Two long established professionals have joined forces and have relocated to that part of Long Island where you expect to be able to see the top of Big Ben across the pond; I mean there is a sign somewhere out there that says “Next Stop London,” I’m sure. The arrivals are long time friends to this magazine and many other agents and brokers over many years. Lee Orabona, who has been part of the leadership of the IBANY and the Excess Lines Association, has located in Port Jefferson, Long Island, together with consultant Nick Trent, the man responsible for Wastepac and other long standing underwriting mechanisms. Together, they will make a competitive market in Limousines and related lines. The two have moved into a rather quaint building in Port Jefferson, from where you can see the ocean and see the future for these lines of business. We wish our two friends the best of luck and hope to be talking more about them in the pages of the Insurance Advocate as their enterprise progresses…In this issue we present a totally unfair Q & A with Jim Wrynn. Unfair because we pushed for an interview early on to get his impressions fresh, before that crowded feeling of establishment sets in. The interview was crisp, nine questions in total, and gives insight into a man who will run a billion dollar enterprise that touches on everyone in the business in New York…There is a little green animal on T.V. very frequently that Neal Sullivan—whose term as President of the IIABNY just concluded—would like to club pretty hard. In the photograph accompanying this column we see Neal in appropriate attire on the occasion of his induction into the Big I’s Order of the Purple Duck. Over the past year Neal has fought for the independent insurance agent and has taken what some consider Stone Age industry ideas and has added some of his personal touch to its modernization. He is succeeded by Lane Rubin whom you met in our last issue. Some other photos from the event held in Garden City, New York appear alongside… During that event we were happy to chance upon Maura Clancy, whose offices and home are not far from the Garden City Hotel in that beautiful community where the homes and lawns are pretty and there is actually a main street worth a stroll. Somehow or an other the strip mall effect has not found its way to Garden City. Maura and her mother, dad and other members of her family, run what is the classic example of a successful family insurance agency. In addition to her service to several industry associations, Maura is always a great conversationalist, as an avid reader and industry champion… The Insurance Federation of New York, Inc. has chosen William Fishlinger as its Free Enterprise honoree in 2009. November 4th is the date. He joins a long and illustrious list including Donald Trump, Henry Ford, Hank Greenberg, and many others who have been stellar entrepreneurs. Congratulations, Bill…… See you at the PIA convention in Atlantic City June 7 – 8. Please have some extra cash on hand as I do intend to gamble.