Back to the future: Vision University teaches managing general agents to anticipate what's beyond the next bend.

It took just one white-water raring trip down a Pennsylvania river for Bernie Heinz, executive director of the American Association of Managing General Agents, to realize how much the sport reminded him of the insurance marketplace.

"Picture an insurance agency or company in a raft, coming up to white water. How they navigate and negotiate is their precursor of success or failure," Heinz said. "You can take your oars out of the water and let the rushing stream propel you in whatever direction you're going to go, or you can put your oars in the water and try to steer through it and go the same speed as the water," he said.

"Or, what I learned is you can paddle faster than the speed of the current, and then you can figure out where you want to go and get there," Heinz said.

Members of AAMGA are paddling faster, using an initiative developed last year by the organization to propel the marketplace into the next decade. Called Vision University, it's part of the association's education arm, AAMGA University, a separate nonprofit organization. The school will educate some 5,100 insurance professionals this year, Heinz said.

Vision University and its committee, Vision 2017, came out of AAMGA's attempt to put into words--and create a directive for--what many in the industry were asking: How long is the soft cycle going to last?

"Who knows, and quite frankly, who cares?" Heinz said. "We need to work with what we have. We need to get a better understanding of what the drivers to the market cycle are."

Vision 2017 brings together thought leaders from each entity with whom wholesalers work: business partners, customers, premium finance companies and even the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America.

"Who would have thought a wholesale insurance professional trade association would ever invite the Big I to a focus group? Those are our competitors," Heinz said. "They're also our customers; they have direct contact with the policyholders."

A huge part of Vision University, he said, is determining the direction and trends of today's young people--their thoughts on business transparencies and efficiencies, buying patterns and selling to Gen Xers versus Millennials. Another part is driving the marketplace to where the industry wants it to be a decade from now.

It's about "raising the bar and continuing to challenge ourselves rather than offering the same old policies and services, the tried-and-true, and looking for ways to improve those things," Heinz said.

Vision 2017 first met last November and plans to meet at least twice a year, said committee member John K. Latham, senior vice president of operations for Markel Corp., an international property/casualty insurance holding company based in Richmond, Va.

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Markel accesses the U.S. specialty insurance marketplace through MGAs and wholesale producer partners, so its participation in Vision University will help the firm to better view its customers' requirements from their perspective, Latham said.

"It is critical that we understand and integrate the technology needs of our producers and those of their customers in our operations," Latham said. Vision 2017 also intertwines with the company's own initiative, Markel 2015.

For Heinz, getting to the marketplace of 2017 is all about the navigation.

"With what we have--our experience--we can steer around hazards, make use of the good times and rest a little bit, and collect our resources and thoughts for the next white water to come, and navigate that successfully as well."