Gregory Stevens

The Independent Insurance Agents of San Antonio announced it recently installed Gregory A. Stevens as the 84th president of the association.

Stevens is president of Texas Insurance Division of Compass Insurance Agency Inc., responsible for operation of the San Antonio, Uvalde and Austin agencies, plus management of the accounting, personal lines and group departments. He has been with the agency since 1985 and was an owner prior to its affiliation with Compass Bank.

Previously, he was senior management consultant for the national accounting firm of Ernst and Whinney where he was a data processing/accounting consultant to many existing and newly developing businesses in South Texas.

Stevens has served with IIASA on the Board of Directors and in the offices of president-elect, vice president and treasurer. He is the third IIASA president in recent years to come from the Compass Insurance offices. His predecessors include Joe Minihan and Dan Webster.

Todd Sund of Insurance Concepts of San Antonio, Brett Morgan of SWBC Insurance Services, and Lori Flores of Frost Insurance Agency took oaths of office as president-elect, vice president, and treasurer, respectively.

The Board members include Jim Carlisle of Compass Insurance Agency; Mike Cook of Wallace Cook Agency; Win Johnston of Barnard Donegan Insurance; Greg LeJune of Catto & Catto; Rick Paludi of Luhn-McCain Insurance; Kevin Semtner of Walthall Sachse & Pipes; Deni Townsend of Billy Greaves Insurance Agency; and Liz Wagner of Catto & Catto.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has re-appointed Richard Cooper to serve on Texas Mutual Insurance Company’s board of directors. Cooper will serve another six-year term, which will end in July 2011.

Then-Gov. George W. Bush first appointed Cooper to the board of Texas Mutual (then called the Texas Workers’ Compensation Insurance Fund) in 1996 to fill an outgoing board member’s unexpired term. Gov. Bush re-appointed Cooper to a full six-year term in 1999.

Cooper served as vice-chair of the Texas Mutual board in 2001 and 2002 and as secretary in 2003 and 2004. He also serves as chair of the board’s audit committee.

Cooper is the owner and president of National Travel Systems of Lubbock.

Austin-based Combined Agents of America LLC reported that Gayle Gray, vice president of CAA member First Southwest Insurance Agency, was recognized as the 2005 ATHENA Award recipient for Abilene, Texas.

The international ATHENA Award program recognizes individuals who have opened the doors of leadership for women as valued members and leaders of the community, and recognizes those who support them.

First Southwest Insurance Agency is one of Abilene’s largest insurance agencies.

Gray has served as past president for the Independent Insurance Agents Association of Abilene, as well as director and officer four
additional years, and maintains the Certified Insurance Counselor

designation.

She has been heavily involved in the Abilene community, serving with a number of non-profit organizations. Gray was on the board of director’s for a women’s shelter, Noah’s Project, and served as president for one term. She was also active on the United Way board for a numbers of years and served on its executive committee. And she served six years on the Community Foundation of Abilene, with two terms as chairman of its Grants Committee.

Since the ATHENA Award program’s inception in 1982 more than 5,000 awards have been presented in over 500 communities in the United States, Canada, China, Russia, the United Arab Emirates and most recently the United Kingdom. The award recipient has the opportunity to interact with an international network of leaders and is invited to attend the ATHENA International Leadership Conference.

Southeast Surplus Underwriters General Agency Inc., based in Beaumont, Texas, has added Renee Becker as marketing assistant.

As a marketing assistant for SES, Becker will be responsible for providing support to the company’s sales representatives and client service for its network of agents, as well as the initial contact for new agents. She has a two-year office administration degree and an extensive communications background.

The Insurance Marketing Communications Association announced its 2005-06 slate of directors and officers, with Ron Rice, continuing as president for his second year.

Rice is the national events marketing manager at Russell Investment Group in Tacoma, Wash. He has more than 20 years of experience in marketing, communications, public relations and creative services, mostly within the insurance and surety industries. He joined IMCA in 1992 and has been a member of the board since 1999.

Other appointed IMCA officers are Fran Harding, president of Mainsail Communications, immediate past president; Cora Barran, advertising manager for Farmers Insurance, executive vice president; Rich Look, communications director of Venture Programs secretary/treasurer, and Reg Pierce, managing partner of InMarket Partners, past president (at large).

Elected to the board of directors for 2005-2006 are Darin Barney, MiniCo; Peter Broadbent, Wahlstrom Group; Greg Calestini, American Wholesale; Linda Collins, Arthur J. Gallagher and Co.; Mitch Dunford, Insurance Journal; Gary Kimball, Kimball Communications; Jack Makuch, Allstate Insurance; and Rob Martin, The Co-operators General Ins. Co.

To submit information for this department, e-mail sjones@insurancejournal.com.

Topics Texas Agencies