Date: December 8, 3:30 PM
Location: Des Moines Embassy Club West, Ponderosa Ballroom
Speaker: Matthew Mitchell
Matthew is an Associate Professor of International Business and Strategy at Drake University, and founding partner of Bâton Global LLC, a strategy & research advisory firm. Matthew advises Fortune 500 companies, insurance companies, governments, educational institutions and non-profit organizations around the world. He has travelled, lived, and worked in more than 75 countries. Matthew will be speaking on professional development with an eye towards your professional New Year’s resolutions. After a great speaker, please stay and enjoy heavy appetizers, good company, and hosted bar!
If you have paid your 2021 CPCU Society dues, your registration is complimentary. If you have not paid your dues, it is $25.00 to attend. You can pay your dues by visiting https://www.cpcusociety.org/ or contacting member resources at (800) 932-2728.
Please register here by Friday, December 3rd.
|
|
Greetings from the Iowa CPCU Society!
As we flip the calendar to the final month of 2021, it is hard to believe we are almost at the end of another year. As I reflect on 2021 specifically for our Iowa CPCU Chapter, I’m proud of the work we completed to provide valuable, career-enhancing opportunities through CPCU Society membership.
I-Day on November 11th was one of those opportunities. We started the morning with four mentoring circles on different topics and attendees chose which one to participate in. I chose the Personal/Commercial circle and enjoyed the conversation and connection with fellow participants. Next, we had three passionate, informative speakers that created a positive energy in the room and inspired those in attendance. We celebrated and officially welcomed our 2021 new designees, recognized our scholarship winners, installed our 2022 chapter officers, and awarded the 2021 Burkhalter Award. Speaking of the Burkhalter Award, please join me in congratulating Nancy Green, 2004-2005 Iowa Chapter President, in receiving this year’s distinguished award. The day was also filled with exceptional food and hospitality from the Iowa Events Center. It was a great feeling to attend I-Day in-person again and for those of you that were unable to make it, we hope to see you next year! Thank you to Sara Van Wyk and the entire Iowa Chapter Board for all your work in planning and holding another fantastic I-Day.
The year is not finished yet for Iowa Chapter events. Look for more information about our December Professional Development meeting in this month’s Chaptergram. Thank you to Barnes Kelley, chapter Director of Professional Development, for your work in planning this month’s meeting.
As the year comes to a close, I want to express my deepest gratitude to all of you as members of the Iowa Chapter, for your participation and engagement in 2021. I also want to thank each volunteer serving on our Iowa Chapter Board for your commitment to excellence on behalf of the chapter – please know your time and effort is very much appreciated. It has been an honor and privilege for me to serve as chapter President and I’m thankful for the opportunity to lead what in my opinion, is the best chapter in the entire CPCU Society. I look forward to my continued engagement in the chapter in the years to come at future meetings and events.
I believe relationships built by meeting and working with fellow Iowa Chapter members are the most important and valuable benefit of my membership in the CPCU Society. I’m blessed to have developed many new relationships over the last year in addition to strengthening existing ones. I look forward to continuing these relationships in the years to come.
I hope you enjoyed the 2021 Iowa CPCU Chapter year as much as I did. Best wishes to all of you for the upcoming holidays and I look forward to seeing you at a CPCU event in 2022.
Brad Soma, President, Iowa CPCU Society Chapter
|
|
Kelsey Olsen, CPCU
Sr. Business Analyst
Berkley Technology Services
My names is Kelsey Olson, currently I live with my husband and son in Story City, Iowa. I grew up in Olds, IA which is located near Mount Pleasant. I graduated from Simpson College and attended high school at WACO in Wayland, IA. I work for Berkley Technology Services (BTS), which is the IT division of WR Berkley Corporation. I am a Business Analyst, supporting various applications used within the Underwriting process by WRBC owned insurance companies, with a focus on Clearance, Premium Audit and Loss Control. I assist with communicating between the business users of our systems and the development team that I'm part of as well as system testing and application release planning.
