Tom Ashley, AAI, AIAM, AIP
Chief Executive Officer
NAIFA-Florida President, Rod Whited, CLU, ChFC, CASL, has announced that Tom Ashley, AAI, AIP, AIAM, has been appointed CEO by the association’s Board of Directors. Tom as served as Interim CEO since March. Previously, he was Vice President of Member Relations.
In 1987, Tom obtained his life & health and property-casualty insurance licenses and worked as an agent in Vero Beach, Florida. In 1994, he moved to Tallahassee and joined the staff of the Florida Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (FAIFA, now known as NAIFA-Florida), serving as Vice President of Communications and Professional Development and later as Senior Vice President. Tom served as FAIFA’s primary CE instructor where he developed, wrote, and oversaw Department of Financial Services (DFS) approval of FAIFA’s life and health CE classes offered to members throughout the state. As the primary life and health instructor, Tom’s expertise in related Florida statutes, the Florida Administrative Code, proposed legislative language (federal and state), as well as NAIC initiatives made him an invaluable resource to the association and its life, health, and annuity insurance agent members.
In 2007, Tom joined the Florida Association of Insurance Agents (FAIA) as Educational Instructor, teaching classes for the AAI designation, the AIP Elite designation, and the AIAM designation, in addition to various life and health and P&C courses. In 2009, Tom was promoted to Director of Education and oversaw a staff of seven. In both 2010 and 2011, under Tom’s leadership the FAIA Education Department earned IIABA’s Excellence in Insurance Education Award – diamond level.
In October 2011, Tom returned to NAIFA-Florida as Director of Member Outreach where he worked closely with the state association’s 19 local associations in membership recruitment and member benefits programs.
Tom is a widower and has three adult daughters: Katie, Meredith and Elizabeth.
Should you wish to congratulate Tom, please email him at tom.ashley@naifa-florida.org.
Ashlee Jessup, CCSR
Social Media and Association Services Coordinator
NAIFA-Florida is also pleased to announce the staff addition of Ashlee Jessup, CCSR, as the new Social Media and Association Services Coordinator. Ashlee, who has 10 years of professional association experience, joined the staff this week and already has many ideas on how to grow our social media platforms.
Ashlee’s responsibilities will include the NAIFA-Florida social media accounts, broadcast e-mails, updating the NAIFA-Florida website and overseeing our day-to-today Study Manual sales operation and administration.
Ashlee comes to us from FAIA (Florida Association of Insurance Agents) where she was chief registrar for all of FAIA’s events, handled travel and class logistics for their Education Department instructors, and tracked education revenue and expense. Prior to FAIA, Ashlee worked at the Department of Financial Services (DFS) in the Education Section conducting CE audits of agent records, dealing with CE compliance issues, and processing appointment reinstatement requests. Of course, she is proficient in social media.
Ashlee has been married to her husband John for ten years. They have two children, McKinlee and Nolen.
Should you wish to welcome Ashlee, please email her at ashlee.jessup@naifa-florida.org.