Awards

The Don C. Burnam Award was established in 1967 as a memorial to the late Don C. Burnam, president and founder of Western Pacific Insurance Company. The Association’s most prestigious award is given to the person in Washington State who has rendered the most outstanding service to the American Agency System and the insurance industry during his/her career.

William R. Lee, 1967
Irwin Mesher, 1968
Gordon H. Sweany, 1969
B. McClintock, 1970
Howard Schjelland, CPCU, 1971
John J. Savage, 1973
Harry P. Sargent, 1976
Jack F. McDonald, 1977
Robert McNabb, AAI, 1978
Donald W. Biggs, 1982
John F. Solon, CPCU, 1983
Don Bell, 1984
Art Armstrong, CPCU, 1985
E. Harold Smart, 1986
Don Rupp, CPCU, 1987
P.P. “Spike” Lynch, CPCU, 1988
Don Brunni, CPCU, 1989
Gus Noyd, 1989
Larry Kees, 1990
Barry K. Jones, CPCU, 1991
Alan Berg, 1992
R. Martin Josund, CPCU, 1993
Larry Tornow, 1994
Clark Sitzes, 1995
Tom Taylor Jr., CPCU, ARM, AAI, 1996
James Majeskey, CPCU, CLU, ARM, 1997
Robb Dale, 1998
Jim Brown, CPCU, 1999
Steve White, 2000
David Hargreaves, 2000
Sue Knobeloch, CIC, 2001
Frank Radford, 2002
Ron Getchell, 2003
Jim Aston, 2004
Bill Gellor, 2005
Kim Impecoven, 2006
Davidson Wood, 2007
Jerry Olds, CPCU, 2008
Susan Scott, AAI, 2009
Ed Ray, 2010
Jerry Nies, CPCU, 2011
Michael Rydbom, CIC, 2012
Don McQuary, CIC, 2013
Mike Reed, 2014
Jim Slaugenhaupt, 2015
Rob Bush, CPCU, 2016
John McDonald, 2017
Jim Gibbons, 2018
Donna Haynes, 2019
Claudia McClain, 2021
Dave Merrill, 2022
Bill Stauffacher, 2023
Rob Tripple, 2024
Lori Reed, 2025

This award is presented to the member agent who has rendered the most outstanding service to the insurance industry in the past year. This award was founded in 2002.

Michelle Rupp, AAI, 2002
Pat Otter, 2004
Dave Hargreaves, CIC, 2005
Maggie Wood, CIC, 2006
Brian Blount, CIC, 2007
Robb Dale, 2008
Bob Hashimoto, CPCU, 2009
Mike Rydbom, CIC, 2010
Dean Young, CPCU, 2011
Susan Knobeloch, CIC, CPIW, 2012
Claudia McClain, 2013
Mary Stien, CIC, 2014
Neil Muller, 2015
Amberlyn McQuary, CIC, 2016
Dave Gregory, 2017
Ryan Porter, 2018
Melissa Power, 2019
Robert Young, 2022
Nick Stay, 2023
Nancy Gregory, 2024

This award is presented to the person associated with the industry (non-agent/broker) who has made outstanding contributions to the Independent Agency System and IIABW. This award was founded in 2002.

Tim Mullen, CPCU, 2002
Joe Kelly, 2003
Matt Nickerson, 2004
Mike McGavick, 2005
Arne Chatterton, CPCU, ARM, AAI, API, AAM, AU, 2006
Joe Zimmer, 2007
Shareen Minor, 2008
Dick Berry, CPCU, CIC, 2009
Bill Stauffacher, 2010
Brian Carney, 2011
Bill Norman, 2012
Carrie Cheshier, CPCU, CIC, ARM, 2013
Jerry Kelly, 2014
Tom Becker, CPCU, 2015
Gabriel Gonzalez, CIC, 2016
Joe Kelly, 2017
Mary Townsend, 2018
Bob Hoogendam & Paul DeVenzio, 2019
Shelley Rogers, 2021
Trish Nelson, 2022
Kim Krogh and Mary Emerson, 2023
Kristen Horlacher, 2024
Jim Wille, 2025

This award is presented to the young agent (a person who is age 40 or under) who has rendered outstanding service to his or her community, agency, local or state association, or the insurance industry as a whole.

Jim Brown, CPCU, 1974
Glen Williams, CIC, 1977
Larry Petersen, CPCU, 1981
Bill Gellor, 1982
John McDonald, 1986
Dave Hargreaves, 1987
Alan Cottle, CPCU, 1988
Chuck Gardner, 1989
Darla S. Yoseph, AAI, 1990
Brian Starr, AAI, 1991
Dave Gregory, 1992
Brian Roberts, 1993
Leslie Owens-Pierre, 1994
Jane Roessler, 1995
Craig Hamre, 1996
Scott Potter, 1997
Craig Brown, 1999
Stacy Packard, 2001
Pauline Black, ACSR, 2003
IIABW Young Agents Committee, 2005
Neil Muller, 2006
Krista O’Byrne, 2007
Mandi Strange, 2008
Craig Field, 2009
Brian Fassburg, 2010
Melissa Power, ACSR, CIC, 2011
Ryan Stewart, 2012
Ryan Porter, 2013
Reid Ekberg, 2014
Dan Winckoski, 2015
Annie Dimmitt, 2016
Aran Buchan, 2017
Jillian Fassburg, 2018
Mike Arnold, 2019
Natalie Merrill, 2021
Candice Pagano, 2022
Aaron Myers, 2023
Hans Eskelsen, 2024
Megan Coe, 2025

The Susan Scott Insurance Education award was established in 1980 (formerly known as the Max Walton Insurance Education award) to recognize an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the field of insurance education in the state of Washington.

Fred Loffer, CPCU, 1980
John Stanford, CPCU, CLU, 1981
Jack Langan, CPCU, CLU, 1982
Susan Scott, AAI, 1983
Max Walton, 1984
Robert McNabb, AAI, 1987
E. Harold Smart, 1988
Susan Scott, AAI, 1989
James Greenway, CPCU, CIC, ARM, 1990
Barry Woltmon, CPCU, AAI, ARM, 1991
Glen Williams, CIC, 1992
John F. Solon, CPCU, ARM, 1993
Irv Field, Ph.D., 1994
Susan Knobeloch, CIC, CPIW, 1995
Mary Eisenhart, CPCU, ARM, Are, CIC, CPIW, 1996
Rick Hinrichs, CPCU, 1998
Nancy Bell, 1999
Jesse Gary, CPCU, CLU, 2000
Ian Cunningham, AAI, ARM, 2002
Rick Hinrich, CPCU 2003
Michelle Rupp, AAI, 2004
Susan Scott, AAI, 2005
Mike McNamara, 2006
Kim Southworth, CPCU, AAI, ARM, AIS, ITP, API, 2007
Mark Thompson, 2008
Elaine Tuttle, CPCU, AU, 2009
Rocky Skalisky, 2010
Tracy Skinner, CIC, 2011
Glen Williams, CIC, AAI, 2013
Tom Stratton, Esq, 2014
Mark Smith, CPCU, RPLU, 2015
Susan Scott, AAI, 2016
Sue Knobeloch, CIC, CPIW, 2017
Veronica Stevens, 2019
Suzanne Arnett, 2025