Date: Thursday, December 8th, 3:30 PM

Location: The Des Moines Golf and Country Club

Join us and our Professional Development panel: Marsha Aldridge, VP of HR at IMT Insurance; Ali Payne, President at ethOs and Practice Leader, Employee Experience & Wellbeing at Holmes Murphy; and Jessica Hendricks, VP of Agency Development at EMC Insurance.

They will be sharing their career experiences while focusing on the topics of Leading in a Virtual Environment and Mentorship.

After the panel, please stay and enjoy heavy appetizers, good company, and hosted bar! We will also be having a food drive for the Food Bank of Iowa! Please feel free to bring in any non-perishable food items and/or cash donation with you! We look forward to seeing you there!

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.

Please register here.

Greetings Chapter Members!

Iowa is finally heading into fall – the days are getting shorter, the weather is getting colder, and holidays are quickly approaching. I know for many of you this time of year is busy as you work to hit year end targets and wrap up projects, but I would encourage you to continue to make the most of your Society membership. 

The Iowa Chapter has a great lineup of speakers for our I-Day on Thursday, November 3rd hitting on the topics of Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG), climate change and innovation in the insurance industry.

And on December 8th at 3:30 we’ll have our Professional Development Day at Des Moines Golf & Country Club with leaders from several local employers there to answer your professional development questions. 

At the December meeting we will be collecting donations for the Food Bank of Iowa (cash or canned goods) as our final Good Works project for the year. Also remember that the CPCU Society has a variety of monthly webinars as well as historical webinars available on demand on their website.

I hope to see you at one of our final events for the year!

Sara VanWyk

Iowa CPCU Society Chapter President

Aryn Ping was promoted to Underwriting Consultant at Nationwide Agribusiness.

Have an accomplishment, promotion or award you'd like to share with your fellow CPCUs? Email them to kara.heinzig@gmail.com.

Nathan Christensen

Senior Actuarial Analyst

EMC Insurance

My name is Nathan Christensen. I grew up in Urbandale, Iowa where I also currently

live. I received my bachelor’s degree from Simpson College. I work for EMC Insurance in the Actuarial Department’s pricing operations area where I am a Senior Actuarial Analyst.

I decided to pursue my CPCU to broaden my understanding of underwriting and insurance in general. I studied for my exams at lunch, after work, and on weekends. For study materials, I used the books and online quizzes the Institutes offered.

Now that I have more free time, I am enjoying more family activities with my wife and two sons. I am a sports fan of the Green Bay Packers, Nebraska Cornhuskers, and Iowa State Cyclones.

Name: Brooke Jeffus

Hometown: West Des Moines, Iowa

Alma Mater: Iowa State University (Undergraduate Degree) and University of Arizona Global Campus (Graduate Degree)

Employer: Nationwide Insurance

Title: Territory Manager – Alternative Distribution

Insurance Designations: CPCU

Have you achieved any recent promotions, awards, degrees, etc.? CPCU was the most recent! I completed it in December 2021. Perhaps it is about time to figure out what is next!

Area of study: Undergrad – Marketing, Grad Degree – Leadership with a Management focus

How long been a member of CPCU? I joined in May of 2020.

How as your involvement with CPCU influenced your career? The people I have meet through the Iowa CPCU chapter, and the conversations I have had with those folks at different events, have opened my eyes to parts of the industry that I really hadn’t thought much about before – and it seems to happen every time I attend a CPCU event. My current role is focused on Nationwide’s InsureTech firms/partnerships – and I quite clearly remember having a conversation on that very topic at I-Day in 2021 that got me intrigued enough to apply for the opening on my current team. I’ve also enjoyed serving on the Board and connecting with those going through the testing process as the Candidate Development Chair. I’ve built relationships with CPCUs (and candidates) at my own company that I might not have met otherwise. Being able to share my experience, bring people together, and get them introduced to other CPCUs has been very rewarding! We have a great group of people serving on this board, and I feel lucky to have met and to serve alongside all of them.

What’s something about you (a fun fact) that not many people know? This was tough – I am

usually a pretty open book. It’s probably weird – but I am definitely one of those people that is

particular about numbers when it comes to alarms or the volume on the tv/in the car. Odd

numbers only, please! An alarm at 6:01am and a drive to work with the volume on 13 sounds

like a great start to a day to me! =)

What’s the last book you read (personal or professional)? The Forgotten Girl by Daco S.

Auffenorde – I love a good psychological thriller.

Words you live by: “We travel not to escape life, but so life doesn’t escape us.” – Traveling to

new (and loved) places is one of my very favorite things. Experiencing different regions, foods,

views, activities, favorite local spots, etc. really gets me excited! There’s so much to see and

learn out there – and I want to continue to do those things as long as I can.