Kat Shamapande, Host
Kat Shamapande, HostKat Shamapande is the Director, Professional Development at NASBP. In this role, she works closely with NASBP’s leadership and committees to address the educational needs of surety professionals in order to advance the industry as a whole. Kat joined the NASBP team in July 2017 and brought with her, her contagious laugh and nearly 20 years of experience and track record of success managing people, programs, and daily operations specifically related to professional development to increase awareness, improve revenue, and build a culture of collaboration at associations like the RV Dealers Association, the National Hospice and Palliative Care Association and the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy. She is a member of the American Society and Association Professionals and serves on their Professional Development Section Council. Kat has been invited to speak at several industry events and a podcast on topics related to association education. Kat graduated from the College of Wooster, with a BA in Communications and Political Science. She lives in Bowie, MD in a multigenerational household with her patient and supportive husband Muluso, four creative and independent kids, her amazing parents and their cuddly cat Kenzie.
Fun Facts about Kat
THE MOST UNUSUAL THING IN YOUR OFFICE
An award I once won for the Best Laugh.
WHAT MOST PEOPLE DON’T KNOW ABOUT ME
I like to make and smoke my own sausage with my mom.
BEST CHILDHOOD MEMORY
Summers growing up in rural Maine, climbing rock faces or jumping off the train trestle along the river, swimming in the icy ocean waves and many lakes and eating wild blueberries, but not raking them, raking blueberries is grueling work!
What I Most Like About Surety…
Guarantees… because more things in life should be guaranteed!
~ Kat Shamapande
Mark McCallum, Co-Host
Mark H. McCallum serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the National Association of Surety Bond Producers, overseeing the day-to-day operation and management of the association and the progression of its goals and objectives. Before assuming his role as Chief Executive Officer, Mark served as NASBP’s General Counsel & Director of Government Relations, directing its government relations, industry relations, communications, and legal functions. Mark was named one of Engineering News Record’s Top 25 Newsmakers of 2015 for his advocacy for reform of asset rules regarding individual surety bonds on federal construction contracts. Mark also has held executive and legal positions with the Associated General Contractors of America and the American Institute of Architects, where he focused his energies, in part, on the fine art of contractual boilerplate drafting. Mark received his B.A. degree from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee and his J.D. degree from Tulane University Law School in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is a member of the American Society of Association Executives, the Virginia State Bar, and the American Bar Association. Mark enjoys giving all his money away for the college education and travel ambitions of his two sons, Ian and Patrick, for the love and enjoyment of his wife, Catherine, and for the sustenance of his rambunctious and sexually-frustrated French bulldog, Mungo.
What I Most Like About Surety…
I get to use big fancy words like obligee!
~ Mark McCallum
Fun Facts about Mark
FAVORITE CONDIMENT
Tabasco Sauce – Laissez les bons temps rouler!
FAVORITE ACCESSORY
No piercings, just my watch, as I am somewhat old school.
WHAT MOST PEOPLE DON’T KNOW ABOUT ME
I love oysters.
FAVORITE BOOK
Too many to choose, but True Grit by Charles Portis, All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, and All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr are a few.
Kathy Hoffman, Co-Host
Kathy Hoffman serves as the Director of Communications at NASBP. She has worked 26 years in the non-profit and trade association industry. Prior to NASBP, she worked at the Associated General Contractors of America as the Director of Programs and Industry Relations. In her role at NASBP she supervises and manages a broad range of communications functions to help tell NASBP’s and the surety industry’s story. Weekly she collaborates and interacts with numerous NASBP members and industry stakeholders. She is also engaged in developing and carrying out the goals of the NASBP PR Campaign and of the NASBP Industry Relations Committee. Another one of her demanding, yet exciting, roles is managing the Association’s three publications: the NASBP magazine, Surety Bond Quarterly; the weekly NASBP SmartBrief enewsletter; and the bi-monthly NASBP Pipeline enewsletter. Her experience working as a news reporter for her college and hometown paper have served her well in meeting fast-approaching deadlines! She has a B.A. in Journalism from Penn State University. She is a member of the American Society of Association Executives. She and her husband live with three playful and mischievous cats that they recently rescued. Consider telling your story for a NASBP Let’s Get Surety® podcast.
Fun Facts about Kathy
FAVORITE ACCESSORY
Fun erasers and stickers
BEST CHILDHOOD MEMORY
Exploring our large dairy farm without supervision!
CAN’T RESIST
Cats—Yes, they do know you’re calling their name, they just choose to ignore you.
WHAT MOST PEOPLE DON’T KNOW ABOUT ME
I’d give up everything (except my husband and cats) for a house in a warm climate on a beach.
FAVORITE POEM
A word is dead when it is said, some say. I say it just begins to live that day.
