History of the Iowa Insurance Hall Of Fame

An Idea!
On March 31, 1994 the initial steering committee of the Iowa Insurance Hall of Fame met at the Kelley Insurance Center in Aliber Hall on the campus of Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.

The committee members were representatives of as many of the insurance trade organizations as we could identify in the Central Iowa area. Whether it was the "brain child" of Lis Spoerl or Susan Roberts, it is uncertain, but they were both members of the organization that was the original promoter, the Insurance Association of Greater Des Moines (IAGDM).  Affiliated with the National Association of Insurance Women, IAGDM founded in 1940, had been known as the "Insurance Women of Des Moines" for many years.

Iowa Insurance Foundation

Originally, one of the options was to become a committee of the Iowa Insurance Foundation that already had an exhibit at the State of Iowa Historical Building at 600 E. Locust Street in Des Moines. The exhibit called "We Gotcha Covered" had been in place since the early 1990's. That organization chose not to be our "parent" so the Iowa Insurance Hall of Fame (IIHOF) became an autonomous organization.  In 2007 the Iowa Insurance Foundation was dissolved and the remaining funds where generously donated to the IIHOF to be used for scholarships.

The Exhibit
From it's inception IIHOF wanted to have an exhibit, preferably at the Historical building, not only to honor the inductees, but to be an educational display for young people as well. A successful campaign was carried out with participation of all the major insurance companies and trade organizations contributing to the fund drive.

The exhibit was completed at a cost of $50,000 and was opened to coincide with the first induction of ten members on April 24, 1997. The exhibit was closed when the entire insurance exhibit was to be dismantled in 2003. Several other locations were considered, but none were acceptable because of location or cost.  The exhibit remains in storage.

The IIHOF.ORG Web Site
The physical display was transformed to a virtual display on the Internet by IIHOF board member Robert Conroy, CPCU, CIC, in 2006. After only two years in existence the IIHOF web site has had thousands of visitors. 

Additional content is added each year to keep the web site current including information about new inductees. Today there are over 200 documents on the web site.

Our Inductees

There were ten initial inductees on April 24, 1997 From 1998 through 2005 four new members were inducted each year. Starting in 2006, five new members are being inducted with the stipulation that at least one must be awarded posthumously each year. The five new inductees for 2008 bring the total inductees to 57 inductees. 

Updated by: Susan Roberts on May 04, 2008