The Insurance Alliance held a new producers’ sales meeting on May 5th as part of its Accellerations New Producer Sales Contest. Eighteen producers, all working less than 18 months as a P&C insurance producer for an Insurance Alliance member, participated.

The nine Corporate Sponsors of the contest, Berkley Mid-Atlantic Group, Eastern Alliance, Harleysville, Millers Mutual, Penn National, PMA, Selective, State Auto, and Westfield, introduced the new producers to their companies’ products and personnel. A meeting with the Platinum Sponsor, Ohio Casualty, is scheduled for later in the month.

(Pictured is Christian-Baker Producer Steve Swineford meeting with Craig Brandt and Harry Minskey of Penn National Insurance during the Commercial Accellerations portion of the event. To see more photos, visit our Flickr photo set for the day’s activities.)

On Friday, May 2nd, Jane Koppenheffer, President and CEO of The Insurance Alliance, presented John Knoll, President of Knoll Insurance Agency, an affiliate of The Insurance Alliance, with a $25,000 check from Selective Insurance. The funds were provided to help assist in the small business center expansion of the agency.

Jane Koppenheffer, commented, “Selective Insurance is a true partner with The Insurance Alliance. As part of our annual agency planning with Selective we both identified our desire to grow our book of profitable small business with Selective. However, many of our members do not aggressively solicit small business, so when the opportunity arose for one of our affiliates to expand its small business center it created a ‘win-win’ situation for the agency, The Alliance, and for Selective Insurance.”

Insurance Insight, the 12-part video series video series featuring a brief overview of common insurance-related topics produced as a joint effort between The Insurance Alliance, Westfield Insurance and WITF-TV is now available as a video podcast from the iTunes Store.
The first three episodes are available now, formatted for use with your video iPod or iPhone. By subscribing to the series in iTunes, the next three shows in the series will be automatically downloaded when they become available later in May, with the remainder premiering in the fall of 2008.

Don’t have an iPod? You can watch the videos as they become available on the Insurance Insight section of The Alliance web site.

Insurance now has a place on public television in Central PA, thanks to a partnership between The Insurance Alliance, Westfield Insurance and WITF-TV.

Insurance Insight is a 12-part video series featuring a brief overview of common insurance-related topics. The series gives consumers the education they need to make informed decisions when it comes to making sure their valuable assets are protected. Each episode features a different topic and speaker from our area.
Insurance Insight premiered in April 2008 on WITF-TV with three episodes running in prime-time rotation. They feature:

• Ray Shirk, the President of The Securus Group, talking about why you need to review your insurance annually, and why your insurance isn’t just a “buy it and forget it” service.

• Carolyn Morris, the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Services of the Pennsylvania Insurance Department, covering the characteristics of an insurance policy: what it is, what it isn’t and why it should be seen as a contract.

• Rita Hollada of Insurance Agents and Brokers of PA discussing why flood insurance should be considered by everyone.

Three more episodes will be released in May, with the remaining six scheduled for a Fall 2008 premier.

You can watch or download the available episodes online in the Insurance Insight section of our web site.

The April 2008 issue of Independent Agent magazine features a profile of the Paul I. Sheaffer Insurance Agency in their “What Works” segment. The article talks about how the Sheaffer agency markets to the their local customer base by understanding the unique cultural aspects of the Lancaster county area.

The full article is available as a PDF to view online or download. (Reprinted with permission from the April 2008 issue of Independent Agent magazine.) Just click on the article cover to access the PDF.

Tammy L. Fox has joined the Paul I. Sheaffer Insurance Agency as an Account Executive for the Lancaster office. Tammy previously was an Account Executive for Horst Insurance, Lancaster PA. She has worked in the insurance industry for the past 15 years, and specializes in the property and casualty lines for medium to large accounts. Tammy lives in Centerville with her family.

Insurance Alliance President Jane Koppenheffer, and her husband, Fred, recently attended Penn National Insurance’s President’s Choice trip to Grand Cayman. In additional to the opportunity to interact with Penn National’s executive management team, there was the opportunity to attend an excellent seminar on Catastrophe Modeling presented by Towers-Perrin, and an agency management session led by Bobby Regan of Regan Consulting. In addition to Jane, The Alliance’s Chairman of the Board, Don Wert, and his wife, Sue, were also in attendance.

The Securus Group has announced the appointment of Daniel V. Kahler, MS, as their new Director - Risk Management.

Daniel holds a degree from Millersville University in Occupational Safety and Environmental Health as well as a Master of Science Degree from West Virginia in Safety and Environmental Management. Dan has been with Securus since 2005. His major responsibilities include managing all facets of loss control within Securus Risk Management, a division of The Securus Group, Inc.

The Insurance Alliance has announced a contest for the newest producers in The Alliance organization.

Accelerations gives producers new to The Alliance an opportunity to win valuable prizes and trips by placing first in one of three categories:

• Grand Prize - Most new business production with sponsoring carriers during the contest period.

• Next Generation Prize - Most new business production with sponsoring carriers during the contest period. Producer must be new to the P&C industry.

• Personal Lines Prize - Most production in personal lines with sponsoring carriers during the contest period.

Accelerations is sponsored by some of the Alliance’s key carriers, including Platinum Sponsor Ohio Casualty. Also participating are Corporate Sponsors:

• Berkley Mid-Atlantic Group
• Eastern Alliance
• Harleysville
• Millers Mutual
• Penn National
• The PMA Insurance Group
• Selective
• State Auto
• Westfield Insurance

Activities during the contest include two “Lunch and Learn” education and training events; one with the Platinum Sponsor, and one with all the Corporate Sponsors.

The winners will be announced at The Alliance’s Connections event on October 21.

Insurance Alliance President Jane Koppenheffer helped kick off this year’s Central PA iDay by introducing the keynote session speakers, Acting Insurance Commissioner Joel Ario and Cindy Fillman, Consumer Liaison; PA Department of Insurance.

Mr. Ario discussed Governer Edward Rendell’s heath insurance initiatives and Ms. Fillman followed up with some perspective from the consumer perspective. The two took questions from the audience that varied from credits for “green” lifestyles to ways to minimize complaints to the Insurance Department.