Eight new members to be inducted in Arkansas Insurance Hall of Fame

The Arkansas Insurance Hall of Fame announced the 2016 class of inductees. The eight inductees will be honored at the 2016 Induction Banquet on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016 at the Farris Center on the campus of the University of Central Arkansas.

Dinner is at 6 p.m. with the ceremony immediately following. The 2016 Arkansas Insurance Hall of Fame inductees are:

Harold Campbell, CPCU
Founder of Campbell & Company, Camden, Arkansas and creator of “Sales Track,” an agency sales management system that fostered a network of independent insurance agencies providing property, casualty, life and health insurance to over 14,000 clients across Arkansas.

Larry Clark, CIC
Executive vice-president of Brown-Hiller-Clark & Associates in Fort Smith, past president of the Professional Insurance Agents of Arkansas and past Arkansas Professional Agent of the Year.

Bob E. Hall, Ph.D., CLU, ChFC, CPCU
Founder and president of Hall & Hall, Inc., a retirement planning firm in Fayetteville and former professor of finance who taught in the Finance & Insurance degree program at the University of Arkansas for more than 25 years.

V. Waner Marks, CLU, ChFC (posthumous)
Arkansas General Agent for Northwestern National Life Insurance Company and 27-time qualifying member of Million Dollar Round Table.

Dr. George K. Mitchell
President and chief executive officer at Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield from 1975 to 1993 and chairman of the board of directors of USAble Life Insurance Company.

Raymond H. Rebsamen (posthumous)
Founder of Rebsamen Insurance, one of the 50 largest insurance agencies in the U.S., which was acquired by Regions Financial in 2001 and formed the core of what is now Regions Insurance.

Don Spharler, CPCU
President of IA, Inc., an insurance and risk service company associated with First Arkansas Insurance-Pine Bluff and a past president of the Independent Insurance Agents of Arkansas (IIAA) where he once co-chaired the IIAA Workers Compensation Special Market Committee and worked for changes in the Arkansas Workers Compensation law and the Arkansas Workers Compensation Assigned Risk plan.

Karen Yezzi, CIC, AAI, CPCU, ARM
Former senior vice president of Ramsey, Krug, Farrell & Lensing, a subsidiary of BancorpSouth Insurance Services, Inc., and recognized nationally as an expert on property and liability insurance issues. She significantly influenced policy language being considered by the Insurance Services Office, the National Council on Compensation Insurance, and the Surety Association of America

The Arkansas Insurance Hall of Fame was created in 2015 to identify and honor distinguished insurance industry professionals with strong ties to Arkansas who exemplify innovation, social responsibility, leadership and professional excellence; have made broad encompassing and lasting contributions to advance the role of insurance in society; and have significantly impacted the lives of many Arkansans.

UCA was chosen as the host and beneficiary of the Arkansas Insurance Hall of Fame as UCA is the only university in Arkansas with an undergraduate degree program in insurance and risk management.