Being green.

Rest assured the daylight of transparency has yet to penetrate the privilege-packed bunker known as The Greenbrier. At a session of the 92nd annual meeting of the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers at the posh resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.V., the CIAB sponsored an educational session titled "Selling Value and Service in a Transparent Environment."

Now, that sounded like the most interesting session during the three-day sell-fest that featured keynote addresses from former government heavyweights Madeleine Albright and Gen. Colin Powell, along with the ever-feisty Lauren Bacall.

So, intrepid traveler I believe myself to be, I made my way to this session tucked away in the recesses of the sprawling resort. And just what do you think happened? I, one of two, perhaps three media folks to show up at this $550-a-night bastion of privilege, was given the almighty boot.

A CIAB executive muttered something about an executive session, and therefore closed to anyone except brokers. Hoofin' for the exit, I almost called the doyens of transparency, Sen. Paul Sarbanes and U.S. Rep. Michael Oxley.

Were these upstanding sell-side CIAB millionaires secretly plotting to sell more products and services by skirting new transparency laws intended to protect the buy side?

Here, indeed, was an outsider's welcome to the new age of transparency. It was my first visit to White Sulphur Springs, and already the stench of opacity was soiling the crystalline beauty of the Shenandoahs.

I should have known. In welcoming remarks to CIAB members and their guests, CIAB Chairman J. Hyatt Brown quipped that the "world runs on green." Indeed, now we know what he really means.

Cyril Tuohy

Managing Editor

[e-mail]