I was born and raised in San Francisco - this is something not many people can say these days with everyone moving all over the country.  I have been married to Sal for almost 28 years. Our son and daughter-in-law are expecting their first baby girl in April and I am looking forward to becoming a Grandmother.  My hobbies are scrapbooking, reading, cooking, gardening, and traveling.  I still live in the Bay Area and would never dream of leaving unless I could move to Hawaii!
 
I have been a member of NAIW since 1992 and have served on the local board in almost every seat.  I haven't been the Treasurer yet as accounting is not my passion.  I am currrently serving on the SFCNAIW as the Secretary and will most likely continue in this position in the upcoming term. My dedication to NAIW became more apparent as my involvement with NAIW grew. I served as the SF Membership Chair for several years bringing in new members and sharing the benefits of being a member of NAIW, not only the comeraderie, but the educational value and networking contacts are endless. As I grew closer to members of our chapter, I branched out and joined many committees as well as chairing others.  In 2006, I was awarded the Insurance Member of the Year at our May Luncheon. At the Regional Conference in Arizona, I was honored for bringing in 15 new members for the year. This was something so unexpected as I always do my best to get more people involved with our organization. When I was elected as the 2009-2010 Membership Development Chair, I had the opportunity of meeting more members and prospective members when I visited sister chapters.  Robin Fawke interviewed me for my secrets in getting people to join NAIW and the interview was published. I was honored when I was asked by Louisa Knapp of the San Joachin Chapter to be her Installation Officer. In 2010, I was inducted into the Hall of Fame for our chapter.  It's hard to believe that so much time has passed and I qualified for this honor.  I believe in giving back to the community and volunteer regularly at the Asian Art Museum.  I have a wonderful dedicated group that volunteer with me, Sean McCormick (our first male President for 2012); Jenny Chea-Vaing, Velma Jim, Tevea Him and a number of other friends and family members and I wish to thank them for supporting the museum. Alvenia Scott has been my dear friend supporting and walking with me for Making Strides for Breast Cancer and SF Aids Walks over the years. It is a pleasure serving under Marie Meadows, our current President. She's also a wonderful friend and marine underwriter.  I am also a dual member of the Insurance Women of Southern Alameda County and just love President Brianne Henderson's upbeat personality.
 
I began my insurance career at Underwriter's Services in 1976 in the loss control department and worked my way up from a Junior Ins. Clerk to a Loss Control Consultant.  When my position was eliminated, I was asked to transfer to the property/casualty unit to learn marine insurance, under Tom Pfister.  I have been working with Tom for 18 years and as a two person team handle all lines of marine coverages.  I survived the mergers from Underwriters Services to Reed Stenhouse to Alexander & Alexander and have been a Senior Marine Broker with Aon since 1997. I am very grateful for Aon's continued support of my activities with NAIW.
 
I enjoy mentoring our young professionals and encourage them to participate in our activities and reach out to network with others.  You never know when you might need an expert in another field.  
 
I feel that I have come full circle as I was the first recipient of the Al Padway Award in 1999 and the Regional Conference was held in Hawaii and here we are in 2012 and I'm going back for this conference with our 2011 Al Padway Awardee, Maritza Portillo to Hawaii!  It's going to be an exciting conference and looking forward to seeing you there..