Happy New Year to all! This year is certainly a milestone and the Board is planning to make this the best year ever!

Special Thanks  I'd like to especially thank Paul Lindemann, our Past President, for making 1999 a memorable year. He was instrumental in make the Twin Cities Silver Anniversary celebration a hit and getting us ready for a successful year. Paul has been on the Board for many years and will continue to attend our meetings this year.

We also welcome Lori Fitzpatrick from American Express. Lori will be our Education Chair and will bring fresh perspectives and ideas to the Board.

Recap of 1999 -- The Society continued to grow in members and maintained a healthy cash balance. We held our customary three dinner meetings (February, September and November) and our all-day seminar in May. The crowning glory of the year was the Society's 25 ^th anniversary celebration, held on September 14. Many of our founding members were present, including Dean Carlson, our first president. The dedication and commitment of those who built and helped our Society grow was truly evident that evening.

Goals of 2000 -- There are many improvements planned for this year. The first major change is that our dinner meetings will be held at various locations throughout the Twin Cities area, not exclusively at JAX. The completed surveys and comments received throughout the year indicated that a variety of meeting locations was desired. JAX and their delicious steak dinner will continue to be enjoyed at our November meeting.

Two main projects for the year 2000 include a scholarship and a web site. We are also looking into ways to increase our community involvement since a large percentage of survey responses indicate interest in this. Social activities also scored well on the membership survey and we are looking into ways to obtain some of those ever-popular St. Paul Saints tickets. Stay tuned to this newsletter for more details as these exciting events unfold in the coming year.

February Meeting -- Our February Meeting will be held at the Sheraton Midway in St. Paul. All members, including the Associate Members, are invited to attend. We have enjoyed the hospitality of the Sheraton Midway in the past, including their delectable food, especially the scrumptious cheesecake. To compliment the evening, Steven Brantner will enlighten us about that favorite Valentine's Day subject "Weddings and Life." We will also be collecting donations for the Kids Cancer Fund to benefit the Twin Cities Children's Hospitals. Start saving those coins!

I'm looking forward to speaking with you throughout the coming year. If you have comments or suggestions, please contact myself or someone else on the Board. Here's to a prosperous New Year!

Barb Prinz,

President, FLMI Society of the Twin Cities.

WHEN: Tuesday, February 8

WHERE: Sheraton Inn Midway

                    6:15 p.m. Dinner

7:15 p.m. Business Meeting

7:25 p.m. Speaker -- Steven Brantner

"Observations on Wedding and Life."

All FLMI and ACS members are welcome to attend. Please contact your company representative to make reservations. Our Speaker for this "nearly Valentine's Day" dinner, Steven Brantner, grew up on a farm in rural Minnesota. He received his degree from Concordia College, and has been employed by Minnesota Life for more than five years.

Steven decided to use the survival skills he developed two years ago while planning his wedding. The result -- his first book "A Man and Her Wedding: a Man's Perspective on the World Weddings." His presentation will include the humorous side of planning a wedding, and other things you should know, not just about weddings, but about all male/female communication. He will also offer numerous creative and romantic ideas for couples! For a relaxing and humorous evening, please join us! We will be collecting coins for the Kids Cancer Fund, to benefit the Children's Hospitals of the Twin Cities. Donate your change!!

The Society's Board of Directors adopted and the membership ratified amendment to the Society Charter that:

- Allow the holders of the associate designations sponsored by LOMA who aren't FLMIs to be Associate Members of the Society,

- Formalize the distinct positions of Secretary and Treasurer

- Clarifies when and by whom Annual Reports must be filed.

Total membership (FLMIs and Associate Members) increased 30% over 1998 to 1,293.

FLMI membership increased 5% over 1998 to 1,050

A membership survey was distributed to all FLMI members. Over 20% of FLMI members responded.

Although attendance at our September meeting was up over 8% from 1998, meeting attendance as a whole was down 10% from 1998.

The Society earned an Outstanding Society award from LOMA in Communications/Public Relations.

In February, members donated $118.00 to Children. s Cancer Fund to the Children's Hospital of St. Paul. In November, members donated $101.00 and 1 barrel of food to the Emergency Food Shelf Network.

The Society celebrated its 25 ^th anniversary on September 14. The nearly 140 members in attendance included 9 Past Presidents and 6 Charter Members, who were recognized for their leadership and commitment to the Society

As your 1999 Vice President, I:

• Assisted President in planning duties and facilitating of Board Meetings
• Represented the President at Society events he was unable to attend.
• Attended the 1999 LOMA Conference in San Diego. Attended Officers Training Workshop and represented our Society during the Society Committee meeting held during the conference.

My responsibilities as 1999 Treasurer of the FLMI Society of the Twin Cities kept me busy throughout the year. I monitored the annual membership enrollment, collected member dues and handled registrations for all meetings. It was also my pleasure to assist in planning the Society's 25 ^th Anniversary Celebration. Many thanks to Paul Lindemann, whose infectious enthusiasm encouraged all of us as we worked toward making that event a reality.

In addition, I assumed responsibility for nametag preparation for meetings, and prepared the printed programs for each meeting, as well as the Seminar.

Happy New Year to everyone! I'm looking forward to being your 2000 Vice President

As Secretary I was responsible for attending all Board Meetings and taking minutes at each of the meetings. I also submitted an article to Resource Magazine highlighting our 25^th anniversary celebration.

As Program CO-Chairs we set up the venues and the Guest Speakers for the 1999 dinner meetings, and the all day Spring Seminar.

As Education Chair, I hosted the annual Ed Rep/

Company Rep Appreciation Breakfast and facilitated group discussion on company roles and communication planning. Jim Huffman of LOMA was a featured guest. I also:

• helped facilitate Ed Rep training session with Bill Rabel of LOMA.
• Shared the initial planning responsibility with our upcoming scholarship program with Kathy McElroy.
• Selectively monitored Twin City LOMA examination sites.
• Sent site surveys to local member companies.

Our congratulations to Carrel Hanson-Rue of Catholic Aid Association who received her new FLMI designation in 1999 (and our apologies for inadvertently omitting your name from the list of new FLMIs shown in our October Newsletter.)

Also, our congratulations go out to Tiffany Hammers of the Hartford, who received her new FLMI designation in summer, 1999.

Al Parson of the Insurance Federation of Minnesota captivated the audience at JAX with his thoughts on the insurance industry. s future. Currently the Industry is undergoing tremendous change. This is evidenced by an increased number of mergers and acquisitions. Global competition is on the rise. Changing demographics has lead to many new opportunities such as providing one-stop shopping for consumers like the baby boomers. To grow in this changing environment an organization needs diversity, innovation and creativity.

New challenges are created by these changes. Expanding business organizations have the issues of managing larger human and system resources. Smaller companies need to specialize and differentiate themselves from competition. Customer service becomes more of a challenge as the consumer is more sophisticated and expectations rise. The technological advances that are used to prosper also create an opportunity for fraud. Privacy also becomes more of an issue.

These opportunities, challenges and much more await the insurance industry in the coming years. The one certainty is that no one really knows what exactly will happen in the new millennium.

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