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"Most of our business - probably 90 per cent is set up with various facilities we have with Lloyds of London," he says, but we have also had excellent support from the Ecclesiastical, Kingsway and Chubb."
   Specializing in providing coverage for logging trucks, hotels, sawmills and truck cargo liability isn't the extent of the services Williams and Associates offers. "We are always looking for innovative programs, and have been involved in a number of interesting things over the years. For example, I believe there is a very real need for coverage to protect against product recall.
   "Not long ago, one of our accounts, a chocolate manufacturer, was forced to recall all of its product. It seems a disgruntled former employee had fired off a little note to the company's customers and the media saying the product had been tampered with. The end result was the company had to recall all of its product, and by not having the appropriate insurance, it went out of business. The company later re-surfaced under a new name, and needless to say, now has this kind of coverage.
   Another thing which I think is going to become a major product in the future is coverage for standing timber."

At one time, people would say why would you want to insure trees - there's so many of them. But nowadays, with Banks and other financial institutions getting involved and putting up big money for work in the forests, they realize they have got to get the trees insured.
   "This was brought home even more forcefully as a result of the damage caused by the ice storms in eastern Canada. We currently have facilities for this type of risk, and, in fact, we've provided coverage for half a dozen projects in B.C. already."
Williams, now 65, makes no bones about the fact that he is slowing down his pace. In 1989 his son Glen joined the firm, and is now taking over from his father. "We are also fortunate to have Joerg Schneider working with us. He's been in the insurance business almost as long as I have.
"As a matter of fact," he laughs, "I recently moved my own office to the back corner so I would be able to slip out the side door whenever I want to take a break. So you could say that I'm starting to wind down."

This article was first featured in the spring 1998 issue of "InsuranceWest" magazine and is reproduced here by permission.