PIA Washington-Alaska Agent & Company Person of the Year & a Lifetime Achievement Award

Early last week the PIA Washington-Alaska awarded its annual agent and company person of the year awards. The association also honored Denise Baker and gave her an award for lifetime achievement.

The Agent of the Year Award is the PIA’s way of saying thank you and recognizing that special individual whose accomplishments exemplify the best qualities an independent insurance agent can possess: integrity, dedication and commitment to the members and goals of the PIA. As an organization, we offer no greater recognition than the PIA Agent of the Year. 

This year’s recipient is Vicki Banker of Lower Valley Brokers.

The person nominating Banker said, “She has dedicated over 44 years to this business and she is the epitome of what Insurance agents and company people should strive to be. She is friendly, knowledgeable, and people oriented; customers rely on her and go to her for advice and suggestions.”

We all love it when our kids follow in our footsteps and when they think we’re pretty great at what we do. Banker’s daughter, Shyla is following in her mom’s footsteps and says she’s her “go to” person when she’s struggling with that something we call insurance.

Shyla said, “She knows insurance inside and out. When we were growing up we always joked about mom spotting accident prone things.”

That information — Shyla said — is always passed on to the clients; clients who rely upon her for solid insurance advice.

The PIA Washington-Alaska congratulates Vicki Banker.

Each year PIA members benefit from the contributions of time, money and expertise that come from our insurance company partners. In recognition of those contributions, the PIA honors one individual whose active involvement with PIA helps drive their company to support our efforts with our members.

This year’s recipient is Utica’s Lisa Tucker.

Lisa’s biggest fan is PIA Western Alliance Executive Vice President Clark Sitzes.

“If Lisa is worth her weight in Gold she would weigh 10 tons,” he said. “Lisa worked for the PIA well over 12 years and served the Association with great care and skill. She built a strong errors and omissions book and helped grow our market access program. Lisa is the only employee I’ve ever had that made me cry when she told me she was leaving. I miss having her around to this day.”

The PIA’s loss was Utica’s gain.

Lisa has few equals when it comes to the knowledge of, and understanding of, insurance. She has product knowledge best described as incredible and has a knack for finding the right solution for her clients. If she doesn’t know the answer, then, undaunted, she plows straight ahead to find the answers.

And she always finds just the right answer.

Kim Cottrell took over for Lisa when she left the PIA to go to work at Utica. She calls Lisa the knower of all things.

“When I took over her position at PIA, I will not lie when I say I was scared out of my mind to try and fill her shoes,” Cottrell said. “She would call me from her new job to help me out when I needed it. Thank god she is now my Utica new business underwriter. I can honestly say that I learn something new from her every week.”

Denise Baker was awarded a lifetime achievement by PIA Western Alliance executive VP, Clark Sitzes. He thanked her for her selfless service and willingness to advocate for the PIA and for the agents, brokers and company personnel she has interacted with over the years.