– Emily Dickinson
What I Most Like About Surety…
I can impress people at cocktail parties
~ Kathy Hoffman
Steve Karlin, Co-Host
Steven B. Karlin serves as Director, Technology and Membership Services for NASBP. In his role, Steve helps provide NASBP’s members and staff with the technology tools and infrastructure to support and advance the association’s work and mission, and oversees the membership function for the association. Prior to joining NASBP in 2017, Steve served as an IT director, database administrator and membership director with professional membership organizations, and also was a database and technology consultant with a firm that supported associations around the Washington, DC area and nationwide. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the American University and a MS in Management from the University of Maryland, in addition to network and database technical training. He and his wife Cynthia, and two daughters call Arlington, Virginia home. In those rare moments when not working to advance surety, Steve is busy supporting his daughter Hannah’s dreams of NCAA diving gold and cheering on her sister Claire’s pursuits of sports fame in travel and high school varsity soccer, or bickering with those aforementioned about whose turn it is to walk Allie, the families Jack Russell/Beagle wonder (rescue) dog, as she keeps the neighborhood safe from dodgy cats and squirrels.
Fun Facts about Steve
BEST CHILDHOOD MEMORY
That I was able to do many activities that were immensely fun but now considered too dangerous for kids, such as long, unsupervised bike rides to any place that sounded interesting or summers of catching (and releasing) giant snapping turtles in backwoods ponds in rural Connecticut, to name a couple. To this day, it seems remarkable that no one lost a finger to a turtle which was easily capable of quickly doing so!
MOST UNUSUAL THING IN YOUR OFFICE
When I need to know the time of day, I glance at my Bart Simpson’s classroom clock. Push the button, and Bart, standing at a chalkboard, imparts a bit of Simpsonesque wisdom.
WHAT MOST PEOPLE DON’T KNOW ABOUT ME
- I spent a summer concocting the perfect mojito, and then complemented it in the fall doing the same for chili.
- I am a triple threat… at least when it comes to home repair. Spurred on by living in an older home, I do my own electrical, drywall, and appliance repair and fixture installation.
- I am wildly proud of my kids, and those who know me well have learned to avoid the subject so they don’t have to endure the latest news, unabridged.
FAVORITE POEM
Ulysses by Alfred, Lord Tennyson: “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
What I Most Like About Surety…
Because before I learned about surety, I didn’t believe anything was guaranteed to succeed!
~ Steve Karlin
Larry LeClair, Co-Host
Larry LeClair is Director of Government Relations at the National Association of Surety Bond Producers (NASBP) where he assumed that role in January 2010. Prior to joining NASBP, Larry has advocated for policy interests on behalf of trade and professional associations for over 25 years at both the state and federal level, which includes the American Tort Reform Association, the American Institute of CPAs and the North American Securities Administrators Association. In his role as Director of Government Relations at NASBP, Larry is the chief lobbyist for the association on Capitol Hill representing its interest on issues such as the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Bond Guarantee Program, preserving the Federal Miller Act, and educating and engaging members of Congress and their staff concerning the importance of the surety bond product. Larry received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from the University of Southern Maine, Portland, Maine and his Master’s Degree in Public Policy from Georgetown University, Washington, DC. Larry, his stunning wife Barb, and their Welsh Corgi Jack live in Rockville, MD.
Fun Facts about Larry
MOST UNUSUAL THINGS IN MY OFFICE
Photo of me and David Ortiz–aka Big Papi
FAVORITE CHILDHOOD MEMORY
Attending my first game at Fenway Park as a 10-year old Little Leaguer
WHAT PEOPLE DON’T KNOW ABOUT ME
I played on a high school championship basketball team
What I Most Like About Surety…
The important role it plays in our nation’s economy
~ Larry LeClair
Martha Perkins, Co-Host
Martha L. Perkins serves as General Counsel of the National Association of Surety Bond Producers, where she wears many hats, including that of author, editor, legal advisor, and contract reviewer. Prior to her arrival at NASBP, Martha practiced law as a construction, surety, and fidelity counselor, mediator, and litigator, most recently at Whiteford, Taylor & Preston in its Washington, DC office. She served for a number of years on the American Arbitration Association Panel of Construction Industry Arbitrators. She received her undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of North Carolina and her law degree from Mississippi College School of Law, where she was Editor-in-Chief of law review. During her legal career she has been a frequent speaker and author on construction, surety, and fidelity topics. Martha lives in Washington, DC, with her architect husband Stephen, to whom she often asserts that “it is always a design error,” and her Welsh Springer Spaniels. She has two adult sons and one adult daughter–and one granddaughter and one grandson (so far) –all of whom she is extraordinarily proud. When not enjoying her family, she spends much of her free time in a never-ending and oft-frustrating quest to drop her handicap into single digits.
Fun Facts about Martha
FAVORITE BOOKS
Entirely too many to enumerate, but a few are The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell, The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford, The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James, Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill by William Manchester
WHAT MOST PEOPLE DON’T KNOW ABOUT ME
In addition to ruining good walks, my other passion is training, showing, and competing in performance sports with my Welsh Springer Spaniels. These beautiful, affectionate, athletic family members love and excel at agility, tricks, and rally competition.
PERSON MOST INFLUENCED BY
My father was a successful small-town lawyer in North Carolina, whose goodness, intelligence, humor, quiet confidence, and moral integrity were his hallmarks. He was generous in his assessments of other people, and he enhanced the lives of many in his civic, business, social, and church communities. He enjoyed life more than anyone I ever knew and spread that joy: each day was better than the day before; each dinner was the “best he had ever eaten!” While my father no longer walks this earth, he is nonetheless always beside me.
What I Most Like About Surety…
It’s biblical.
~ Martha Perkins