Meet Your Education StaffBack To Education Home
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Tom Ashley, AAI, AIAM, AIP, Instructor
In 1987, Tom obtained his property-casualty and life & health life insurance licenses and worked as an agent in Vero Beach, Florida. In 1994, he moved to Tallahassee and joined the staff of the Florida Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (FAIFA), serving as VP of Communications and Professional Development and later as senior vice president. Tom served as FAIFA's primary CE instructor where he developed, wrote, and oversaw Department of Financial Services (DFS) approval of FAIFA's CE classes offered to members throughout the state. As FAIA insurance instructor, Tom's life and health insurance background adds another dimension to FAIA's Education Department as he assists FAIA members with life and health issues and provides top-notch life and health insurance education. In addition, Tom oversees coursework for the AIAM (Associate in Insurance Account Management) designation and provides assistance with the AIP (Associate in Insurance Production) sales training courses. Prior to his insurance and association experience, Tom served as public relations director of Vista Properties, a developer of condominium and golf communities in south Florida. He is a 1978 graduate of the University of Florida where he majored in Public Relations. He is married to wife Laurie, a licensed building contractor who owns Design Point Homes in Tallahassee. They have three daughters: Katie (a student at American University's Washington College of Law), Meredith (FSU), and Elizabeth (Lawton Chiles High School). |
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Melissa Champany, CCSR, Membership Director/YAC
Melissa is a 1988 graduate of Florida State University with a BFA in Dance and a minor in American Literature. Her many career paths include dance, management, horticulture, teacher, and mother. She fell in love with insurance in 2000 while working as a licensed agent with an FAIA member agency. It is during this time she experienced FAIA and the rest is history. She is FAIA's Young Agents Coordinator and she runs the Young Agents Council (YAC). If you haven't met her yet, don't worry, she will find you and educate you on anything YAC!
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Teri Clow, CCSR, Administrative Supervisor
Teri joined FAIA in January of 2002 as the publications assistant. In April of 2003, she was promoted to education coordinator, where she assumed the duties of meeting planner for the Education Department. She is now the education administrative supervisor and meeting planner for over 300 of our continuing education classes. Previously, Teri earned her Bachelor of Science degree with major in Microbiology from Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN. She then retired after twenty years as a Commander in the U.S. Navy. Teri and her husband, Mike, reside in Tallahassee, Florida. Her two children, Jonathan and Sarah, are actively involved in competitive swimming throughout Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. |
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Ashlee Jessup, CCSR, Registrar, Staff Assistant
Ashlee joined FAIA's Education Department as a staff assistant in December of 2005. She offers a wealth of knowledge in the area of continuing education and licensing due to her previous experience as an education specialist with Florida's DFS. Ashlee looks forward to continuing to apply this knowledge toward a long and varied career with FAIA. Ashlee and her husband, John, reside in Crawfordville, Florida. The have two dogs, Roxy and Luke. They have a beautiful daughter McKinlee and might even expand their family in the future. |
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Dawn Korzen, LUTCF, AIP, Instructor
After 15 years of teaching piano and voice lessons, Dawn began her insurance career in 1986 as an Executive Secretary to five senior vice presidents of a large Salt Lake City life insurance company. In this position, she learned about every department of the company, which gave her an appreciation of the company perspective. This company knew their agency force was the reason they were in business, which peaked her interest in agents. After being transferred to Lincoln, Nebraska in 1994, Dawn decided to jump to the agency side of things becoming an agent with Mutual of Omaha. Seeing the need to become a trusted advisor, even before that terminology was made popular, she obtained her life/health/annuity licenses and her P&C and securities as well! Ultimately, she would own an Allstate agency and work in a large independent agency doing some commercial lines work. In 2003, she joined Nebraska's Big "I" as their marketing representative: recruiting, meeting, golfing with, planning conventions for, and teaching (through the Elite AIP program as well as life/health classes) many of Nebraska's finest agents. Now, she has taken all of that terrific insurance experience to another level as an instructor at FAIA. She is a mother to four and Gramma to seven (so far) and enjoys golfing, music, golfing, travel, and, well...golfing. |
