ASCnet Names Industry Veteran Rick Morgan Interim CEO;
Parry-Becker Assumes Vice Chair Post
ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, FL (July 17, 2009)—Applied Systems Client Network (ASCnet) Chair Mike Montgomery today announced that veteran insurance professional Rick Morgan has been named interim chief executive officer, effective July 15.
“Rick’s years of industry leadership will be invaluable as we seek to better serve ASCnet members through education, networking and advocacy,” says Montgomery, associate development consultant for the Lockton Companies in Kansas City, Mo. “Rick is ideally suited to lead the organization and to help us participate more fully in initiatives that will help our member firms prosper.”
In addition to working as a personal lines underwriter and running his own independent insurance agency in Colorado, Morgan was co-founder, publisher and editor of The Automated Agency Report (TAAReport); co-founder of HIGH-TECC, an insurance industry educational event; and originator of “Transactional Filing,” which has helped thousands of agencies improve operational efficiency.
He was co-developer of the SilverPlume electronic reference library; senior vice president of ConfirmNet, a pioneer in the Web-based management of certificates of insurance; and senior vice president of marketing for Applied Systems, ASCnet’s technology partner.
“I have been privileged to work for more than 25 years in advancing the success of the independent agency system,” Morgan says. “I’m honored to be able to continue this work with an organization whose members understand the value of business and workflow efficiency.”
Most recently, Morgan has, through his own consulting firm and in association with insurance branding firm Aartrijk, helped agencies and other industry organizations improve their effectiveness and tap new technology to better engage customers and prospects. He is a director at-large for the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of New York and chairs the IIABA Agents Council for Technology Web 2.0 working group.
ASCnet board member Christine Forbes, who oversees the technology and training department for St. Louis-based The Daniel and Henry Co., says, “Rick is a leading force and figure in the insurance industry. He has the intellectual subtlety and skill to recognize good business opportunities, along with the drive to make them great business results. He is truly a talented and creative professional, whom I respect a great deal.”
Montgomery also announced that ASCnet board member Lisa Parry-Becker, vice president at William B. Parry Agency, Ltd., in Langhorne, Pa., has been named ASCnet vice-chair, replacing John Lincoln, executive director of COBRA London Markets Ltd., London, England, who announced last month he would resign the post.
A fifth-generation agency principal, Parry-Becker has been active in the user group for more than 10 years, serving as 2006-2007 chair of the ASCnet Interface Committee and, beginning in 2008, on the ASCnet board of directors. She also co-chairs the industry-wide Real Time/Download Campaign.
“Lisa has been a champion of ASCnet and of technologies and processes that are foundational to our members’ ongoing success,” Montgomery notes. “She has brought keen insight and years of family agency experience to the challenges we face, and has worked tirelessly to drive positive change throughout our user group, her agents association and the entire independent agency system.”
About ASCnet: Founded in 1985 and based in Altamonte Springs, Fla., the Applied Systems Client Network, Inc. (ASCnet), is an international association representing more than 80,000 insurance professionals in 11 countries and territories. The only authorized user group for Applied Systems software, ASCnet promotes successful technology and business practices through communication, education and advocacy. For more information: www.ascnet.org.
