New officers, award presentations among highlights of IIAT conference

Robert W. Hempkins, founding principal of Hempkins Insurance, Denison, was sworn in as president for 2006-2007 of the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas at the association’s 109th Annual Conference and Trade Show, held recently in Houston.

Hempkins previously served as IIAT’s president-elect, as vice president, and as a member of the board of directors. He has served in many capacities on IIAT committees and is a member of Grayson County Local Insurance Association.

Hempkins began his insurance career as a representative of the Employers of Texas Company and founded the Hempkins Insurance Agency in 1981.

Garry Kaufman of Galveston Insurance Associates, Galveston, was elected incoming vice president. In addition to being a successful agency principal, Kaufman has been an IIAT director and most recently served as chairman of the Trusted Choice Advisory Council. He has also served as president of his local insurance association. Kaufman was named IIAT Young Agent of the Year in 2003.

Hempkins and Kaufman begin their terms Sept. 1.

IIAT also elected four directors during the conference. Elected to fill three year terms were: Curtis Fendley, Paris; William Morriss, Texarkana; and Bob Shepard, Harlingen. Bryan Shofner, Lub-bock, was elected to fill the unexpired term of newly elected vice president, Garry Kaufman.

Fendley is managing partner of Pierson & Fendley Insurance and currently mayor of Paris, Texas. He is a member of CAA, is a regional IMPACT vice president and has served on a number of IIAT committees.

Morriss is vice president of F. W. Offenhauser & Co. Inc. He was named the IIAT Young Agent of the Year in 1998, and won the Wilbur Award in 1995 and the C. E. Palmer Award in 2001. His great-grandfather, Fred W. Offen-hauser; his grandfather, Josh R. Morriss, Sr.; his father, Josh R. Morriss, Jr.; and his brother, Don N. Morriss all are past presidents of IIAT.

Shepard is chairman of the board of Shepard Walton King Insurance Group. A long-time member of IIAT, Shepard has served on the legislative committee for a number of years.

Shofner is president of Shofner & Associates Insurance Agency in Lubbock. He is a past director of the IIAT board and was named Young Agent of the Year in 2001.

Drex Foreman Award

Douglas Sanford president and co-CEO of the Sanford Agency, Lubbock, was named winner of the 2006 Drex G. Foreman Award, IIAT’s highest honor.

Presenting the award, IIAT President Randy Reynolds said it “recognizes exceptional contributions to the association, the Independent Agency System, the Texas insurance industry and local community. No one deserves it more than Doug.”

The award is named for Drex Foreman, who served as executive director of IIAT for 30 years.

Sanford began his insurance career in the family insurance business in 1970 as a producer. He has been published in Rough Notes and Insurance Journal,
and was a speaker at the Association of Independent Insurers National Underwriting Conference in Las Vegas.

Sanford was named president and CEO of his agency in 1985. He remains president and was named co-CEO along with Diannah Tatum in 2004. Under Sanford’s leadership the agency has grown more than 800 percent.

Sanford is past president of IIAT and a three-term member of the board of directors. He was president in 1991-92 and first served on the board from 1986-93 and again from 1998-02. He began his long-term association with IIAT in 1983 as a member of the finance committee. In 1985 he was named to the long-range planning committee.

Paige Eiland Award

Kenneth Threlkeld, founder of Threlkeld & Company Insurance, Tyler, won the first Paige Eiland Award for voluntary political action.

In making the presentation Frank Swingle, chairman of the IIAT IMPACT regional vice presidents and incoming IIAT president-elect, said Threlkeld “is and has been for years among the largest contributors to both state and national PAC funds. He is always a participant in our state legislative day in Austin. He has not in my memory missed a national legislative conference in many years and, as a matter of fact, he often brings staff with him to this expensive meeting to help work the Hill.”

On hand for the presentation were State Representative Craig Eiland, son of Paige and Elaine; Elaine Eiland and other members of the Eiland family.

The new Paige Eiland Award was established to recognize the long hours spent and hard work done by independent insurance agents working with federal and state legislators. The Award is given to an individual who, like its namesake, has made an outstanding contribution to the independent insurance distribution system through political action.

Eiland was a politically active member of IIAT. In addition to long service as a regional vice president for IMPACT and his work with state legislators, he served on national committees to improve the federal crop insurance program, preserving the role of independent agents in the program.

André Juneau Award

Greg Wassberg, Crockett Insurance Service, is the first recipient of the new André Juneau Award honoring the IIAT Young Agent of the Year. The presentation was made by Clyde Fitch of Travelers, sponsor of the award, and André’s wife, Laura Juneau.

Wassberg has served on IIAT young agent committees, advisory councils and on the planning committee for the Young Agents Retreat. He also serves on carrier advisory panels and farm mutual chapters. He has been published in the Insurance Journal and is a frequent and regular contributor to the IIAT Young Agents Weblog offering tips, suggestions and advice to young agents on sales successes.

The Young Agent of the Year Award was renamed the André Juneau Award to honor one of this association’s and the industry’s most influential and successful professionals. Juneau, a senior vice president of Nieman Hanks Puryear in Austin, and former president of IIAT, died in February 2006 after a battle with cancer. He was 47.

Topics Texas Agencies Training Development