WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Council Foundation announced today that it is awarding $350,000 in academic scholarships to 70 university students interested in pursuing careers in insurance brokerage. Each intern selected will receive $5,000 toward their university education. Since 2017, The Council Foundation Scholarship Program has awarded more than $5.1 million to over 920 interns.
“There’s so much opportunity in our industry and we just need more students to discover it,” said Joel Wood, President/CEO of The Council. “This year’s recipients have proven themselves to be top performers at some of the most successful firms in the world, and they should be incredibly proud of what they’ve accomplished. We’re grateful to our member firms who continue to invest in developing this next generation of insurance professionals, and hopeful this is just the beginning of long, rewarding careers in brokerage.”
“Our internship resources are designed to complement and enhance our members’ existing internship programs,” said Elizabeth McDaid, Council Foundation EVP.” This year, we reimagined our six-week, self-paced Intro to Insurance course and made it a part of the scholarship program, giving students a stronger foundation in our industry, the many career paths it offers, and the role it plays in the economy. But at the heart of it all is our scholarship program, which allows our members to build on their relationships with top performers like this year’s recipients, and hopefully keep that talent within our community.”
Talent is the lifeline of the industry, and The Council Foundation is committed to strengthening its future by attracting, developing, and retaining the next generation of insurance brokerage professionals. The scholarship program is a partnership between the Foundation and leaders of internship programs at Council member firms. Member firms conduct their own review process and identify their most exceptional interns to be awarded the scholarship, with the goal of eventually bringing these students on full-time and/or retaining them in the commercial insurance brokerage sector.
Seven of this year’s recipients have also been honored by named scholarships (*) administered by The Council Foundation – Hannah Bush, Assurex Robert P. Ashlock scholar, Keagan Christy, Assurex Game Changer scholar, John David Byers, IMA Financial Group scholar, Spencer Martin, Franklin Wheeler scholar, Cole Thomas, Dave Oberkircher scholar, Claire Venisnik, Tom Motamed scholar, and Chris McDonald, USI Insurance scholar.
Scholarship Recipient |
University |
| Mahid Abdulkarim | Washington University in St. Louis |
| Devyashritha S Adabala | University of Kansas |
| Eleanor Adams | Butler University |
| Braden Altland | Pennsylvania State University |
| Kaylee Arnold | Auburn University |
| Jacob Banducci | California State University Monterey Bay |
| Aryaman Bansal | Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Allie Barber | Ferris State University |
| Brandon Beaver | University of Iowa |
| Reid Bissell | Georgia College & State University |
| Stewart Bonini | University of Florida |
| Gloria Bou Onk | St. Mary’s University |
| Charli Brady | The University of Iowa |
| Kendall Brugler | Bowling Green State University |
| Hannah Bush* | University of Kentucky |
| John David Byers* | University of Tennessee Knoxville |
| Keagan Christy* | University of Wisconsin |
| Gavin Clarke | Southern Utah University |
| Matthew J Cook | University of Massachusetts Amherst |
| Aniruddha Das | University of South Florida |
| Sarah Douglas | Western University |
| Tate Durst | Brigham Young University |
| Cameron Enos | Florida State University |
| Moises Falquez | Pacific Lutheran University |
| Matthew Giuliani | University of Tampa |
| Colton Gray | Baylor University |
| Troy Heroldt | St. Bonaventure University |
| Sydney Johnson | California State University Chico |
| Emily Kim | University of California Los Angeles |
| Ryan Lackey | University of Arkansas |
| Peter Landsgaard | The University of Mississippi |
| Emily Lemire | University of New Hampshire |
| Kevin Lin | University of Massachusetts Amherst |
| Angelica Lozano Estrada | Occidental College |
| Jake Lumpkin | Saint Joseph’s University |
| Hailey Martin | California State University Chico |
| Spencer Martin* | Florida State University |
| Arturo Martinez Polanco | St. Mary’s University |
| Matt Martucci | Westminster College |
| Paola Mattar | St. Mary’s University |
| Luke McCool | The University of Mississippi |
| Adam McCoy | Eastern Kentucky University |
| Chris McDonald* | University of Georgia |
| Kieran Miles | Rhodes College |
| Kayla Mohammadi | University of Texas Austin |
| Stephanie Moorhatch | Taylor University |
| Mallory Morgan | Texas A&M University |
| Mary Murphy | Georgetown University |
| Ananya Nandiraju | University of Alberta |
| Mina Nguyen | University of California Irvine |
| Nathan Obbink | University of Iowa |
| Marissa Orellana | University of Missouri |
| Sophie Parks | University of Colorado Boulder |
| Charlie Reber | Centre College |
| Nickolas Rivera | San Diego State University |
| Ani Roberts | University of Southern Maine |
| Ella Ruckman | Converse University |
| Julia Rutenberg | Wilfrid Laurier University |
| Marek Schram | Missouri University of Science and Technology |
| Elijah A. M. Shouse | Indiana State University |
| Guglielmo Sola | Swarthmore College |
| Luke Strickland | University of Georgia |
| Aaron Swanson | The University of Mississippi |
| Cole Thomas* | Temple University |
| Bailey Tien | Bowdoin College |
| Nora Uber | Indiana University Bloomington |
| Elise Van Avery Rykhus | The University of Wisconsin Madison |
| Claire Venisnik* | Butler University |
| Reese Wilson | Bethune-Cookman University |
| Ava Yelensky | Florida State University |
