Clay Morrison Becomes President of the National Association of Public Insurance Adjusters

Clay and Ruth Morrison are wonderful people. Clay became president of the National Association of Public Insurance Adjusters (NAPIA) last night at NAPIA’s Texan-themed annual meeting.

I first wrote about Clay and Ruth Morrison in a 2010 post, Membership in Professional Organizations Helps a Small Public Adjusting Firm Achieve a Big Result.

Clay Morrison is a public insurance adjuster who, in a former life, owned a restoration company. His largest customer was State Farm. Clay is now the president of Morrison & Morrison, Inc. His public adjusting office is based out of League City, Texas and similar, to many public adjusters, the business includes family—the “other” Morrison is Clay’s wife, Ruth, a Texas attorney and corporate counsel for the firm.

Morrison decided to become a public insurance adjuster when he was ‘urged’ by one large insurance company to go against his ethical standards and change the way business was done. Morrison’s article, published in the NAPIA Summer Bulletin, details the closed-door meeting he was invited into with an upper-level claims manager who made a request for Morrison to help State Farm.

The request:

‘We refer a lot of restoration business to you, and we need your help in rectifying the consumer’s entitlement mentality.’

Morrison declined State Farm’s request, but his very successful restoration business was quickly out of business.

Now, Morrison is a public insurance adjuster, member of the NAPIA board, Secretary of the Texas Association of Public Insurance Adjusters (TAPIA), FAPIA member, and a Windstorm Network certified umpire.

Morrison explains that even as a small operator of his own public adjusting firm, he found it very important and beneficial to be a member of professional educational programs. Morrison acknowledges the expense of being active in multiple associations, but explains his two reasons for going the extra mile and spending the extra dollar.

During his acceptance speech, Morrison noted that 97% of public adjusting firms have one to three members. He would not be there without his attorney wife, Ruth Morrison. Following 2008’s Hurricane Ike, Ruth made certain to introduce me to Galveston Judge Susan Criss, who was appointed to preside over the Hurricane Ike lawsuits in Galveston and the Boliviar Peninsula. I believe that introduction helped lead to the organization of Hurricane Ike litigation, as noted in a 2009 post, Hurricane Ike Insurance Litigation Gets Organized in Galveston.

Ruth noted in her speech that Clay is a “born leader” largely because he throws his passion into whatever he decides to accomplish. For example, he is not just a certified umpire and appraiser, he is a past president of the Insurance Appraisal and Umpire Association (IAUA.) Clay leads by example, holding The Institutes Designation as a Senior Professional Public Adjuster (CPPA.)

Scott DeLuise, Chip Merlin, & Tim Woodard

Clay Morrison has played a part with the Texas theme at the NAPIA annual convention. It was a lot of fun. The above photograph with Past President Scott DeLuise, me, and Secretary Tim Woodard, shows three examples of Texas formal attire. Morrison is a very proud Texan and even more proud of his Texas A&M Aggie educated children.

NAPIA’s leadership is in good hands with a person full of passion for doing the right thing and helping people in their time of need.

Thought For The Day

In plain Texas talk, it’s do the right thing.
—Ross Perot