InVEST Liaison Honored for Contribution to Insurance Education 
Earnest Young Award presented by IIANC to Bob Betters.

Bob Betters of Watson Insurance Agency in Gastonia, N.C. received the 2008 Earnest Young Education Award on Oct. 17 for his dedication to his state’s InVEST program by the IIANC. The award, which is given out once a year to an agent who has made the most outstanding contribution to the association in the area of education, is named in honor of Young who was strongly involved in insurance education.

Betters established an InVEST program at Charlotte Catholic High School in 2004 and since then has taught more than 100 students about the value of choosing an insurance career and how to be savvy insurance consumers. In order to provide students firsthand knowledge of the variety of insurance careers, Betters brings insurance professionals with diverse backgrounds into the class as guest speakers. He also worked to secure a $1,000 scholarship commitment from the North Carolina Surplus Lines Association to supplement any scholarships given to a North Carolina student by the InVEST program.

Betters takes his commitment to InVEST very seriously and uses any available opportunity to encourage other agents and schools to institute the program in their area. He has shared his teaching method with other agents from around the country at national InVEST training conventions, and has spoken at the IIANC Eastern and Western Conferences about InVEST.