Disruption creates opportunities as well as challenges for those who think strategically, Property Casualty Insurers Association of America President David Sampson said in opening remarks Monday at PCI's annual meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona.

With the theme of this year's event being “Leading in an Age of Disruptive Transformation,” PCI seeks to “help you look over the horizon and lead in the age of disruptive transformation,” Mr. Sampson said.

And he made clear that disruption is all around, quoting New York Times writer Roger Cohen's description of the current environment as “the great unraveling.” The world is contending with threats as varied as the rise of the Islamic State to the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa.

He also quoted William Butler Yeats' poem “The Second Coming,” written shortly after World War I shook the world to its foundations, to describe current conditions. The 1920 poem reads in part: “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold,” and “the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”

Companies cannot “just react to this disruptive transformation,” which is fueled by various sources, Mr. Sampson said. Speakers at this year's meeting, including former Secretary of Defense, CIA Director and Texas A&M University President Robert Gates and New York University professor of innovation and author Luke Williams, can help show ways companies can innovate to meet the challenges of disruption.

In some cases, companies will have to reinvent themselves, he said.

Mr. Sampson also noted PCI's own efforts to help its members cope with change.

He cited in particular the association's Web-based CompliAssist tool, which provides compliance professionals with accurate and reliable information about changing insurance laws and regulations in each state, ranging from agent licensing laws to workers compensation.

Mr. Sampson also used his opening remarks to praise PCI's outgoing chairman of the board of governors, State Auto Insurance Cos. Chairman, President and CEO Robert Restrepo.

PCI's membership has been “extremely well-served” by Mr. Restrepo's leadership, Mr. Sampson said, pointing out in particular his “ability to forge consensus.”