Five to Be Honored By Iowa Insurance Hall of Fame

By Pollock, Jim

Five men will be inducted into the Iowa Insurance Hall of Fame in this year's ceremony, scheduled for May 16 at Drake University's Olmsted Center. The honorees are Dean Brooks, Iowa manager for State Auto Insurance Co.; Paul Siedenburg, a retired vice president of Farm Bureau Insurance; Robert Skow, chief executive officer of the Independent Insurance Agents of Iowa; Robert Verhille, a retired life insurance agent in Cedar Rapids; and the late John Gunn, a founder of Employers Mutual Casualty Co.

* Dean Brooks, 57, graduated from Drake University and began his insurance career in 1972, working with his father in the J.E. Brooks Insurance Agency. Later he became a coowner of Brooks-Lussem Insurance Inc., then joined HawkeyeSecurity Insurance Co. and in 2004 moved to State Auto Insurance.

Brooks has taught insurance classes at Drake, Des Moines Area Community College, local insurance companies and in continuing education programs around the country. He also has been a speaker, moderator and panelist at industry meetings and conventions.

* Paul Siedenburg, 82, joined Farm Bureau Insurance as the agency manager in Jones County, Iowa, in 1949. He was promoted to division manager in 1951, to state sales director in 1961 and to regional sales manager in 1964. He served as the company's vice president of marketing for Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska from 1969 until his retirement in 1984.

Siedenburg also played an important role in developing a career agent school series, an estate planning school and an NASD licensing preparation school. He founded a management academy and agency management institute to develop and train agency managers.

* Robert Skow, 55, graduated from Drake University and worked as a claims adjuster for Employers Mutual Casualty Co. and then with IMT Insurance Co. In 1977, he purchased an independent insurance agency in Guthrie Center. He is now executive director of the Independent Insurance Agents of Iowa.

Skow served three terms in the Iowa Legislature.

* Robert Verhille, 73, is a University of Iowa graduate who worked as a general agent for Kansas City Life Insurance Co, from 1961 to 1993, and now is a general agent emeritus. His former agency is now part of TrueNorth in Cedar Rapids.

* John Gunn was the first president of Employers Mutual Casualty Co. He died in 1941 at the age of 80.

The Hall of Fame ceremony begins with a social hour at 5 p.m. on May 16, followed by dinner at 6 and the program at 6:45. Tickets are $30 per person, and reserved tables seating eight are available for $300. Reservations are due May 11.

Copyright Business Publications Incorporated Apr 23, 2007

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