SIAA Meeting: 2004’s Top Performers, Top Rookie, Top Recruiter Honored
Last year’s top agencies, the “rookie of the year” and the “recruiter of the year” were honored by the Strategic Independent Agents Alliance on April 14 during SIAA’s 19th semi-annual business meeting at the Marriot World Center in Orlando, Fla.
Steve Tague of Tague 3M Alliance Services accepted the award as the top rookie of the year, as the new agency to have the best performance in 2004. Chris Torres of Oklahoma Insurance was honored as the top recruiter.
SIAA the largest independent agency network in America, chose the following companies, in alphabetical order, as it’s top performers: Agents Helping Agents, Continental Insurance Agency Alliance, Hudson Valley Agency Alliance, Mountain State Agency Alliance, Oklahoma Agents Alliance LLC, Potomac Insurance Network, Satellite Agency of New York, SIAA of North Carolina, SIAA of Wisconsin, South Carolina Agents Network and Southern Insurance Group.
Honorees received an ovation from everyone at the general session, gifts and cash awards for their performance.
Members heard a presentation on Thursday morning by a panel comprised of the five top 2004 opportunity income master agencies; followed by a panel of the top 2004 SIAA recruiters. Afternoon topics included sessions on marketing and communications; contracts/recruitment; Master Agency network services; and optimizing network books of business value.
On Friday, April 15 at 8 a.m., Mike LaRocco, president of Safeco will be the keynote speaker. LaRocco is responsible for all Safeco personal, commercial and surety product lines, as well as the underwriting and claims operations that support those products.
LaRocco joined Safeco in 2001. Under his leadership the company has emerged as one of the most efficient and profitable companies selling personal lines insurance exclusively through the independent distribution channel.
After the general session, participants will attend strategic partner company breakouts during which they will discuss marketing techniques and products with representatives of The Hartford, Travelers, Safeco, Liberty RAM, Zurich, MetLife, Sentry (Dairyland) and Bristol West.
Breakout sessions on Friday afternoon include participants discussing topics of mutual interest.