Name: Mike Specht
Company/Position: Minard-Ames Insurance Services, Vice President – Surety
Website: www.insurica.com
In my role as Owner, Surety Manager & Bond Producer at Minard-Ames Insurance Services, I really enjoy the people part of our business. I get to work with many talented and special individuals that include contractors, underwriters, colleagues, CPA’s, bankers and association staff. When you’ve doing this as long as I have, many of them become friends. I also like the great feeling that comes from helping people and making a difference.
When I started working with Wink Ames in 1999, he had me join every contractor association in Arizona. If you know Wink, this will not surprise you. I soon realized that I couldn’t participate in all of them, so I cut back to the ones I most enjoyed. The ABA was right at the top of the list.
I’ve really benefited from the ABA’s networking events and educational programs. The Leadership Development Forum (LDF) program helped me to get more comfortable with public speaking and now I’m able to participate as an instructor of Finance in the Construction Industry class and serve as a judge of the LDF case study presentations. I always have a great time with members at the Annual Convention and the other networking events held throughout the year.
My biggest personal achievement was being fortunate enough to marry an awesome farm girl from South Dakota 23 years ago. We’ve been blessed with much happiness and good fortune. Professionally, I was able to be mentored by two of the best construction and finance guys around. Thank you for all of your wisdom, Wink Ames and John Murdough!
My wife, Cary, and I are avid golfers. We play most weekends and really enjoy all the great courses that Arizona has to offer. I was an athlete growing up and work at staying in shape, but this seems to get more difficult every year. Cary and I both came from very close mid-western families and so we like to get together with them as often as possible.
My personal and work philosophies are: Maximize your personal happiness! Work at improving the things you can control and don’t worry about the rest of the stuff.

Thank you to Mark Minter, Carol McMullen, Erica Lange, Jen Swanson and the rest of the ABA staff for all that you do!