Insurance Networking News Releases Results of 2011 Women in Insurance Leadership Awards

DALLAS, July 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- (http://www.myprgenie.com) -- Insurance Networking News (INN), a SourceMedia brand, today released the results of its Women in Insurance Leadership (WIL) program, honoring female insurance executives who have made a significant impact on their businesses.

Since its debut six years ago, INN's Women in Insurance Leadership program has profiled the extraordinary accomplishments of more than 40 professionals whose leadership and performance has redefined the insurance business and its application of technology.

The top six Honorees, along with four Notable Achievers, will be featured in a special report published with INN's September/October 2011 print issue. Winners will be formally recognized at the fourth annual Women in Insurance Leadership Forum on Sept. 18-19, 2011, in National Harbor, Md. The event will take place in conjunction with the IASA Executive Edge conference.

This year's six WIL Honorees are:

• Shohreh Abedi, Key Account Executive and CIO, Farmers Insurance Group (Nominated by Capgemini)
• Janice M. Abraham, President and CEO, United Educators Insurance, a Reciprocal Risk Retention Group (Nominated by CGI)
• Judith M. Davis, Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, BlueCross BlueShield of SC (Nominated by BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina)
• Tricia M. Mackenchnie, SVP and CIO Consumer Markets & Enterprise Operations Technology, The Hartford (Nominated by Sword Insurance)
• JoAnn Martin, President and CEO, Ameritas Holding Co. (Nominated by Ameritas Holding Co.)
• Kathy Owen, CIO and SVP of Global Services, Unum (Nominated by Unum)

Also receiving recognition are four Notable Achievers, who have successfully driven significant project and/or process improvements within their companies:

• Denise Blankinship, VP, Information & Data Support, Church Pension Group (Nominated by Oracle Insurance)
• Yvette Gonzales, CIO, VP of Information Services, Shelter Mutual Insurance Co. (Nominated by StoneRiver Inc.)
• Cyndy Smith, VP, Director of Technology, Haylor, Freyer & Coon (Nominated by Vertafore)
• Belen Tokarski, AVP Technology and Agency Solutions, CNA (Nominated by SeaPass Solutions Inc.)

"For the sixth consecutive year INN recognizes female leaders who positively affect their organizations' critical processes within the IT and/or business environments," said Carrie Burns, INN editor and WIL project manager. "These 10 women from across the carrier, broker and agent communities demonstrate the tenacity required for success and model the growing opportunities available to women in the insurance industry."

Nominations were vetted by INN editors and narrowed down to a "WIL Top 10." Judges then ranked each candidate based on contribution to the institution's top and bottom lines, job complexity, corporate governance and ethics, and leadership and management skills. The final scores determined the winners and Notable Achievers. INN would like to thank the judges -- five of the award program's 2010 Honorees:

• Sallie Graves, Head of Insurance and Distributed Services IT, ING U.S. Insurance
• Susan Gueli, Senior Vice President and CIO, Nationwide Financial
• Sandra Parrillo, President and CEO, Providence Mutual Fire Insurance Co.
• Pat Rayl, 2nd Vice President, Technology Services, Aflac
• Angelyn Scardino Treutel, President, AST Solutions Inc. (Previously Vice President/Treasurer, Treutel Insurance Agency)

For more information on the conference, visit http://www.insurancenetworking.com/conferences/wi/ or contact Publisher, Holli Gronset at (847) 428-0627.

About SourceMedia

SourceMedia, an Investcorp company, is a diversified business to business media company serving the financial industry and the related fields of professional services and technology. SourceMedia offers its clients and subscribers professional publications and online information services, industry-standard data applications, and in-depth seminars and conferences.

About Insurance Networking News

Insurance Networking News is a trusted source for information on how technology is being implemented to support insurers' strategic business objectives, providing insightful analysis of the technology innovations utilized to automate critical processes. Insurance Networking News is written to help senior insurance executives obtain mission-critical information on resolving industry challenges.

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Insurance Networking News
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