INSURPAC HONORS AWARDED AT BIG “I” LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE
Arkansas’s Williamson, N.C.’s Wooten, Arkansas and D.C. associations honored
WASHINGTON, D.C., April 26, 2005—The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (the Big “I”) and its political action committee, InsurPac, honored two individuals and two state-level associations for their fundraising efforts in 2004.
The presentations occurred during the 29th annual Big “I” National Legislative Conference, which took place last week in the nation’s capital.
Mark V. Williamson of the Mark V. Williamson Company in Little Rock, Ark., was honored with the Bernard J. Burns Award, bestowed annually upon the agent or broker making the most significant impact on fundraising efforts for InsurPac. Under Williamson’s leadership in 2004, Arkansas became the first state to raise an average of $100 per agency for InsurPac, and it also had more $500 donors than any other state.
The award is named after Bernard J. Burns, the founding father of InsurPac and a past president of the Big “I”.
“Mark Williamson’s hard work has helped lead our InsurPac efforts to new heights,” says Nathan M. Riedel, Big “I” vice president of political affairs. “By becoming the first state to raise an average of $100 per agency, he has established a new precedent for all other states to shoot for.”
Also, Dean Wooten of Wooten Insurance Center in Statesville, N.C., was honored today with the InsurPac Young Agent Recognition Award bestowed annually upon the young agent or broker making the most significant impact on fundraising efforts for InsurPac. Wooten exhibited outstanding dedication as Young Agent InsurPac chairman for the Independent Insurance Agents of North Carolina (IIANC). A total of 142 North Carolina young agents contributed $12,250 to InsurPac under his leadership, and he regularly published articles and delivered speeches to educate young agents about the importance of InsurPac and political involvement.
“Dean Wooten did a great job of rallying North Carolina’s young agents to our cause,” Riedel says. “His tireless work improved last year’s record-setting numbers, and affirmed that North Carolina is the bellwether state when it comes to young agent PAC and political involvement.”
Additionally, the Independent Insurance Agents of Arkansas and the Metropolitan Washington (D.C.) Association of Independent Insurance Agents today received the first-ever InsurPac Eagle Awards. The new award is presented to Big “I” state associations whose member agencies contribute, on average, $100 a year to InsurPac.
The Eagle Award was created this year by InsurPac to recognize outstanding fundraising efforts by the Big “I” state associations.
“By contributing an average of $100 per agency to our efforts, Arkansas and the District of Columbia have created a new participation level for others to shoot for,” says Riedel. “If every state association followed their lead, we would approach $5 million in annual contributions. We commend them for their hard work and hope they will serve as an example to our state associations all across America as we work to increase our already considerable presence in the nation’s capital.”
Founded in 1896, IIABA (the Big “I”) is the nation’s oldest and largest national association of independent insurance agents and brokers, representing a network of more than 300,000 agents, brokers and their employees nationally. Its members are businesses that offer customers a choice of policies from a variety of insurance companies. Independent agents and brokers offer all lines of insurance—property, casualty, life, and health—as well as employee benefit plans and retirement products. Web address: www.independentagent.com.
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