ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 10, 2010 - InVEST, the insurance industry’s premier classroom to career education program, recently appointed Courtney Abraham, The Hanover Insurance Group assistant vice president of human resources, to its national board.
“InVEST is pleased to announce Courtney Abraham has joined the already distinguished group of board members,” says Patrick Moore, CPCU, InVEST board chair and principal of Antalek & Moore, an independent agency located in Beacon, N.Y. “With more than 60% of the insurance industry’s employees over the age of 45, the need to find new talent becomes more apparent each year. We are excited to have Courtney and Hanover on board to bring us closer to achieving and implementing InVEST’s mission.”
Abraham brings a critical skill set and experience to the InVEST board. At The Hanover, she is responsible for the strategy and design of identifying and growing Hanover talent. Specific areas of strategic oversight include selection, assimilation, learning strategy and talent management systems including both early in career and leadership/executive development.
Prior to joining The Hanover, Abraham designed, developed and partnered for successful business impact as a strategy and change management consultant for numerous organizations, including Reuters, American Express, Pitney Bowes, Pfizer, WebMD, Maytag and GE. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Bowling Green State University and a master’s degree from DePaul University.
“InVEST is important not only to the future of the independent agency system, but to the insurance industry as a whole,” says Robert Rusbuldt, Big “I” president & CEO. “Survey results from the Agency Universe Study by Future One (a collaboration of the Big “I” and leading independent agency companies) pointed to InVEST as the future of the industry, with 56% of respondents stating the insurance industry should encourage high schools and community colleges to help students plan for insurance careers. Educators, volunteers, agents and company representatives, like Courtney Abraham, are key to the success of this program.”
As a 501(c)(3) educational trust, InVEST benefits from the support of numerous insurance organizations, hundreds of agencies, brokers and volunteers. The program provides the insurance industry with motivated, talented and intelligent professionals through a support structure of state associations, board members, national staff, teachers and the many industry professionals who work in the field as classroom liaisons.
Founded in 1970 and based in Alexandria, Va., InVEST promotes insurance education in order to attract individuals to pursue a career in the insurance industry. Each year, the program prepares thousands of students for insurance-related careers with a hands-on curriculum taught in high schools, adult education centers and community colleges. The high school curriculum is a business-education program that utilizes a hands-on approach which simulates an insurance agency and company operations to prepare students for various business careers and create more knowledgeable insurance consumers. At the college level, InVEST is an information-intensive curriculum of risk management and financial services. These courses provide students with a working knowledge of the basics needed to pursue careers in the insurance industry. For more information, go to www.investprogram.org.
Founded in 1896, 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, health, employee benefit plans and retirement products. Web address: www.independentagent.com.
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