CU’s Jan Lowther shares podium with IMCA Showcase Winners

This year, in an awards contest that often appears to be dominated by a few large companies with deep pockets, representatives of more than 30 insurance companies took home “Best of Show” and “Awards of Excellence” prizes from the IMCA’s Showcase Awards ceremony, held during the June 29 gala at the Keystone Resort in Colorado.

Although Kemper Insurance Companies, Liberty Mutual Group and Royal & Sun Alliance each captured two or three of the 24 coveted “Best of Show” awards, the judges panel divided the balance among a fairly wide variety of organizations. The Sammy Award, voted on by delegates as a whole, was captured by Fireman’s Fund Insurance Companies.

IMCA also recognized Canadian Underwriter’s Jan Lowther by bestowing upon her its prestigious Golden Torch Award, which honors “outstanding contributions to insurance communications.” Lowther is the first Canadian and first woman to receive the award. Describing her as “an internationally known ambassador for the insurance industry,” the Golden Torch Committee also cited Jan’s several product innovations as Group Publisher of CU and a lengthy list of industry involvement. These included roles as a founding member of The Insurance Communicators Association (the Canadian version of the IMCA), and as a former director of IMCA, when she was “almost solely responsible for building the Canadian membership.”

A sizeable cohort of this Canadian contingent, including nominator and presenter Diane Scott, head of corporate communications for CGU Group Canada Ltd., was in Colorado to receive the news of her selection as 1999 Golden Torch winner with whoops of approval and enthusiastic applause.

JAN LOWTHER, GROUP PUBLISHER,

CANADIAN UNDERWRITER MAGAZINE