Angela Gentry-McNeil, Ensure Agency, is the recipient of the Region VI Client Services Professional of the Year award that was presented at the International Association of Insurance Professionals’ Region VI conference held April 15-17 at Harrah’s New Orleans Hotel and Casino.
Gentry-McNeil, a member of the Insurance Professionals of Northeast Louisiana, started in the insurance business in 1992 in Arizona shortly after graduating from high school. She worked her way up from a file clerk to handling first personal lines and then commercial lines.
A native of Louisiana, in 2014 Gentry-McNeil returned to Benton, where she worked from home until a recruiter contacted her about a job with The Kirksey Agency in West Monroe. She made the transition and was a commercial lines account executive with The Kirksey Agency before joining Ensure Agency late last year as a commercial lines account executive.
While Gentry-McNeil was a member of IAIP in Arizona, she took the CWC course and competed in the public speaking competition on the state level. She was her local association’s Rookie of the Year and won several scholarships for various classes, including those leading to the CPIW, AFIS, ACSR and CRM designations.
After moving to Louisiana, Gentry-McNeil was named the Region VI Risk Management Professional of the Year for 2019. She currently serves on the board of directors of the Insurance Professionals of Northeast Louisiana, and is also the association’s treasurer.
She serves on the advisory board of Today’s Insurance Professionals, the digital magazine of the International Association of Insurance Professionals that is published quarterly.
Gentry-McNeil holds the AFIS (Agricultural and Farm Insurance Specialist), ACSR (Accredited Customer Service Representative), CPIW (Certified Professional Insurance Woman) and AINS (Associate in General Insurance) designations and a Louisiana producer’s license for property and casualty lines, which she has held for six years. She is currently working on the ARM (Associate in Risk Management) designation.
She won last year’s Region VI Speak-Off contest. The topic was What IAIP Means to Me. In her three-minute speech Gentry-McNeil said that she is “celebrating 20 years as an IAIP member, though faithful for 13, having served as a part of my local associations, both in Arizona and Louisiana, as a committee member, committee chair and/or as a board member. From the very first day as a member, I have received extraordinary encouragement and support for my position for which I’ve applied, or even held.”
She said that IAIP is her association of choice because the association has provided her with networking and career opportunities that she otherwise would not have had. The association “promotes education and even offers scholarships for many different insurance courses. Awards are also given to showcase our commitment to this industry and our dedication to this association.
“We celebrate our successes and empower others that they too can achieve their goals. Without this organization, I don’t think I’d be where I am today. Insurance was no longer just a job, it became my career.”
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