Beginning Sept. 1, 2008, Garry Kaufman, president of Galveston Insurance Associates, Galveston, Texas, will lead the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas (IIAT) as president. Kaufman was elected at IIAT’s 111th Annual Trade Show and Convention, held recently in Austin. He will succeed current president, Frank Swingle.
After seven years in the pharmaceutical industry, Kaufman began his insurance career. He currently is chairman of the IIAT’S Budget and Finance Committee and is chair of IIAT Services Co. He serves on the Windstorm Task Force and the Catastrophe Response Task Force. Kaufman also serves on the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association Board of Directors, which he will chair in 2009, and he is on the FAIR Plan Governing Committee. In addition, he serves as an instructor for IIAT’s Producer Development Program. Kaufman has also served as president of his local insurance association and was named IIAT’s Young Agent of the Year in 2003.
Bryan Shofner, president of Shofner & Associates Insurance Agency Inc., a holding company that owns and operates Shofner, Lynch & Shulse Insurance & Bonds with offices in Texas and New Mexico, is president-elect of the organization.
Shofner is chairman of the IIAT IMPACT Regional Vice Presidents and serves on the Personnel Recruitment & Development Task Force. He is past president of the Indepen-dent Insurance Agents of Lub-bock and was named IIAT Young Agent of the Year in 2001.
David Wood, vice president and partner, Bogan, Dunlap & Wood Insurance, Odessa, was elected vice president.
Wood’s agency was established in 1989 when he and Shelby Bogan of the then Shelby Bogan Insurance Agency in Odessa became partners. In 1997 the two bought Dunlap Insurance Associates in Odessa.
Prior to his association with Bogan, Wood owned David Wood & Associates, an agency in Midland, from 1986 to 1989. He began his insurance career working for United General Insurance Agency in Midland.
IIAT’s Executive Director David VanDelinder was re-elected as secretary-treasurer.
Award Winners
Don Morriss, president of Offenhauser & Co. in Texarkana, was named winner of the Drex G. Foreman Award, the highest honor given by IIAT.
The Drex G. Foreman Award “recognizes exceptional contributions to the association of Trusted Choice agents, the Independent Insurance Agency System, the Texas insurance industry and local community,” said current IIAT President Frank Swingle in presenting the award.
The award is named for Drex Foreman, who served as executive director of IIAT for 30 years.
Offenhauser has operated continuously under the same name for 126 years. Morriss joined the firm in 1976 and became a partner in 1978. He was named president in 1991, following his father, Josh Morriss, Jr.; grandfather, Josh Morriss, Sr.; and great-grandfather, Fred W. Offenhauser, who founded the agency in 1882.
Morriss is also a fourth-generation president of the state association. Fred Offenhauser also served president of the national association. Morriss’ father and grandfather are former winners of the Drex Foreman award. Morriss received the IIAT Young Agent of the Year Award in 1987.
Matt Womack, partner and principal with the Watkins Insurance Agency in Austin, was named the André Juneau Young Agent of the Year.
The award is named in honor of the late André Juneau, a past president of IIAT and past Young Agent of the Year.
“Womack has set a torrid pace,” said Patrick Kinney, Field Management president for Trav-elers, sponsor of the award. “In fact barely five years ago he was not even in the insurance business. Today he is a partner and principal.”
In addition to holding the CIC, Womack is near completion of the Certified Risk Manager designation. He is a graduate of the IIAT Producer Development Program.
Kimberly Muesse, a senior account manager with the Lockton Companies in Katy, won the IIAT Accredited Customer Service Representative of the Year award.
“To say that this year’s ACSR winner is a commercial CSR would be a colossal understatement,” said Fred Steves, executive director of Myron F. Steves, award sponsor.
Muesse holds all three ACSR designations plus the CISR and CIC designations. She also holds seven certificates, including ocean marine and inland marine, three associate certificates, and is working on the ACS, AMIM and CPCU designations.
The ACSR of the Year receives a cash prize, a complimentary trip to the IIAT Conference and Trade Show, and is eligible to enter the National ACSR of the Year award program sponsored by the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America. The winner also receives complimentary educational materials from the American Institute for IIA/CPCU.
New Directors
Elected to fill three-year terms on the association’s board of directors were Bill Bridges, Don Whitaker and Donald E. (Woody) Woodard, Jr. Their terms begin Sept. 1.
Bill Bridges is executive vice president of Duncan, Fraser & Bridges Insurance Agency, in Pampa. Don Whitaker, is president of Whitaker Insurance Associates, San Antonio. Donald E. (Woody) Woodard, Jr., is an owner, senior vice president and chairman of Insurance Alliance in Houston.
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