ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 20, 2012 – InVEST, the insurance industry’s premier classroom to career education program, has announced that Denise Johnson has joined its national board. Johnson is vice president and insurance producer of ECI Agency in Piedmont, Okla.
“InVEST is proud to announce Denise Johnson 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. “Denise comes to the board with a grassroots understanding and unparalleled enthusiasm for the industry. She was instrumental in launching the first InVEST program in Oklahoma at Canadian Valley Technology Center in El Reno, Okla. We look forward to continuing to work with her and drawing from her expertise and experience.”
Johnson is former Independent Insurance Agents of Greater Oklahoma City president and was the first woman to chair the Independent Insurance Agents of Oklahoma executive board of directors. At the national level, she currently serves as the state national director for Oklahoma on the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA or the Big “I”) board of directors. She continues to be an advocate in the insurance industry by lobbying on a state and federal level for important issues such as workers compensation and tort reform. Johnson is a member of the Yukon Chamber of Commerce and the Yukon Community Education Advisory Council. The Sooner State native earned her bachelor’s degree at the University of Central Oklahoma.
“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. Educators, volunteers, agents and industry leaders, like Denise Johnson, 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.
###