Texas Agency Management Seminar Celebrates 50 Years of Success

In 1963, a group of insurance agents under the direction of Joseph E. Vincent from Bryan, Texas, began plans for an annual insurance seminar to be presented by Texas Association of Independent Agents (TAIA) for agency principals and staff.

The program agenda was to be defined by the participants, taught largely by members of the Texas Insurance Fieldmen’s Association and dedicated to both insurance training and agency management. The first Annual Insurance Seminar of the TAIA, as it was known at the time, took place Feb. 21-24 in Hunt.

The original location, the Villa Camille in Hunt, was reported to accommodate only 62 students, though more than 100 attended. By all accounts, the seminar was a resounding success, and Vincent and others immediately started making plans for the next year’s seminar. A questionnaire sent to seminar attendees indicated that they all felt their time was well spent at the two and one-half day seminar.

Said one participant: “I frankly feel that this was one of the most worthwhile experiences of my career.”

The seminar Vincent founded was eventually re-named in his honor, and now 50 years later, the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas’ (IIAT) Joe Vincent Management Seminar is still going strong and is widely considered to be the leading insurance seminar in the Southwest. Each year it draws more than 600 people focused on the challenges of managing an insurance agency and provides invaluable insight into attaining industry success.

IIAT’s 50th Annual Joe Vincent Management Seminar, Jan. 27-29 at the Renaissance Austin Hotel, promises to be one of the most memorable seminars yet, and IIAT has planned a special program to celebrate the occasion.

The conference will kick-off with the 2013 Industry Preview and a special 50th anniversary welcome reception where attendees can reconnect with old friends and make new friends with past and present colleagues. The sessions at the seminar focus on a wide array of agency management topics, and attendees will get an insightful glimpse into the past, present and future of the independent insurance industry.

To reflect on and celebrate 50 years of industry success, IIAT has organized a special panel of industry personalities who helped shape insurance in and out of Texas. The panel includes Lyndon Olson Jr., former chair of the State Board of Insurance and U.S. ambassador to Sweden; Bill Purmort III, president of Central Insurance Cos.; Dan Carmichael, former president of Ohio Casualty and regional vice president of Crum & Forster; Ernie Stromberger, former executive director of IIAT; Lanny Blaine, former vice president of Safeco; and agents Bill Bailey Jr. of Waco and Don Bowles of Dallas.

Featured seminar speakers will include Daniel Burrus, an internationally acclaimed futurist with a vision of how business must adapt to consumer demands, and Robert Hartwig, the Insurance Information Institute guru of industry economics on the health of the Texas insurance markets.

Reagan Consulting CEO and IIABA’s Best Practices consultant Bobby Reagan, CPCU, will present the findings from his most recent study of the best sales organizations within the insurance industry.

For the first time, several seminar sessions will focus on Life and Health issues and what the Patient Protections and Affordable Care Act means to business and clients.

Other seminar sessions include: Mobile Strategies: What a Connected Customer and Workforce Means to Your Agency; Mergers and Acquisition Due Diligence: What You Need to Know Before, During and After; Best Practices Between Wholesalers and Retailers; You Be the Sales Coach; Leadership and Conflict Management; and more.

Since Joe Vincent first envisioned the seminar 50 years ago, it has grown from its humble beginnings into the leading seminar for independent insurance agency leaders and managers in the state.

For more details and to register, visit iiat.org or call 800.880.7428.

Topics Texas Agencies