News Release

For Immediate Release 
Contact: Marla McIntyre 
202-686-7463; mmcintyre@sio.org

SIO INDUCTS AL HULTGREN INTO TIGER TRUST

APRIL 29, 2004, WASHINGTON, DC – The Surety Information Office (SIO) has inducted Al Hultgren of Payne Financial Group in Billings, MT into the Tiger Trust. The Tiger Trust is an elite honorary society of surety industry professionals who work with private construction project owners or lenders to ensure that contract surety bonds are specified on their projects.

Hultgren convinced the Deaconess Billings Clinic Facility in Billings to bond a $2.5 million segment of its expansion plan. The total expansion project, which is scheduled to take place over the next 10-plus years, will total over $100 million and will be broken into 15 divisions or bid packets. 

The Tiger Trust plaque and pin, sponsored by SIO, were presented April 13, 2005 at the annual meeting of the National Association of Surety Bond Producers in San Diego, CA.

Surety bonding is a careful, rigorous, and professional process in which surety companies and surety bond producers prequalify contractors to assure project owners that these contractors are capable of performing the contract and paying certain laborers, subcontractors, and suppliers. 

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SIO was formed in 1993 to disseminate information about the benefits of contract surety bonding in private and public construction. Located in Washington, DC, SIO is supported by the National Association of Surety Bond Producers (NASBP) [surety agents and brokers] and The Surety Association of America (SAA) [surety companies]. Surety bonding is a careful, rigorous, and professional process in which surety companies prequalify contractors and then assure project owners that these contractors are capable of performing the contract and will pay certain subcontractors and suppliers associated with the project.