"Manhattan Beach Pier at Sunset"
Photographer: Pedro Szekely

South Bay Chapter of NAIW originally formed in 1964 as the Insurance Women of Inglewood under the sponsorship of the Insurance Women of Los Angeles (IWLA) and the Insurance Women of Long Beach (IWLB - no longer a chartered association).  First President and founder, Gwen Snyder, personally accepted our Charter as presented to her at the NAIW Region VIII Conference in 1965. As a new and struggling organization, the Independent Insurance Agent's of Inglewood were kind enough to pay her expenses as a token of their faith in our success as an organization.

In 1970, all local NAIW clubs became known as associations to promote a more professional image, and in 1971 we became The Insurance Women of Inglewood- South Bay to broaden our scope of membership.  In 1985, we became The South Bay Chapter of NAIW to signify our relationship within the National Association.

South Bay members are proud of our accomplishments and our strong committment to insurance education.  We have sponsored five continuing education classes per year for the past 23 years for our members and other South Bay insurance professionals.  Each class satisfies the rigorous continuing education requirements of the California Department of Insurance.  We also offer our membership NAIW's quality educational courses on a regular basis to satisfy NAIW's course requirements for the DAE, CPIW and CPIM designations.

As a strong reflection on our chapter, many members have served not only at our local level, but also on State, Regional and National levels of the NAIW organization as well.  Several members have also served in other associations as presidents, committee members, regional directors, etc. as well as producer councils for insurance companies.  Several of our South Bay members have been honored throughout the years with special awards, and we are proud that over 30% of our association have earned one or more professional designations   We are active in the California Council of NAIW and belong to NAIW Region VIII, and are proud of our contributions to the success of NAIW (International), as well as our accomplishments in the South Bay community.

....1965-1966     Gwen Snyder, Charter President
....1966-1967     Pat Komoni
....1967-1968     Shirley Shilling-Cimino, CPCU, AAI, CPIW
....1968-1969     Sarah Kelly, CPCU, AAI, CPIW
....1969-1970     Gerry Pollock, CPIW
....1970-1971     Margaret Thompson
....1971-1972     Lois Jensen
....1972-1973     Jeri Virsis
....1973-1974     Jan Littleton
....1974-1975     Sharon Miller
....1975-1976     Addie Davidson, CPIW
....1976-1977     Sarah Kelly, CPCU, AAI, CPIW
....1977-1978     Karen Peters, CIC, CPIW, DAE
....1978-1979     Faye Livingston, CPIW
....1979-1980     Gretchen Kronman
....1980-1981     Jan Littleton
....1981-1982     Georgeann Pollard, CPIW
....1982-1983     Debi Newmark, CPIW
....1983-1984     Joyce Bichlmeier, CPIW
....1984-1985     Nancy Watschke
....1985-1986     Deb Lichter, CIC, CPIW
....1986-1987     Nancy Collinge, CPCU, CPIW
....1987-1988     Naomi Lawrence, CPIW
....1988-1989     Darleen Talbott, CPIW
....1989-1990     Elizabeth Ball, CPCU, CPIW
....1990-1992     Ruth Martinez, CPIW
....1992-1994     Pat Flaagan, ARM, AIS, CRM, CPIW
....1994-1995     Cathy Jones, CPCU, CPIW
....1995-1996     Laura McMullen
....1996-1997     Sarah Kelly, CPCU, AAI, CPIW
....1997-1999     Pam Absher, AIC
....1999-2000     Margaret Sameshima-Lamdagan, CPCU, CPIW, DAE
....2000-2001     Stephanie Schneider, ESQ
....2001-2002     Barbara Bookhammer
....2002-2003     Sheila Floyd
....2003-2005     Nancy Petru, CPCU, CPIW
....2005-2007     Sheila Doerschel
....2007-2009     Susan Shaver
....2009-2011     Carleen Armstrong

                                               Vincent Thomas Bridge
                                       Port of Los Angeles to
                                                 San Pedro, CA

Congratulations to all the above South Bay members who have served NAIW or been recognized beyond our local level, as well as all those members who have also served with other organizations or received recognition/awards from outside the NAIW family.