IASA Congratulates 2012 Women in Insurance Leadership (WIL) Winner Beth Mercier of Travelers

DURHAM, N.C., Aug. 30, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IASA, one of the insurance industry's largest and most well-represented trade associations, is pleased to announce the selection of Beth Mercier of Travelers as the recipient of an Insurance Networking News' Women in Insurance Leadership Award. Mercier is also the president-elect of IASA for the 2013-2014 year.

"I am honored to be included in this distinguished group of women insurance leaders and very appreciative of this award," said Mercier. "I have been privileged to work with excellent teams over the course of my career and want to acknowledge the efforts of those members who have helped me along the way."

Mercier is a vice president in personal lines for Travelers, where she has succeeded in promoting execution rigor and professionalism. She focuses on staff training and development with an eye toward continuous talent recruitment, and the promotion of team collaboration.   

Part of the reason for her recognition with a WIL Award includes the fact that at Travelers, Mercier has had an influence on the operations and overall profitability of the company. Her group created a governance structure for investment decisions, and collaborated with business and technology leaders to ensure corporate investments and initiatives matched strategic goals and that those investments looked past budgets to resources, objectives, capabilities, metrics, and desired business capabilities. Her work with the Travelers' Personal Lines Platform Office has facilitated the prioritization of annual strategic investments while putting in place comprehensive oversight processes, including portfolio feasibility, portfolio financial trending analysis, and aggregation of risks/issues for executive reporting and decision-making.

"Beth is a part of a very impressive group," said Carrie Burns, editor-in-chief of Insurance Networking News. "This year's 10 winners again prove that women can positively affect critical processes within the IT and business environments of their organizations."

For the past seven years, the Women In Insurance Leadership Awards have honored outstanding female insurance executives for their exceptional contributions to their companies. Presented annually by Insurance Networking News, more than 50 women have earned this prestigious recognition of their work redefining the insurance industry.

"Beth has been a strong contributing volunteer to IASA throughout the years," said Louise Ziemann, finance manager for State Farm and current president for IASA. "Her demonstrated leadership, creative input, and driving passion have been an asset to the association and to Travelers, and it is exciting that Beth has been recognized with this distinguished award, and it reflects her sincere commitment to the Industry."

For more information regarding this release, please contact Jennifer Overhulse, Principal Owner of St. Nick Media Services, via email at [email protected] or via phone at (859) 803-6597.

About IASA

The Insurance Accounting & Systems Association, Inc. (IASA) is a non-profit, education association that strives to enhance the knowledge of insurance industry professionals, and participants from similar organizations closely allied with the insurance industry by facilitating the exchange of ideas and information. IASA is one of the insurance industry's largest, and most well represented trade association. IASA membership includes insurance companies of all types (Property & Casualty, Life, Health, Fraternal, HMO and others) as members, as well as companies serving the insurance industry, regulators and also organizations more broadly representative of the financial services industry, including banks and investment brokerage firms. Learn more about IASA by visiting our website at www.iasa.org, or by calling (919) 489-0991.

The IASA logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=14428

CONTACT: Media Contact:          Jennifer Overhulse-KingSt. Nick Media Services          (859) 803-6597          [email protected]

Source: IASA