MODERN WOODMEN of AMERICA - About Us

Modern Woodmen of America, Rock Island, Ill., has announced that Vernon L. Smith, Brandon, S.D., will retire from its board of directors, effective Oct. 1, 2002. Albert T. Hurst, Little Rock, Ark., has been appointed to fill the board position.

Smith has served on the fraternal life insurer’s seven-member board since February 1998 and has been a Modern Woodmen member since 1958. He began his Modern Woodmen career in 1965 and has held sales and sales management positions for the fraternal life insurer in South Dakota, Wyoming, Illinois and Iowa. He has served as agency manager of Modern Woodmen’s South Dakota agency since 1980, and he will continue to serve in this position.

Smith’s career accomplishments include earning the organization’s Agency Development Award in 1983, the Leading Agency Manager Award in 1996 and the T.W. Cheney Achievement Award in 1995 and 1997. His leadership roles have also included presidency of the South Dakota State Fraternal Congress and the South Dakota Chapter of Fraternal Insurance Counsellors, vice presidency of the Rapid City Chapter of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA) and as a board member for Security Bank in Sioux Falls, S.D. He has also held offices in the Jaycees in Winner, S.D., and as a member of the Brandon Optimist Club. Smith and his wife, Martha, have three grown children.

Modern Woodmen also announced the appointment of Albert T. Hurst, Little Rock, Ark., to the Board of Directors. Hurst began his Modern Woodmen career in 1980 as an insurance representative in western Tennessee and was named district manager in 1982. He has served as agency manager of Modern Woodmen’s Arkansas agency since 1987, and he will continue to serve in this position.

Hurst is a graduate of the American College and the Purdue University Professional Management Institute. He has earned the Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU), Chartered Leadership Fellow (CLF) and Fraternal Insurance Counsellor Fellow (FICF) designations. He has also completed the Agency Management Training Council (AMTC) program.

Hurst has earned numerous career awards, including Modern Woodmen’s Agency Development Award in 1989 and 1990, and Modern Woodmen’s top honor, the T.W. Cheney Achievement Award, which he has earned seven times. Hurst is past president of NAIFA of Central Arkansas, the National Association of Fraternal Insurance Counsellors (NAFIC) and of the Arkansas General Agents and Managers Association (GAMA).

He is vice president of Leadership Renewal, and is a member of the Society of Financial Service Professionals, Fellowship Bible Church and the Downtown Neighborhood Association in Little Rock. He also serves on the board of directors for the Quapaw Quarter Association and was appointed to the Capital Zoning Commission. A volunteer for Junior Achievement, Habitat for Humanity and Little League, he and his wife Connie are very involved in historic preservation efforts in downtown Little Rock. The Hursts have two children and two grandchildren.

Modern Woodmen of America is a fraternal life insurance organization based in Rock Island, Ill. Modern Woodmen serves more than 750,000 members nationwide, offering life insurance, annuity and investment products, along with fraternal member benefits for families and their communities.