USA Hockey’s captive has been a business enabler since its original formation in the 1980s and continues to be an essential risk management tool today.
Speaking in an exclusive interview on the Global Captive Podcast Kelly Mahncke, assistant executive director of finance at USA Hockey, said the sports body first utilised a captive in the 1980s due to the liability insurance crisis in the United States.
“In order to be able to play hockey and open up the rinks, we had to have liability insurance,” Mahncke said.
“That was imperative and the captive really helped us be able to do that and also improve the way that we do business and operate. We really had a focus on better risk management and it really has helped us in our operations since then.”
Having the captive in place has also changed the way the business manages its membership. Originally it was teams who were registered, but providing insurance through a captive meant they needed to register each player to insure them for player accident.
“And we could then, of course, have each member sign waivers, and that enabled us to really reduce the risks and improve the sport and helped us, in terms of financially, to be more viable,” Mahncke added.
The current captive, Vermont-domiciled Hockey and Rink Protection, Inc, is managed by Aon, and is used today to provide excess sexual abuse and molestation (SAM) coverage, the retention for general liability, an umbrella for player accident and also legal expense reimbursement.