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Robin Mattheiss, ACSR, AIAM, CPIW, Information Resource Specialist
Robin started in the insurance industry in 1991 in Pensacola, Florida after several years as a licensed cosmetologist. Beginning as an agency assistant, Robin later became a customer service representative, obtaining her 4-40 license & ACSR designation in Personal Lines in 1993. In 1996, she joined FAIA as information specialist. She was a member of Insurance Professionals of Tallahassee and has held the offices of secretary, treasurer, editor, president-elect, and president as well as chairing several committees. Robin won the Rookie of the Year award with Insurance Women in 1998. In 1999, she received the ACSR designation in Commercial Lines. Robin has been an asset to FAIA members, answering and researching dozens of questions daily about insurance coverage, licensing, products, markets, and many other topics. |
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Dave Newell, Industry Relation Manager
Dave graduated from the University of North Florida in 1984 and began his insurance career in 1987 as a claim representative with a large property and casualty insurance carrier. In 1990, Dave moved to Tallahassee to continue his career as a field claim representative. In 1997, Dave obtained his property & casualty license and became a producer with a large local independent insurance agency and FAIA member. As of July 2008, Dave joined FAIA in his current capacity as the association's Citizens' Liaison and an instructor for the Education Department
During Dave's career, he has gained considerable knowledge and expertise in both the carrier and agency side of the insurance business. Dave was active in the claims association and, after becoming an agent, served as a board member, past president, and catastrophe chair for the Independent Insurance Agents of Tallahassee. In 2001, he held the position of insurance chair for the United Way Campaign.
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Jeff Odom, Insurance Analyst
Jeff graduated from Florida State University in 1988. He began his insurance career by working as both a general lines and life and health insurance agent with an independent insurance agency.
He then moved to the education side of insurance by taking a position with the DFS (formerly Department of Insurance), working in the continuing education section. Jeff spent the last four years as the administrator of continuing education before joining FAIA.
Jeff's duties as an insurance analyst are writing, teaching, and updating and revising FAIA's Florida Insurance Research Library. He is married with two children. He spends his free time involved with the local Little League and attending every one of his daughter's ballet recitals. |
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William H. Perkins AAI, Instructor
William H. Perkins, Instructor, graduated from Loyola University of the South and later joined a family-owned insurance agency in Orlando, Florida. After 12 years as a commercial insurance sales agent, Bill was hired by FAIA in 1993 as a commercial lines instructor. In addition to teaching the principal commercial insurance disciplines of business auto, commercial general liability, property, and workers' compensation, Bill also specializes in longshore and maritime employment coverage issues. In addition to teaching these subjects, he also is responsible for FAIA's annual Legislative Roundup sessions. He is recognized as a certified trainer by the Institute for Global Ethics and is the primary instructor for FAIA's ethics courses.
Bill's additional responsibilities include membership on the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) Florida Appeals Board and serving as staff liaison for FAIA's Workforce Development Task Force. Bill formerly served on the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers Association's (IIABA) Technical Affairs Committee.
Bill has earned the Accredited Advisor in Insurance (AAI), the Associate in Risk Management (ARM), and Construction Risk and Insurance Specialist (CRIS) designations. A frequent speaker at International Risk Management Institute's Construction Risk Conference, Perkins received IRMI's Words of Wisdom (WOW) award in 2001. |
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David A. Thompson, CPCU, AAI, API, Instructor
David graduated from Mercer University in Macon, Georgia and then served seven years as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army and U.S. Coast Guard. David began his insurance career in an independent agency in Vero Beach, Florida, where he was a licensed agent selling all types of insurance for over 10 years. He taught insurance pre-licensing and continuing education classes at a local community college before joining FAIA in 1996. David is a well-rounded instructor with a specialty in personal lines. His classes are upbeat and hands-on, so you can apply the information in real life situations with customers. Being a marathon runner and bar-b-que connoisseur, he always finds a way to work those topics into his seminars! |
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