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Happy Anniversary, Insurance Skills Center!
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Insurance Skills Center Celebrates 30th Anniversary Huntington Beach – Insurance Skills Center, one of the premiere insurance education organizations in the country, celebrates its 30th year of serving the insurance industry. IBA West is proud to congratulate Patty Gibson Carlson and Laurie Zangwill-Infantino on their 30th anniversary. Headquartered in Southern California, with offices in Huntington Beach, Woodland Hills and Oakland, ISC is the major provider of "in-house" and specialty insurance education throughout the West. Founded in 1978 by Laurie Zangwill-Infantino, CIC, ACSR, CISR, and Patty Gibson Carlson, CIC, ACSR, CISR, ISC provides excellent, practical education classes for insurance professionals. “We have based our business on the idea that insurance education does not have to be boring, and that’s been a successful model for us,” said founder Patty Gibson Carlson. Their classes have a reputation for being entertaining as well as informative. Carlson and Zangwill-Infantino take insurance very seriously. “We believe that both agency owners and employees must make a commitment to excellence in professional education,” explained Zangwill-Infantino, “and we have raised that bar with quality, customized and timely classes.” Zangwill-Infantino and Carlson created the business as a way to return to work after the birth of their children. It all started when Zangwill-Infantino was asked by her former employer to train two new employees and integrate them into the organization. She and Carlson took turns conducting classes in their homes, while the babies took afternoon naps. The business really took off in 1985 when the claims-made liability policy was introduced. A major innovation in liability insurance, the claims-made policy put agents in the position of explaining this complicated coverage to business insurance customers. The Professional Insurance Agents of California and the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of California, forerunner of the IBA West, agreed to collaborate on a massive education program and hired Insurance Skills Center to conduct the seminars. “With all the changes and iterations in the claims-made policy, we created at least four different courses training almost 8,000 agents in a two year period,” explained Carlson. Last year, more than 5,000 insurance professionals participated in Insurance Skills Center seminars in California, Oregon, Washington and Nevada. Over the years, ISC’s expertise and client base has grown. Zangwill-Infantino and Carlson have worked together in the past 25 years in the design and marketing of specialty insurance programs throughout the country. Insurance Skills Center provides auditing services to agencies reviewing coverage integrity and file management. They have developed products such as the Dial-A-Coverage Wheels and Handbooks, a nationally distributed insurance coverage training tool and a series of audio tapes on Business Income Insurance. ISC offers the nation’s largest insurance conference for farm and agribusiness risks, as well as administers the only designation in the U.S., the Agribusiness and Farm Insurance Specialist (AFIS). ISC also provides specialized education for the Young Brokers and Agents and Blue Ribbon conferences. Both women are on the national faculty of the Society of Certified Insurance Counselors (CIC). ISC is also on the National Curriculum Committee for the ACSR Designation Program for producers and CSRs. In addition, both Zangwill-Infantino and Carlson are guest columnists to Insurance Journal, authoring articles for The Coverage Corner. Insurance Skills Center became a wholly owned subsidiary of IBA West since in 1998. |