Organisers of the Bermuda Captive Conference have chosen Friends of Hospice as the first recipient to be featured in its new charity programme.

The Friends of Hospice, which supports Bermuda’s only inpatient hospice, Agape House, will receive a donation from the BCC and the opportunity to have a presence at the three-day conference in June.

Cathy Belvedere, executive director of Friends of Hospice, said it gives the charity a perfect platform to launch its capital fundraising campaign and potentially attract corporate support.

“We are ecstatic that we are the first charity to be chosen. It’s a fabulous opportunity. We do not have a list of corporate sponsors. We have been talking about launching a corporate campaign,” she said.

Ms Belvedere said that while there is strong awareness of Agape House, the Friends of Hospice has been somewhat left in the shadows. Being chosen by the conference organisers gives the charity an opportunity to spread awareness, particularly to those in the corporate world.

Alison Soares, chairwoman of the charity, added: “We are humbled and grateful to be given the opportunity for the conference to launch and carry forward our [fundraising] campaign.”

The nominating of a charity for the 2018 Bermuda Captive Conference is part of a drive for greater community engagement. It is intended that a charity will be chosen each year to benefit from a donation and exposure at the conference.

Michael Parrish, conference chairman, said: “The committee discussed the principal of nominating a charity each year that we will support and give a donation and a chance to fundraise at the conference.”

He said Friends of Hospice was put forward as a nomination. “We discussed it and everyone agreed. It fitted perfectly with the capital fundraising campaign [planned by Friends of Hospice]. I’m delighted that it is the inaugural charity.”

The move to support a charity is among a number of new features introduced by the organisers for this year’s event, which runs between June 11 and 13 at the Fairmont Southampton.

A conference app has been created; there will be a new look for the exhibition hall, and monitors and screen will keep delegates informed with information and alerts when sessions are about to start.

Interest in the event, now in its fourteenth year, is increasing. Mr Parrish said: “For the first year ever we have sold out all the early-bird rate rooms.”

Last year saw 750 booked hotel nights at the Fairmont Southampton that were attributable to the conference. More than 700 delegates attended the event.

The 2018 conference was promoted at the Bermuda Business Development Agency’s kiosk at the Risk and Insurance Management Society annual conference and exhibition in San Antonio, Texas, this month. It will receive further exposure on Wednesday at the BDA-hosted Bermuda Executive Forum in New York City.

Mr Parrish said: “We had a lot of publicity and material at Rims, and next month the registrations will pick up. It looks like it will be a great attendance.

“This week the BDA is hosting a multi-discipline forum in New York. The conference is sponsoring the keynote lunch address by Brian Duperreault.”

Mr Dupperreault, the Bermudian-born chief executive officer of American International Group, has a long association with the island that includes founding Hamilton Insurance Group and a ten-year stint as chief executive officer of Ace Limited [now Chubb].

The theme of this year’s Bermuda Captive Conference is diversity and how that relates to people, skills and risk. There will be an all-women panel representing captive owners, while human rights visionary Derreck Kayongo is a keynote speaker, as is Bermuda’s Jonathan Reiss, part of the founding team of Hamilton Insurance Group.

Captive insurance is an important segment of Bermuda’s economy. The sector annually contributes an estimated $174 million into Bermuda’s economy and directly employs more than 550 people on the island.

• For details of the conference, including registration, visit https://bermudacaptiveconference.com/ For details of the conference, including registration, visit https://bermudacaptiveconference.com/