Twelve years of covering insurance technology doesn't make me anexpert on the subject, but it does give me a perspective on thepeople who work in this business. That's why the selection of ourInsurance IT All-Stars is one of my favorite topics to writeabout.

We've selected five technology leaders who have made a strongimpression on industry leaders as well as us. This year's class isa good one, as I think you'll find. Its members include:

• Judith Haddad, executive vice president, CIO/CTO of PatriotNational Insurance Group
• Larry Fortin, vice president and CIO, Millers Mutual Group
• John Campbell, senior vice president and CIO, American ModernInsurance Group
• Joan Falcetta, vice president in technology and operations withMetLife
• Carlos Correa, assistant vice president an U.S. IT manager withLiberty International Underwriters

This is the fifth year we've attempted to single out a group ofIT executives and put them in the spotlight. From the interviews Iconducted with each of them, I found it interesting to hear theirviews on how things have changed in the last half-decade and whatthey see happening in the next five year cycle.

The beauty of this business is in trying to keep up with all thechanges. Five years ago we were talking about legacy systemreplacement and five years from now we'll still be talking aboutit.

But five years ago were we talking about social networking? Didanyone envision the impact the change from cellphones tosmartphones would have on business?

There may have been a few people, but they likely kept theirthoughts to themselves. Facebook was for college kids and we werestill writing about mobile's search for the “killer app.”

While we didn't ask this year's all-stars what the hot topicwould be in five years—they are tech leaders not futurists—we didask if today's hottest subjects—social networking, mobiletechnology, legacy system replacement—would still be the top issuesin 2016.

They all agreed on the mobile and social networking issues forpretty much the same reason: both of those technology areas are inthe early stage of development in the insurance industry and willlikely blossom in the coming years as the industry explores theseareas in greater detail.

As for legacy system, most agreed they will not be eradicatedfrom the insurance industry over the next five years, but one CIOmade an interesting point: Insurers have avoided the replacementissue by adding on to their legacy systems in an attempt tomodernize the older tools. This has been successful for companies,but terms like “stop-gap” and “short-term solution” are not thekind of words long-term planners want to hear.

I guess we'll find out in another five years whether our 2011all-stars were right on the button with their look into the future.For the sake of the 2016 Insurance IT All-Stars, we hope theyare.