Mid-Michigan CPCU Newsletter 1

President’s Forum By Suzanne Chan, CPCU Happy Holidays! Our chapter members showed the giving spirit of the holidays with donations to Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy, our Good Works project. It was great to hear at our December meeting about how FSMA is working toward a cure. I was once again very impressed to listen to 13-year-old Mallory Armbrustmacher talk about her courageous battle with this condition. Please see the article inside for more details on our dona-tion. I would like to thank Mark Cotter, Good Works committee chair, and Ken Armbrustmacher for their dedication to FSMA and for involving our Chapter. The membership attendance at our meetings this year has been excellent! We had 80 members at our December meeting. Congratulations to those who won holiday prizes. Special thanks to Debbie Harris, Membership chair, who handles the drawings and prizes at our meet-ings throughout the year. We have a great speaker lined up for our next meeting on January 13. Jack Ebling is the host of “Ebling and You” on WILS-AM and has been involved in talk radio, televi-sion and freelance writing. He has received numerous awards for sports coverage and tackles an array of topics with political, business and entertainment newsmakers. I will be unable to attend our January meeting because I am traveling to Hong Kong on vacation. Jen Humphries, our vice president, will do a great job leading the meeting. Enjoy your time off from work for the holidays. It is a per-fect time to tell your family and friends how much they mean to you. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Chapter Board 2008-2009 ● President: Suzanne Chan,

Auto-Owners Insurance Company chan.suzanne@aoins.com

● Vice President: Jennifer Humphries, Auto-Owners

Insurance Company humphries.jennifer@aoins.com

● Treasurer: Heather Fishel, Auto-Owners Insurance

Company fishel.heather@aoins.com

● Secretary: Sam Gustafson, Auto-Owners

Insurance Company gustafson.sam@aoins.com

Directors: ● John Davis, Michigan Millers

Mutual Insurance ● Rodney Thuma, Farm Bureau

Insurance of Michigan ● Jason Pelletier, Auto-Owners

Insurance Company

Mid-Michigan CPCU Newsletter

January 2009

Mid-Michigan CPCU Newsletter 2

Chapter Events Schedule for 2008-2009 Mark your calendars now for these dates!

Meeting location is the Sheraton Hotel

unless otherwise noted* Tuesday, Jan. 13 11:30 am - 1:00 pm Speaker/Topic: Jack Ebling, WILS-AM radio personality Greater Lansing topics; MSU sports issues Wednesday, Feb. 11* 5:30 p.m. Speaker/Topic: TBA * - Joint Meeting with CMUA and Insurance Women of Lansing Wednesday, Mar. 11 11:30 am - 1:00 pm Speaker/Topic: Doug Finn, President, Michigan Professional Insurance Agents Association Thursday, April 16 11:30 am - 1:00 pm Speaker/Topic: Olivet College Students Ethics Awareness Thursday, May 14 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Speaker/Topic: Ken Selzer, Aon Reinsurance Annual Business Meeting June TBA 11:00 am - 7:00 p.m. Event: Joint Golf Outing with CMUA Place: Brookshire Inn and Golf, Williamston

Mid-Michigan CPCU Chapter Newsletter Published monthly, September - June

Andy Flanagan, CPCU, Editor

Auto-Owners Insurance Company 6101 Anacapri Blvd.

Lansing, MI 48917-3968

517.886.1980 (direct) Fax: 517.391.1915

Email: flanagan.andy@aoins.com

The article deadline for the February newsletter is

January 27.

If you know of promotions or other noteworthy

accomplishments involving CPCUs, please send them to

the editor anytime.

Need to update your info?

Visit the chapter Web site, www.midmichigan.cpcusociety.org

To update, follow this path:

https://webster.cpcusociety.org/Source/Security/Member-Logon.cfm

After you log in, the links to up-date your personal/professional

profile are on the left.

Two Chapter Members Promoted Two members of the Mid-Michigan CPCU Chapter have re-cently been promoted. Jon Jorgensen has been promoted to director, commercial lines underwriting, Auto-Owners Insurance Company. Jon had been serving as a marketing representative. Dan Huddle has been promoted to assistant vice president, claims, also at Auto-Owners. Dan had been serving as a di-rector of claims.

