FEATURE dramatic. " They offered me the job right as 9 / 11 was happening," he recalls. What followed was one of the hardest insurance markets in recent history— skyrocketing combined ratios, mass non-renewals, and underwriters with almost no flexibility.
For a brand-new agent, that environment was a crash course in what really matters. " I saw how it affected the veterans," Dave says. " Guys who ' d been around 15 to 20 years – the stress and anxiety they were going through was horrendous. I didn ' t have the same connection to clients yet, but watching them taught me the significance of relationships. The ones who had stronger relationships were the ones who got through it." It ' s a lesson he has carried with him ever since.
After about five and a half years as a Marketing Rep, Dave was promoted to District Marketing Manager for Federated, overseeing all hiring and training of commercial producers in the state of Kentucky. But when his mother ' s health began to decline, he and his wife Tricia made the decision to return to Kansas.
COMING HOME— AND GOING INDEPENDENT
In January 2009, Dave joined what was then known as Kansas Farmer Service Association— now ProValue Insurance— as a Commercial Accounts Manager. It was a giant leap forward in opportunity. " I was really excited to go work for an independent agency," he says. " I wanted to learn agribusiness from the independent side rather than the direct-writing side." The transition wasn ' t without its challenges. Moving from a proprietary, all-in-one system at a captive carrier to managing relationships with multiple insurance companies at an independent agency involved a learning curve. " We didn ' t have much of a workable agency management system at the time, and that was one of the big changes coming," he recalls. But Dave ' s background in commercial lines and Main Street business was exactly what ProValue needed as it was growing and acquiring smaller agencies.
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I want to see local agencies stay local. That ' s good for consumers, and it ' s the future I want for this industry."
He moved into a leadership role around 2015 and today serves as Vice President of Insurance Sales at ProValue Insurance. His team specializes in agribusiness – particularly cooperatively owned grain elevators and large farm accounts – a nod to those roots back in Wright, Kansas. " I figured I ' d end up in agribusiness," he says with a smile. " And here we are."
GETTING INVOLVED WITH KAIA
Dave ' s involvement with KAIA began 12 years ago when he joined what was then called the Consumer and Technical Affairs Committee— now known as the Insurance Coverage Committee. Before long, then-Executive Director Kerri Spielman invited him to serve on the Kansas Workers ' Compensation Insurance Plan Governing Board, the official body that oversees the state ' s assigned risk workers ' comp plan. He has served on that board for about a decade and currently chairs it.
From there, Dave joined the KAIA Board of Directors as a Zone Director and worked his way through the executive ranks. He was first asked to serve as a future president candidate by Scott Strong – though the timing wasn ' t right at that point – and eventually assumed the role of President, which he officially stepped into in February.
LOOKING AHEAD: GOALS FOR 2026
As President, Dave has a clear set of priorities. He ' s
MARCH / APRIL 2026
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