The Council Foundation announced its 2016 scholarship recipients, celebrating college students who interned at member firms and showed promise as future commercial insurance professionals. The 2016 program year was an important milestone in the Foundation's growing effort to address the industry's talent gap by creating structured internship and scholarship opportunities. Recipients represented a diverse range of academic institutions and geographic markets.
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THE COUNCIL FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES 2016 SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS
Foundation Awards $250,000 in Scholarship Money
WASHINGTON, D.C. – September 15, 2016 – The Council Foundation, a 501c(3) organization administered by The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers, today announced the names of 50 college students who will receive $5,000 academic scholarships.
Formerly known as the Foundation for Agency Management Excellence (FAME), The Council Foundation aims to secure the future of the commercial insurance brokerage business by attracting and developing tomorrow’s talent and supporting forward-thinking research.
This summer, the Foundation piloted its new scholarship structure which reverse-engineered the program to source Council member firms’ internship programs for nominees versus relying solely on Risk Management & Insurance programs. Of 385 eligible interns from across the country, 50 were selected to receive awards, as determined by an independent committee. Interns had to be formally nominated by the respective brokerages at which they worked, submit an application, essay, 3:00 minute video and their college transcripts to be considered for a scholarship.
“This pilot class of scholarship recipients represents an exciting and important shift in the focus of the Foundation’s resources,” said Ken A. Crerar, President/CEO of The Council. “The decision to restructure the scholarship program was well thought out by the Foundation Board with the goal of ensuring a greater impact on the commercial insurance brokerage sector. Research showed that our previous efforts weren’t yielding enough talent direct to the brokerage sector. I think we identified a solid solution.”
Firms that participated in this year’s pilot program included Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., Assurance Agency Ltd., BancorpSouth Insurance Services, Inc., Brown & Brown, Inc., Heffernan Group, Lipscomb & Pitts Insurance, LLC, Lockton, Inc., M3 Insurance, RCM&D Inc., and Woodruff-Sawyer & Co.
With the success of the pilot program, the Foundation will expand its scholarships to the full Council membership in 2017.
To be eligible for a Foundation scholarship, students must be enrolled full-time in a bachelor’s degree program at an accredited institution, entering their junior or senior year and have completed an internship at a member firm of The Council.
Since 2006, The Council Foundation has awarded $1.45 million to 307 students across the country.
Contributions to The Council Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. For more information, contact Cheryl Matochik, senior vice president of Strategic Resources & Initiatives at [email protected].
