that…I’m not sure this is “verifiable” unless I live stream a writing session.

So, I can be a “CPCU In Good Standing” by simply registering, but not attending, webinars but if I invest hundreds or thousands of hours in writing articles and books read by thousands of people, I’m NOT a “CPCU In Good Standing.” Anyone who has written an article can attest to how much one learns in researching said article.

The late, great Don Malecki, CPCU was a brilliant educator but he did it largely by writing his Rough Notes magazine column and publishing his Malecki On Insurance newsletter. He was acknowledged universally as one of the top coverage experts in the country, yet he would have been a CPCU “Not In Good Standing” based on this alone.

When this program was introduced, I immediately emailed The Institutes and asked if there was CE credit for WRITING vs. “teaching.” The response I got nine days later was “We considered ‘research’ but ultimately it is difficult to quantify and verify.” There’s nothing difficult about verifying published research. Anyone who has written articles can attest to the amount of work that goes into just writing the article, much less the research time.

As a result of this indefensible position of The Institutes and their refusal to listen to reason, I have sadly decided not to renew my membership in the CPCU Society.

- Bill Wilson, CPCU, ARM, AIM, AAM

January 2, 2024

“I don’t want to belong to any club that would accept me as one of its members.” – Grouch Marx

So, in common everyday English, someone NOT in "good standing" means they are not respectable, honest, reliable, nor have a good reputation?