ALEXANDRIA, Virginia, Feb. 21, 2018— The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA or the Big “I") announced that Aimee Fawns and Christine Munoz have been promoted to assistant vice presidents of Big I Advantage.
Fawns leads Big “I" Markets, the association's exclusive, member-only market access portal. Fawns has been a member of the products team from the inception of Big “I" Markets when she helped with the approval of the first sub-producing members in 2002. She now oversees the platform's products and operations, including affluent, habitational, small commercial and other offerings designed to give members access to markets they need. Big “I" Markets is a conduit for insurers to reach Big “I" member agencies with niche and specialty products. The small business cyber solution is one example of the program's product innovation as it enables agents anywhere to offer $100,000 of cyber liability coverage with nearly certain acceptability by the carrier.
“Aimee has served in many roles on Big 'I' Markets team, starting with vetting member credentials, underwriting products and now leading the insurance company relationships," says Paul A. Buse, president of Big I Advantage, Inc. “I'm excited to see where Aimee leads Big 'I' Markets as it's an important technology tool which joins together our association's membership database and other systems."
Christine Munoz directs the Big “I" Retirement and Employee Benefits areas and will now serve as AVP as well. “Christine is the cornerstone of our Big 'I' MEP 401k program and she assists Big 'I' state associations and members with the association's endorsed group disability, life and other benefit programs," says Buse. “It's great to recognize Christine's leadership of our employee benefits and retirement programs with this promotion. Our members are fortunate to have assistance in structuring group plans for their employees and designing retirement plans."
Munoz, as one of two Investment Advisor Representatives in Big I Advisory Resources, LLC, works with member agencies to install these employee retention tools. In addition to being an Investment Advisor Representative, Munoz is a long-standing life/health/accident licensee and recently completed her Certified Employee Benefit Specialist (CEBS) designation.Munoz and Fawns are part of the Big I Advantage leader group that includes Mark Wolf in professional and excess liability, Annette Mertz in accounting, Arumugam Pillai in technology and systems design, Jacob Quintana in compliance and esignatures and Virginia Pierson in marketing, Big “I" state relations and flood.
“When your systems are all tied to a national database that's updated regularly by 51 state association partners, you have your own proprietary Internet portal and a collegial leadership team seeking the common goal of serving independent agents, you can have a lot of fun," says Buse. “Our secret is knowing that better agents are more profitable agents—and better agents make a better and more secure society."
Big I Advantage® is a for-profit subsidiary of IIABA and wholly owned holding company that operates a nationally licensed insurance agency administering the Big “I" Professional Liability program, Big “I" Markets and a number of other well-known member benefits including personal umbrella and flood programs, and providing oversight of $121 million in retirement assets. Big I Advantage seeks to unite the 51 IIABA state associations in pursuing IIABA's mission of creating a sustainable competitive advantage for members by deploying member agency buying and distribution power to develop innovative, member-exclusive and profitable products while supporting the advocacy efforts of IIABA.
The Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America (IIABA or the Big “I") was founded in 1896 and is the nation's oldest and largest national association of independent insurance agents and brokers, representing a network of approximately a quarter of a million agents, brokers and their employees nationally. Its members are businesses that offer customers a choice of policies from a variety of insurance companies. Independent agents and brokers offer all lines of insurance—property, casualty, life and health—as well as employee benefit plans and retirement products.