Miami Agent Soto Sworn in as National Big ‘I’ President

Miami insurance agent Alex Soto has been inaugurated as the new president of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (the Big “I”), with Robert E. Fulwider and C. Brett Nilsson assuming the offices of president-elect and vice president, respectively. The new officers were sworn in at the Big “I” Leadership Conference in New Orleans.

Soto is president of Miami-Fla.-based InSource, Inc. He was elected to the Executive Committee in October 2001. Soto also has been active in the Big “I” nationally and in the Florida Association of Independent Agents during his 34-year career as an independent insurance agent. He is a past chairman of the FAIA and also a past director on IIABA’s national board. He has served as chairman of the Big “I” Communications Committee, Branding Task Force and other committees. He was a founder of the Trusted Choice brand and as been involved in building the Trusted Choice brand for independent agents and brokers.

Fulwider is principal and president of the Ray Wuestenberg Agency Inc. in West Liberty, Iowa, and of the Fulwider Agency Inc. in West Branch, Iowa. He also is president of Bob Fulwider and Associates, a life-and-health financial-planning agency in eastern Iowa. Fulwider started his career as an independent agent in 1973. He is a past president of the Independent Insurance Agents of Iowa and currently sits on its Education Committee. He also is the only two-time Agent of the Year in IIAI history (1983, 1990) and was inducted into the Iowa Insurance Hall of Fame in 2003. Nationally, he is a past chairman of the Big “I” Government Affairs Committee and the association’s Crop Insurance Task Force, and he also has chaired several other Big “I” national committees.

Nilsson is senior vice president for The Buckner Company, based in Salt Lake City. Prior to being elected to the Executive Committee in 2003, Nilsson served as president of the Independent Insurance Agents of Utah from 1992-93. He also served as a director on the Big “I” national board for nine years. Nilsson was chairman of IIABA’s Finance Committee, which he chaired from 1999-2003, and served on IIABA’s Communications Committee. He has been intimately involved in the Big “I” Trusted Choice Junior Classic golf tournament for a number of years. Nilsson is a past recipient of Utah’s Agent of the Year and Young Agent of the Year awards, and he received an IIABA Presidential Citation in 2001. In 2003, Nilsson received his state association’s highest individual honor, the Burgener Award.

Source: IIABA