Griffith Insurance Education Foundation Names New Leadership Council Members

The Griffith Insurance Education Foundation has named three new Leadership Council members:

• Darcy Kerr―vice president of human resources, Accident Fund Insurance Company
• John Meder―regional managing director, Wells Fargo
• Michael C. Strakhov, CPCU―vice president, Ohio Branch, CNA Property and Casualty Insurance Group

“I am excited about the expertise these new members will bring to the Leadership Council,” said Kevin H. Brown, Esq., CAE, executive director of The Griffith Foundation.

“The Leadership Council looks forward to working with our new members on the important initiatives we have planned for this year,” said Michael A. Winner, chairman of The Griffith Foundation’s Leadership Council and president of Liberty Mutual Mid-Atlantic Region.

In addition to Winner, The Griffith Foundation’s Leadership Council officers include:

• Chair-Elect—Janice Abraham, MBA, president and CEO, United Educators Insurance
• Secretary—Susan Krieger, CPCU, CLU, ChFC, vice president of operations, State Farm Insurance
• Treasurer—Dana Rudmose, CPA, principal, Rudmose & Noller Advisors LLC
• Immediate Past Chairman—Michael Fusselbaugh, CPCU, ARM, ARe, senior vice president, Hartford Steam Boiler

The Griffith Foundation’s main focus for 2013 will be to educate the Millennial generation about insurance careers and to provide insurance education to public policymakers.

“The Griffith Foundation will continue its mission of providing insurance information to public policymakers at the state and federal level,” said Melissa Wheeler, program director for The Griffith Foundation. “We will also seek to significantly expand our footprint with a pilot program to provide Insurance 101 content to a larger audience of state legislators through additional delivery mechanisms and partnerships.”

The Griffith Foundation will also be developing a long-term plan to address the expected insurance industry talent shortage. At the close of The Griffith Foundation’s Insurance Education and Career Summit in September 2011, The Griffith Foundation and The Institutes were selected to lead an industry-wide effort to engage the next generation to actively pursue a career in risk management and insurance (RMI). Significant progress was made in 2012, including the completion of two research reports on general characteristics of Millennials and insurance and the completion of a messaging platform designed to educate Millennials on careers within the insurance industry.

“Based on the completed research and the messaging platform, The Griffith Foundation is developing ways to educate high school students on the various career options aligned with projected workforce shortfalls. We are working collaboratively with other teams at The Institutes to educate students in eighth grade through college about the career opportunities within the RMI industry,” said Grace Grant, program manager for The Griffith Foundation.

“We are very excited to see the Engaging the Next Generation initiative come together. We held the Insurance Education and Career Summit so that the industry could work collectively to tackle the impending shortfall of talent. If we are truly going to fill the projected gap of 50,000 new hires per year, it is going to take a significant initiative and the industry working together,” said Jason Terrell, program director for The Griffith Foundation.

Please note that on January 25, The Griffith Foundation relocated to the following address:

7100 North High Street, Suite 200, Worthington, OH 43085

New phone number: (855) 288-7743

Email addresses will remain the same.

Source: Griffith Foundation