Congratulations, 2017 IRES Award Winners

Congratulations to the following recipients of the 2017 IRES Award Winners

Award Winners

• Al Greer Achievement Award – Andrea Baytop, 2017
• Chartrand Communications Award – Pieter Williams, 2017
• Schrader-Nelson Publications Award – Kathy Donovan, 2017
• President’s Award– Ken Allen and Jim Mealer, 2017 and a Special award to Paula Pallozzi, 2017

2017 Al Gross/ Jim Long Rookie of the Year Scholarship Award

Congratulations to the following recipients of the 6^th Annual 2017 Al Gross/Jim Long Rookie of the Year Scholarships!

• Southeastern Zone recipient: Letha Tate
• Midwestern Zone recipient: Lori Carlson
• Northeastern Zone recipient: Maureen Belanger
• Western Zone recipient: Shuqian Guan

Thomas L. Reents, CIE, CFE Memorial Scholarship

Congratulations to John Huh, from California who has the honor of being the First Tom Reents Scholar.

The award honors the first President of IRES Tom Reents.  Tom had a long, and successful career in insurance, primarily in a regulatory capacity.  He was with the Nebraska Department of Insurance from 1974 to 1997, during which time he performed market conduct examinations, investigated consumer complaints, and developed an insurance counseling program for seniors.

Prior to joining the department, he worked in the private insurance industry in both personal and commercial lines.  After leaving the Nebraska Department of Insurance, Tom continued his insurance career as a compliance consultant. He earned his Certified Insurance Examiner (CIE) designation in 1988.

In addition to being the first IRES President, Mr. Reents also served IRES as Treasurer.  He was a board member of not only IRES, but also the IRES Foundation.  In

1993 He received the President’s Award for his outstanding service to IRES and the industry.

The first Tom Reents scholar is a State Regulator who has demonstrated exceptional promise, professionalism and a commitment to continual improvement. They demonstrate exceptional promise and professionalism in representing their states as regulators and seek to develop skills through completion of training programs provided by recognized insurance industry institutional programs.

This award will allow the recipient to attend more training and bring what he learns back to his department to share with fellow department employees so that they can all continue to work to protect insurance consumers.