ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 14, 2013 – InVEST, the insurance industry’s premier classroom- to- career education program, recently announced that Craig Welsh, CPCU, AFIS, has joined its national board. Welsh is group distribution leader for Westfield Insurance.
“InVEST is pleased to announce that Craig Welsh has joined our distinguished board of directors,” says Robert G. Slocum, CPCU, CIC, InVEST board chair and president of The Slocum Agency, Inc., an independent agency in Warwick, R.I. “We look forward to drawing from Craig’s more than 20 years of industry expertise to improve and grow this wonderful program.”
Craig Welsh has served in several underwriting roles and in the agribusiness business division with Westfield Insurance in the states of Iowa, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Ohio. In his current role, he is responsible for enterprise-wide distribution strategy and engagement for Westfield Insurance P&C operations, Westfield Bank and Westfield Services. He leads development and implementation of agency compensation, recognition, benefits, and segmentation and the management of Westfield’s overall relationship with their independent agency partners.
Welsh earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from West Virginia Wesleyan College and a master’s degree in insurance management from Boston University. He also holds the CPCU and Agribusiness and Farm Insurance Specialist (AFIS) designations.
“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. “Educators, volunteers, agents and industry leaders, like Craig Welsh, are key to the success of this program. We applaud and thank him for his commitment to this critical 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.