ALEXANDRIA, Virginia, Oct. 20, 2014 – InVEST, the insurance industry’s premier classroom-to-career education program, is pleased to announce that Bruce Winterburn has joined its national board. Winterburn is Vertafore vice president of industry relations.
“InVEST is pleased to announce that Bruce Winterburn has joined its 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, Rhode Island. “Bruce brings more than 20 years of software experience within the insurance industry to the table. We look forward to drawing from his expertise to develop and promote the InVEST program through new and innovative vehicles.”
Winterburn is responsible for industry relations for Vertafore in the United States and London. Vertafore delivers cloud-based insurance software and services to more than 20,000 agencies and carriers.
“I am thrilled about the opportunity to help support such a worthy effort,” says Winterburn. “Exciting and educating young people about the vast opportunities afforded by our industry is not only important to Vertafore, but is a cause that is important to perpetuation of the industry.”
Prior to joining Vertafore, Winterburn owned several businesses and was instrumental in taking a small two state company with 12 employees, to one of the nation’s leading providers of rating software employing more than 100.
“InVEST is critically important for 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. “Educators, volunteers, agents and industry leaders, like Bruce Winterburn, are key to the success of this program as it continues to grow and expand into more schools. 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.
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