For more than a dozen years, Harkabus has worked for A.B. Gile, a multi-location independent agency headquartered in Hanover, N.H. He is manager of personal lines and claims and has additional responsibility for sales and marketing, small commercial business, information technology and other administrative functions. A 34-year insurance industry veteran, he has held various management positions at regional and national property-casualty and healthcare companies.
He has served as president of the Vermont/New Hampshire ASCnet chapter and, most recently, as vice president of ASCnet's new Epic chapter. A.B. Gile was the fifth insurance agency nationwide to "beta test" Applied Systems' new Epic agency management system. Harkabus has also been a member and past chairman of the New Hampshire Special Olympics board of directors.
Gory has led Insurance Portfolio Financial Services, a life and benefits brokerage that serves clients in Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec, since its 1999 formation. His insurance career started four years earlier, when he joined Applied Systems and became one of its first WinTam support technicians in Canada. In 1997, he joined his in-laws' P&C brokerage, Insurance Portfolio, as its in-house IT department. Two years later, the brokerage spun off its life insurance and employee benefits operation as Insurance Portfolio Financial Services. Gory's primary focus today is employee benefits.
He has served as president of ASCnet's Toronto chapter since 2008, after twice serving as vice president. He is vice chair of ASCnet's Member Relations Committee and a member of its Product Advisory Committee's Ancillary Sub-Committee and its TENCon Advisory Group. Previously, he chaired the Chapters Committee Business Model Chapter Task Force and the Canadian Interface Committee.
Gory and Harkabus join fellow directors Peter Anderson, of Anderson Group International, LLC, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Donna Barr-LaGoy, AIT, ACE, Premier Insurance Consultants of the Treasure Coast, Palm City, Fla.; Stephanie Buckley, CISR, CPSR, SentryWest Insurance Services, Salt Lake City; and Greg Trimble, Trimble Insurance Agency, Delaware, Ohio.
Board officers for 2012 are Chair Maureen Boeing, CIC, CISR, Landmark Insurance Agency, in Cincinnati; Vice Chair Leslie Lacroix, CRM, CAIB, Southland Insurance Service, Windsor, Ont.; Treasurer John Warn, Rue Insurance, Trenton, N.J.; and Immediate Past Chair Brian Bartosh, CIC, LUTCF, Top O' Michigan Insurance, Alpena, Mich.
Stepping down from the board at year-end are Lisa Parry Becker, vice president of William B. Parry & Son Agency Ltd, Langhorne, Pa., who is resigning as director after concluding her term as immediate past chair in 2011; and Stu Durland, vice president of Seely-Durland Insurance Agency, Warwick, N.Y., who earlier this year agreed to serve as interim director when a board post opened up after a board member assumed a position with ASCnet's primary technology partner, Applied Systems.
About ASCnet:
Founded in 1985 and based in Des Plaines, Ill., Applied Systems Client Network, Inc. (ASCnet) is an international association representing more than 80,000 insurance professionals. The only authorized users group for Applied Systems software, ASCnet's vision is for members to increase system utilization, resulting in increased agency value and profitability. The organization will provide opportunities for members to achieve this success through advocacy, education and networking. For more information: www.ASCnet.org.