CAI-NJ March 2022

Ethics, the Insurance Business, and the CIRMS Designation By Sean Ahern, CIRMS, CIC Vice President, PeopleFirst Property & Casualty Services

“Earning and maintaining the CIRMS designation... requires a great deal of specialization and commitment in serving Community Associations.”

I n Woody Allen’s 1969 film, Take the Money and Run, as punishment, Woody’s imprisoned character is sentenced to ten years locked up with an insurance salesman. Cruel and unusual! Why has the insurance profession gotten such a bad rep over the years? After all, in a disaster, we’re the good guys! With such angst rattling around my head, I sought out education and the camaraderie of my fellow insurance professionals—the CIRMS designation! Earning and maintaining the CIRMS designation (Certified Insurance and Risk Management Specialist) requires a great deal of specialization and commitment in serving Community Associations. Developed by the Community

Association Institute (CAI) in 2003, there are only about 115 CIRMS currently active in the industry. Candidates must have five full years’ experience as a community asso- ciation insurance practitioner and responsible for at least 25 associations. Part of what attracted me to earning the designation was the ethical solid requirements. Below is the updated CIRMS Code of Ethics:

The Community Insurance & Risk Management Specialist shall:

1. Comply with current standards and practices as may be established from time to time by CAI, subject to all CONT I NU E S ON PAGE 26

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