The Arkansas Insurance Hall of Fame has announced its inaugural class of eight inductees. The inductees will be honored at the inaugural ceremony at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2015, in the Farris Center on the campus of the University of Central Arkansas.
The inaugural Arkansas Insurance Hall of Fame (AIHF) inductees are listed below:
- Lenita Blasingame; Arkansas Department of Insurance (retired); El Paso, Arkansas
- Jay Bradford; First Arkansas Insurance (retired); Pine Bluff, Arkansas
- George Frazier; Anderson & Frazier Insurance Agency (posthumous); Hope, Arkansas
- Robert Carl “Bob” Hickman; Hickman Insurance Agency (posthumous); Little Rock, Arkansas
- Tad Krug; BancorpSouth Insurance Services; Little Rock, Arkansas
- Allan E. Meadors; Meadors, Adams & Lee Insurance; Little Rock, Arkansas
- Walter “Jiggs” Ramsey; The ASA Group; Little Rock, Arkansas
- Steve Strange Sr.; American Management Corporation; Conway, Arkansas
Arkansas insurance industry leaders, led by Steve Russell, president of Risk Services of Arkansas, established AIHF, which is housed in UCA’s College of Business.
The purpose of the AIHF is to identify and honor individuals with strong ties to the state of Arkansas who have made significant contributions to advance the role of insurance in society. Individuals will be chosen from all segments of the property/casualty insurance, life insurance, health insurance, risk management, and financial services industries, including agents, company employees, insurance regulators, and entrepreneurs who created companies and agencies.
Nominations were accepted in June and July after the announcment of the hall’s creation.
“The hall of fame committee, they selected folks basically on the criteria of who had a made a significant contribution to the insurance industry,” UCA professor John Bratton said. “We’ve got inductees from life and health, property/casualty and from the insurance regulation arena.”
Bratton said one of the inductees, Bob Hickman “sold more insurance than some companies” and was often called Mr. Insurance.
UCA, the only university in Arkansas with an undergraduate degree program in insurance and risk management, was chosen as the host and beneficiary of the AIHF.
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