I pursued my CPCU as I wanted to learn more about the insurance industry, I had a background in magazine publishing and fulfillment prior to starting at BTS. A manager suggested getting involved in taking some of the Institutes exams to obtain my AINS certification. I did that and decided to continue on to getting a CPCU. There were other CPCUs who encouraged me along the way from the WRBC owned insurance companies. Most notably for me was David Naughton who is the Premium Audit Manager at our sister company, Continental Western Group in Urbandale.
The knowledge I gained from studying for the exam has helped me out when writing business requirements for our applications, as I can now better understand the entire process of the Underwriting workflow. It also has assisted me in understanding how our applications can be improved within that process as a whole. For the CPCU exams I did the self study route, utilizing a lot of the online quizzes and the new iphone/ipad application that allows you to review study and quiz questions quickly. Once I completed by studies, I really looked forward to the trips I had planned and attending the In2Risk CPCU ceremony with my husband and son in Orlando.
A fun fact about me is that my family lives on my husband's family century farm in Story City. His Great Grandparents founded our farm when they immigrated from Norway in 1905 and we live in the farmhouse that his Grandparents build in the 1950's. Lots of family history as you can tell.
|
|
Name: Evan Wheeler
Hometown: Well, not necessarily an “easy question” for Evan… Born in Baltimore, MD, Evan then moved to St. Simons Island, GA, Salinas, CA, and Seattle, WA before eventually arriving in Des Moines in 2006 with his family as a junior in high school. Of all the places he’s lived, Evan loves the Midwest (great people and great pace of life)!
Alma Mater: St Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota
Employer: EMC Insurance Cos.
Title: Reinsurance Claims Adjuster II - as of July 2021. Evan was previously on the primary commercial claims side, focusing on financial crime/fidelity/cyber.
Insurance Designations: Working on Associate in Reinsurance and then 3 more exams for the CPCU then we have an official new member!
Area of study: History major with a minor in Asian Studies (took Japanese, ancient history concentration). Evan travelled extensively through China and Tibet during his junior year, which gave him a deeper appreciation for international business and culture. Evan considered law school upon graduation, but ultimately decided to test the waters before committing to the career, receiving a paralegal certificate from DMACC. His insurance career began through an internship at EMC within the office of the General Counsel, after which he took a full-time position as an adjuster in the Surety department and the rest is history (no pun intended)!
How long have you been a member of CPCU? Evan has been on the CPCU board for almost 2.5 years and started as Historian Chair March of 2019. He is currently the Ethics Chair!
How has your involvement with CPCU influenced your career? Evan feels multiple ways about the CPCU designation. In general, the designation is good to obtain, and he believes that the additional industry knowledge and educational opportunities offered through The Institutes are crucial for continued professional success. Designations also signal a level of commitment to the industry that many employers often find valuable during the hiring process, so candidates seeking to switch roles (from Claims to Underwriting, for example) should prioritize the CPCU. While Evan believes the designations provide a good knowledge base and can credit them with his introduction to the world of reinsurance, he wishes there were more graduate educational opportunities available within insurance. For example, there are not that many master’s programs in insurance management and none that focus on reinsurance, so for someone who is seeking deeper learning, what options are there? Food for thought for the insurance industry!
What’s something about you (a fun fact) that not many people know? Evan is a childhood cancer survivor but did not let this impact his positive outlook on life and contagious optimism! Also, Evan and his girlfriend are big foodies (maybe a food blog coming?)! He also enjoys lifting weights, swimming, and video games.
What’s the last book you read (personal or professional)? Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet, which was published the year Evan was born, so additional fun fact!
Words you live by: As Evan’s Grandpa said, “When you worry, you pay interest on something you don’t own.”
|
|
2021 Iowa CPCU Chapter Burkhalter Award Winner
|
Congratulations to Nancy Green (2004-2005 Iowa Chapter President) as the recipient of the 2021 Burkhalter Award.
Nancy is pictured receiving the award from Chapter President, Brad Soma.
|
|
Governor's Volunteer Award |
Congratulations to our North Central Iowa CPCU Subchapter who received a Governor’s Volunteer Award from the state of Iowa earlier this year for their volunteer service project work with highway clean-up. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
