Arkansas Insurance Hall of Fame Announces Second Class of Inductees

The Arkansas Insurance Hall of Fame announced Wednesday its 2016 class of eight inductees.

The second-ever class, including two posthumous inductees, will be honored at a banquet on Thursday, Oct. 27, at the Farris Center at the University of Central Arkansas. Dinner is at 6 p.m. with the ceremony immediately following.

The Arkansas Insurance Hall of Fame was created in 2015 to honor distinguished insurance industry professionals with strong ties to Arkansas who exemplify innovation, social responsibility, leadership and professional excellence; have made broad encompassing and lasting contributions to advance the role of insurance in society; and have affected the lives of many Arkansans.

The 2016 Arkansas Insurance Hall of Fame inductees are:

Harold Campbell, CPCU: Founder of Campbell & Company of Camden and creator of “Sales Track,” an agency sales management system that fostered a network of independent insurance agencies providing property, casualty, life and health insurance to more than 14,000 clients across Arkansas.
Larry Clark, CIC: Executive vice-president of Brown-Hiller-Clark & Associates of Fort Smith, past president of the Professional Insurance Agents of Arkansas and past Arkansas Professional Agent of the Year.
Bob E. Hall, Ph.D., CLU, ChFC, CPCU: Founder and president of Hall & Hall Inc., a retirement planning firm in Fayetteville and former professor of finance who taught in the finance and insurance degree program at the University of Arkansas for more than 25 years.
V. Waner Marks, CLU, ChFC (posthumous): Arkansas general agent for Northwestern National Life Insurance Company and 27-time qualifying member of Million Dollar Round Table.
Dr. George K. Mitchell: President and CEO at Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield from 1975 to 1993 and chairman of the board of directors of USAble Life Insurance Company.
Raymond H. Rebsamen (posthumous): Founder of Rebsamen Insurance, one of the 50 largest insurance agencies in the U.S., which was acquired by Regions Financial in 2001 and formed the core of what is now Regions Insurance.
Don Spharler, CPCU: President of IA Inc., an insurance and risk service company associated with First Arkansas Insurance-Pine Bluff and a past president of the Independent Insurance Agents of Arkansas (IIAA) where he once co-chaired the IIAA Workers Compensation Special Market Committee and worked for changes in the Arkansas Workers Compensation law and the Arkansas Workers Compensation Assigned Risk plan.
Karen Yezzi, CIC, AAI, CPCU, ARM: Former senior vice president of Ramsey Krug Farrell & Lensing, a subsidiary of BancorpSouth Insurance Services Inc., and recognized nationally as an expert on property and liability insurance issues, Yezzi influenced policy language being considered by the Insurance Services Office, the National Council on Compensation Insurance, and the Surety Association of America.