ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 31, 2010 – InVEST, the insurance industry’s premier classroom to career education program, recently appointed Peter Miller and Loren P. Shoemaker to its national board. Miller is president and CEO of The Institutes, and Shoemaker is The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company senior vice president and chief operating officer.
“InVEST is pleased to announce Peter Miller and Loren Shoemaker have joined the already distinguished group of board members,” says Heather Minkler, InVEST board chair and CEO of Clark-Mortenson Agency, an independent agency in Keene, N.H. “With more than 60% of the insurance industry’s employees over the age of 45, the need to find new talent grows every year. Peter and Loren bring valuable skill sets and a wealth of experience to the InVEST board that will bring us closer to achieving the InVEST mission.”
Miller, CPCU, serves as a member of the board of the Insurance Institute of Switzerland and the Institute for Global Insurance Education. He also serves ex-officio as a member of The Institutes’ Board of Trustees and the CPCU Society’s board of directors. Miller is a graduate of Colorado State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration, with a minor in economics, and a master’s degree in systems management. He also earned an MBA from Villanova University.
Shoemaker joined The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company in April 2007 as senior vice president of distribution management. Over the past 39 years, he has acquired extensive experience in the property-casualty insurance sector, particularly in the agent and broker distribution system. With a wide background in commercial and personal lines underwriting, Shoemaker has led agency management functions at the field and home office levels of Continental Insurance, CNA and Travelers Insurance. A strong supporter of industry associations, he has served on numerous boards and task forces including the national InVEST board from 1999 to 2004. A veteran of the U.S. Army, Shoemaker earned his bachelor’s degree from Franklin & Marshall College.
“InVEST is critically important to the future of the independent agency system and the insurance industry as a whole,” says Robert Rusbuldt, Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA or the 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 a solution to save the future of the industry, with the majority 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 Peter Miller and Loren Shoemaker, 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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