Full IWOGC Local History

The 59th Annual Regional Conference was held at the French Lick Springs Resort and Spa, French Lick, Indiana March 25-28, 2004. The hosting association, Miami Valley Insurance Women chose as their theme, “A Step Back in Time”

Prior to the first business session, on Thursday there were CE classes sponsored by Chubb Insurance Group, at no cost to attendees.

The welcome party was a “Jammie Jam” organized by Shauna Lieberman.

At the first business session we were welcomed by conference co-chairs, Jennifer Baker and Connie Petertonjes and President Linda Hanley. Our National NAIW representative was Joanna Mahoney, National Vice President.

The Friday Night State Dinners were held at the hotel, and for entertainment we were treated to a Murder Mystery, which continued at the Saturday Night banquet.

The Awards Banquet had as it’s theme “The Roaring 20’s” and everyone dressed appropriately for the evening.

There were 19 IWOGC members who attended the conference, many of whom were first timers. Our Delegate was President Doris Gibbons and alternate was Susan Necessary, President Elect.

Our association year ended it’s 2003-2004 fiscal year with 74 members and 3 corporate partners.

We welcomed the following new members to our association: Janice Abu Bakr;

Elizabeth Land; Margie Lewis; Elizabeth McKirahan; Dawn Mundt; and

Pamela Winkler. Janet Partin received the CPIW designation.

Charlene Naylor and Shamal Desai co-chairs of the Education committee continued the “I Can” series prior to monthly meetings and held one class on Saturday taught by Nancy Moore.

In response to the questionnaires returned by the members, a wide variety of programs were planned for the association year.

In September, we heard from Donna Harpsoe, AFLAC agent, who gave us much information regarding adding value to our health/life plans.

October was the Joint Meeting of IWOGC and MVIW for the convenience of Susan Shaw, Ohio State Director’s visit. MVIW was the hosting association, meeting held at the Quality Hotel in Norwood.

In November we invited representatives from two recipient charities supported by our Good Works Committee to join us. Darrel Wilson from St.Aloysius Orphanage and Eli Shupe from Insuring the Children were presented with checks to be used for Christmas giving to the children.

December was our social time and held at the Montgomery Inn.

In January we had our women’s health issues answered by Dr. Robert Strub, M.D. and Diane Oliver from Healthspan.

Our speaker in February was Wanda Sinkely from Curves.

For the month of March our program was geared toward Identity Theft with special speaker Dan Katt from Crime Prevention Solutions.

Our much anticipated visit from Ohio’s Insurance Director, Ann Womer Benjamin

Was our April speaker. This was also election night, with Susan Necessary being moved from President Elect to the position of President. Other elected officers were:

Rhonda Manley, President Elect; Sandy Weitlauf, Vice President; Teresa Rose, Secretary; and Shamal Desai as Treasurer.

Donna Kurtz organized our delegation for the Race For The Cure walk this year.

The month of May was our Annual Awards and Appreciation night, and was hosted by Northern Kentucky Association of Insurance Women, held at the Hilton Hotel in Florence, Ky. Susan Necessary presided for IWOGC since Doris Gibbons was away attending school to become an American Family agent.

In June we were honored to have as our special guest speaker, Julie O’Neil,WCPO weekend anchor. Her power point presentation was entitled “Embracing Your Beauty” and focused on her real life experiences with weight while competing for the Miss America pageant and also as an up and coming journalist.

The 63rd Annual Convention of the National Association of Insurance Women was held in Pittsburgh, PA June 3-5, 2004. President Cheryl Blair Lee’s theme all year has been Igniting the NAIW Spark. There were 183 associations represented along with 4 members at large. IWOGC delegate was Susan Necessary and alternate was Shauna Lieberman.

Officers elected were: Joanna Mahoney, President Elect; Gloria Bruno, Vice President, and E. Faye Evans, Secretary. Chris Kelly Storbeck automatically ascended to the position of President.

Keynote speaker Lyn St. James talked about the adversity she had to go through to become a major contender as an Indy 500 race car driver.

President Chris Kelly Storbeck’s theme will be “Success is a Choice.”

The 2005 National Convention will be convened in Reno, NV June 6.

2004-2005 Programs:

September – We were treated to a lesson in history as our American Heritage was recalled by “Betsy Ross” as portrayed by Doris Crawford.

October – Was our Joint Meeting, hosted by IWOGC for the benefit of our State Director’s visit (Beverly Whitehead). Bev’s theme for the year has been “FROG” Find Real Opportunities Galore.

November – The program was given over to our Corporate Partners to share their service or product. We now have five Corporate Partners: Insurance Overload Staffing; Security Amirkanian; Keir Educational Resources; Service Master; and Spring Grove Pre-Planning.

December’s Christmas social was held at LaComedia Dinner Theatre where we enjoyed a great buffet dinner and the play “Miracle on 34th Street.”

January was Education month with presentations by Shauna Lieberman and Phyllis Sapp. Shauna spoke about NAIW basics and the qualifications for the CPIW and DAE designations. Phyllis spoke on Business Ettiquete.

February was Women’s Heart Health Month with guest speaker Linda S. Baas, Phd,RN from the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing.

March We learned all about financial planning for Women with guest speaker, Marylynn Minning from Lincoln Financial Advisors.

April is our annual meeting with election of officers for the 2005-2006 association year. Guest speaker is April Goyer with her topic “It’s Not Downhill After 40”

May is our Annual Awards and Appreciation Night, hostd by Miami Valley Insurance Women to be held at the Vernon Manor. This year we will honor two new CPIW’s: Rhonda Manley and Lori Garner (Duell)

June is installation of new officers and also Safety Month. A Safety Fair is being planned by Chair Person, Shauna Lieberman.

We welcomed new members Nieata Bailey; Doris Boyd; Christina Bridgeford; Lori Calabrese; Dual Member Peggy Eubanks; Transfer Member Susan Fridrich; Mona Helton; Nancy Hester; Dual Member Patsy Matthews; Judy Merritt; Sherry Meyer; Darlene Sevier and Leslie Vogel.

Membership at the end of 2004-2005 association year stands at 80, including dual members.

Ohio Council Education Day was held April 30-May ,2004 in Dublin, Ohio and hosted by the Insurance Women of Columbus.

The annual meeting and Legislative Day was hosted by the Buckeye Insurance Women in Van Wert, Ohio. The theme was Let Freedom Ring, and the speaker was local representative to the Ohio Legislature. Jeanne Hlas, Stark County Insurance Professionals was elected to State Director Elect and Nancy Homan, Insurance Women of Toledo won the CWC Speakoff and the opportunity to enter the Regional Competition.