LAS VEGAS, NV--The 12th Annual ACORD Awards ceremony recognizing achievements in ACORD data standards implementations was held at a special luncheon during the ACORD LOMA Insurance Systems Forum in Las Vegas. Beginning with a welcome from ACORD President and CEO Gregory A. Maciag and remarks from ACORD Board Chairman David Findley, Senior Vice President, Commercial Lines/Personal Lines, St. Paul Travelers, the ceremony honored those who excelled at implementing ACORD data standards over the past year.
In his welcome to the winners, and the 250 attendees of the awards luncheon, Maciag emphasized the importance of standards and the fact that "implementation is what it is all about." In his remarks, Findley illustrated through statistics the exceptional rise in certifications and implementations the past year time. He also emphasized that this was the opportunity to "recognize and applaud our members who are actively implementing standards and participation is what we are here to recognize."
The awards were presented by Denise Garth, vice president, Membership and Development, ACORD who commented that "this year was especially competitive with over 400 submissions and 160 awards. We are honored to present these companies with these awards and recognize their leadership in standards adoption. They are truly on the vanguard of the insurance industry."
During the ceremony, 43 companies won Achievement and Accomplishment awards. In addition, 64 companies received Certification Awards.
New awards for 2004 included Early Forms Adopter Awards (presented to Allstate Financial/Lincoln Benefit Life and JCRS Inland Marine Solutions, Inc., Hooper Holmes, Strategic Insurance Software, Inc., Applied Systms, Inc., and The Hartford), Early SOAP Framework Adopter Award (presented to Brixlogic, Innovative Process Technology, Inc., Softshare, Web Connectivity, ri3K, and Computer Sciences Corporation) and the Shared Service/Infrastructure Platform Provider Award (presented to Aon Limited, Fiserv, and IVANS, Inc.).
In its second year as a category, the Industry Leadership for Straight Through Processing award was presented to Depository Trust Clearing Corporation, Examination Management Services, Inc., ri3K, Aon Surety, Computer Sciences Corporation, St. Paul Travelers, Hooper Holmes, Safeco Insurance Companies, ACUITY, and Applied Systems, Inc.
Many insurers, reinsurers and brokers won multiple awards, including ACUITY, Aon Limited, Ohio Casualty, Aon Surety and The Hartford. Other multiple-award winners included Secura, Frankemuth, St. Paul Travelers, GE ERC and Safeco. GE Financial brought home seven awards and SCOR won eight, the most of any nominee.
"This year, we were excited to see a rapid rise in implementations and certifications in ACORD standards throughout the word," said Garth. "With implementations rising more than 300% across lines of business, these awards are becoming more competitive and more prestigious, a true badge of honor within the industry that allow them to stand out from their competitors."
In another ACORD announcement, the group's new Advantage Web site (
The new site is customized to the needs of ACORD's Advantage Program members. Members previously accessed program features through the ACORD Web site (
Users will find that they can navigate more quickly through a simplified menu of options. The primary purpose of visitors to the site is to access and download ACORD Standard Forms for Property and Casualty and Life, Annuity and Health insurance. The new navigation represents an improved workflow for the many agents and brokers that use it as their main source for ACORD forms to process new and existing business.
Source: ACORD
