Insurance Brokers and Agents of the West (IBA West) CEO Clark Payan recently installed the associations new officers and directors. Following will serve in 2009.
President Richard E. Dinger of Crescenta Valley Insurance, Glendale, Calif.; President-Elect: Kevin M. Baker of Suhr Risk Services of California Insurance Brokers, San Jose, Calif.; Secretary-Treasurer: Timothy R. Manaka Jr of FIA Insurance Services Inc., Pasadena, Calif.; IIABA State National Director: Andrew J. Valdivia of White & Company Insurance Inc., Santa Monica, Calif.
Elected to the IBA West Board of Directors were: Northern California Regional Director Irene M. Sabourin of John O. Bronson Co. Inc., Sacramento, Calif.; Southern California Regional Director Jeffrey F. Lang of Wells Fargo of California Insurance Services Inc., Sherman Oaks, Calif.; At Large Director Melissa A. Phillipp of Phillipp & Associates Insurance Services Inc., Chatsworth, Calif.; and Associate Member Director:Pete Thrasher of Swett & Crawford, San Francisco.
Dinger is president of Crescenta Valley Insurance, where he started his career in 1985 and has been active in the insurance industry for many years. He served on the board of IBA West for the past five years. He also served as chairman of the 2001 Young Brokers and Agents Committee and was a member of the National Young Agents Committee. He has served as president of his local insurance association, IBA Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena. In 2000, Rick received the prestigious Harlan Miller Award given to a young insurance agent for outstanding service to the IBA West political action program. In 2001, the Insurance Agents and Brokers of Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena named him its member of the year.
In 2003, Dinger was presented with the inaugural Anthony J. DiBuduo Award. This award is presented to the most outstanding insurance professional under the age of 40 in California. Dinger also served as the California InsurPac chairman, the political action committee for the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America (IIABA).
Baker is responsible for the leadership of the sales team and the strategic planning process at Suhr Risk Services of California. He also oversees the human resources, marketing, information technology and business development divisions. He served as secretary-treasurer for the IBA West Service Corporation Board of Directors and co-chair of the IBAiPac. He is a past president of the Independent Brokers and Agents of Silicon Valley, past chairman of the IBA West Young Brokers and Agents Committee, past co-chair of the IBA West California First Advocacy Fund, and a past chairperson of the IBA West Service Corp., the for-profit arm charged with the development of member products. He has also served on numerous insurance company advisory boards.
Manaka is currently senior vice president of FIA Insurance Services in Pasadena. He began his insurance career at Industrial Indemnity Insurance Co. in 1980 and went to work at Funakoshi Insurance Agency in 1981 starting as an account executive. Manaka has served IBA West for many years. From 2005-08 he served on the Board of Directors. He has served on the Agent Brokers Legislative Council since 1989, working with educating local legislators in Sacramento and Washington, D.C. on insurance issues and how they impacts his clients. He also has served on several committees including the Technical Lines, Personal Lines and the Young Brokers & Agents committees. He was the chairman of California’s YBA Committee in 1989-’90.
Valdivia is president of White & Co. Insurance Inc., where he has spent his entire 24-year insurance career. He is a past president of IBA West and also of IIAB of Los Angeles and IIA of Santa Monica. Valdivia has served as chairman of the IBA West Strategic Planning Council. Most recently, Valdivia served as co-chair of the California First Advocacy Fund for IBA West. He is serving the second year of his two-year term.
Sabourin supervises and manages the personal lines division of the John O Bronson Co., Sacramento, and Monterey Insurance Services. She has served on the IBA West Personal Insurance Committee 2006-2008 and IBA West Products & Services Committee. She also serves the industry as a member of the Kemper Auto & Home National and Regional councils since 1994 where she served as chair.
She has been appointed to the Fireman’s Fund Presidents Circle in the years 2000-03; the Safeco National Council in 2006-07; and the Safeco Regional Council in 2002-06 where she also served as chair. She was appointed to the Safeco HK Dent Agency Select Committee; the Encompass Regional Council; and the Travelers Regional Council in 2009.
Lang currently serves as the senior vice president of sales, marketing and bank cross-sell for Wells Fargo Insurance Services’ Southern California operation, which encompasses 165 employees in five offices. Lang served as president of IIAB of Los Angeles and was the chairman of IBA West’s Young Brokers & Agents Committee (YBAC). His most recent IBA West appointment is to the board of directors of Insurance Skills Center and as a member of IBA West’s Political Action Committee.
Phillipp began her career in 1989 when she joined her father, David Phillipp, as a receptionist. Since this time, Melissa has learned the independent insurance agency business by serving in the roles of account management, human resources, marketing and as a producer. In April 2008, Melissa started her own independent agency, Phillipp and Associates, in Chatsworth. She plans to honor her father’s memory by following in his footsteps as an independent agency owner in the same community where he founded White Oak Insurance in 1991. She is a past chairperson of the IBA West Young Brokers & Agents Committee, a past president of the Independent Brokers & Agents of the San Fernando Valley, and a past president of the Chatsworth/Porter Valley Chamber of Commerce. Currently, Melissa serves on the Board of Managers for the North Valley YMCA and continues to serve as a board member for the Chatsworth/Porter Valley Chamber of Commerce.
Thrasher was elected to serve as an associate director. This is his second one-year term on the board. He began his career in the insurance business in 1993 as an underwriter at Chubb in the executive protection division. While at Chubb, Thrasher worked in the Seattle, Portland, Ore., and Concord, Calif., offices. He left Chubb in 1996 to join Swett & Crawford. He began as an account executive and was promoted to assistant vice president, vice president, senior vice president and then his current position as director, professional services group. Thrasher’s group has earned the distinction of being in the top five percent of all producing brokers at Swett for each of the last seven years.
IBA West returning directors include: Peter C. Fong of Khoe & Associates Insurance Services, Oakland, Calif.; Steven Shea of Barney & Barney LLC, San Diego; William R. Curtis of Sullivan Curtis Monroe, Pasadena, Calif.; Tabb G. Randolph of Wraith, Scarlett & Randolph Insurance Services Inc., Woodland, Calif.; and Robert Wolz of Marsh Inc., PNW Chapter Director.
In California, IBA West is affiliated with the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America.
Topics California Agencies
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