Mid-Michigan CPCU Newsletter 3

CPCU Good Works Project Supports FSMA The Mid-Michigan Chapter of the CPCU Society chose to support the Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy (FSMA) during its annual Good Works Project. The chapter re-sponded in a big way. Kenneth Hobby, executive director of FSMA, and Jill Jarecki, coordinator of FSMA Scientific Advisory Board, addressed the Chapter via conference call at our Decem-ber meeting. They informed everyone that nearly 95 per-cent of the funds raised by FSMA pay for research and help support families af-fected by Spinal Muscular Atrophy. They shared en-couraging news about the progress researchers have made toward finding a cure for this neuromuscular dis-ease. Mallory Armbrustmacher, the 13-year-old daughter of Ken Armbrustmacher, also ad-dressed the group. Mallory was diagnosed with SMA when she was only 2 years old. Mallory once again inspired those in attendance by sharing her experience of living with this disease, and gave an update on the challenges she overcame this past year. Thanks to the support of the Mid-Michigan Chapter and the generous support of its members, the Chapter raised over $3,000 for FSMA. This brings the three-year total

contribution to $10,000. The Mid-Michigan Chapter will be recognized in the National FSMA newsletter for its gener-ous support. If you were not able to attend the meeting and still want to help out, it is not too late. FSMA is a 501(C) 3 nonprofit or-ganization, meaning most contributions are tax-deductible. Contributions can be sent to Ken Armbrustmacher at Auto-Owners Insurance Company. The Armbrustmacher family would like to thank the Chap-ter members for all of their help, support and prayers.

Mallory Armbrustmacher addresses Chapter members at our De-cember meeting while her father, Ken, looks on.

Mid-Michigan CPCU Newsletter 4

Mid-Michigan CPCU Newsletter 5

The Mid-Michigan Chapter January Luncheon Meeting

Date: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 Where: Sheraton Lansing Hotel — Ballroom C Time: 11:30 a.m. Speakers: Jack Ebling, radio personality, WILS-AM Topic: Topics of interest affecting the Greater Lansing area; MSU sports Once again this year, each meeting you attend will count toward qualifying you for our Grand Prize drawing at the end of the year. You must attend at least 5 monthly meetings to qualify. This month’s lunch will feature a choice of either Tossed Cobb Salad, Grilled Chicken Sandwich or a Vegetarian option, served with Soup Du Jour with Lemon Bars for dessert. A choice of beverages (lemonade, coffee or iced tea) will be available. The cost is $18.00. E-mail, Fax, Call, or Snail Mail in your reservations no later than Tuesday, January 6, 2009 Mail: Jennifer Humphries Fax: 517.323.8796 Commercial Lines Web Development Auto-Owners Insurance Voice: 517.703.2495 P.O. Box 30660 Email: humphries.jennifer@aoins.com Lansing, MI 48909 If you must cancel: All cancellations must be received by Jennifer Humphries at Auto-Owners Insurance by Tuesday, January 6, at 4:30 p.m. to avoid being billed for the reservation. Company/Firm: _____________________________________________________

NAME(S) MEAL SELECTION

Cobb Salad / Grilled Chick. Sandwich / Vegetarian Cobb Salad / Grilled Chick. Sandwich / Vegetarian Cobb Salad / Grilled Chick. Sandwich / Vegetarian Cobb Salad / Grilled Chick. Sandwich / Vegetarian Cobb Salad / Grilled Chick. Sandwich / Vegetarian

Mid-Michigan CPCU Newsletter 8 6

Pictures from the December Meeting

Al Windquist

The Mid-Michigan Chapter celebrated the holidays with its annual gift raffle. Over 40 gifts were available to members whose names were called. Here are some of the lucky—and happy—winners.

Paul Oppenlander

Bob Jenks

Dan Briggs

Brian McMahan

Sherry McKenzie

Mid-Michigan CPCU Newsletter 7

If you have items for upcoming months, please let us know so they can be placed on future calendars

Sun Mon Tue Wed T h u F r i S a t

1 New Year’s Day

2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 Chapter Meeting

14 15 16 17

18 19 MLK Jr. Day

20 Inauguration Day

21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30 31

J a n u a r y 2 0 0 9

Sun Mon Tue Wed T h u F r i S a t

1 S u p e r B o w l

2 Groundhog Day

3 4 5

6 7

8 9 10 11 Joint Chapter Meeting

12 13 14 Valentine’s Day

15 16 President’s Day

17 18

19 20 21

22 23 24 25 Ash Wednesday

26 27 28

F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 9