ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 3, 2012 – InVEST, the insurance industry’s premier classroom to career education program, recently announced that Lindsey Shank has joined its national board. Shank is BB&T Insurance assistant agency manager in St. Petersburg, Fla.
“InVEST is proud to announce Lindsey Shank has joined our distinguished group of board members,” says Heather Minkler, InVEST board chair and CEO of Clark-Mortenson Agency, an independent agency in Keene, N.H. “It has been inspirational to the whole program to watch Lindsey grow from an InVEST high school student, to a young agent and now a senior level professional at an agency. Lindsey brings an amazing level of enthusiasm and unique personal experience to the InVEST board of directors and we look forward to learning from her to improve the program.”
Lindsey Shank was first exposed to InVEST at St. Petersburg Catholic High School in St. Petersburg, Fla. where she was an InVEST student her junior and senior years. She began working at Iler Wall & Shonter a week after high school graduation where she continued to rise through the ranks throughout her college career. Shank earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from the Honors College at the University of South Florida.
Shank continues to be an advocate for the industry and is a volunteer teacher for the InVEST program at her alma mater, St. Petersburg Catholic High School. She coordinates guest speakers and field trips; serves as a guest presenter in the classroom; assists in mentoring the students on insurance education, business and life skills; and coordinates the local scholarship process for the seniors. She has also served as the Florida state InVEST committee chair and was presented with the DACH Award which honors an insurance industry volunteer in 2005 and 2010.
“InVEST is critically important not just to the future of the independent agency system, but to 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 crucial to the future of the industry, with a majority of respondents stating the insurance industry should encourage high schools and community colleges to help students plan for insurance careers. Lindsey Shank is a prime example of the InVEST program’s mission and success. Educators, volunteers, agents and industry leaders, especially those with firsthand InVEST experience like Lindsey, 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 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 approximately a quarter of a million 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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