Hillary Rice: following her passion for insurance inside and outside of the classroom

Hillary Rice is a junior from Marshfield, Missouri majoring in risk management and insurance.  When she was 15 years old she began working in her grandmother’s insurance agency in Springfield.  “I started off answering phones and filing but now I work part-time year-round and have grown to really enjoy this field,” says Rice.

Having a strong set of skills built on hands-on experience helped Rice stand-out in the classroom.  “In addition to her experience working in the insurance industry she is an excellent student.  Hillary always presents herself in a professional manner,” states Dr. Stan Adamson, associate professor and Baker Chair of Insurance in the Finance and General Business Department.

Dr. Adamson highly encouraged Rice to apply for a prestigious internship that she recently received for summer 2014.  She has accepted an internship through the National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Office, Ltd. (NAPSLO) and will be spending the summer in Boston, Massachusetts.  The NAPSLO Internship Program annually awards paid summer internships to college students interested in an insurance career. Approximately five to 16 interns are chosen each year to participate in this highly selective program.  Rice will be the only student from Missouri State University participating in the program.

She will spend nine weeks learning all aspects of the surplus lines insurance industry with two different hosts; a NAPSLO company member and a NAPSLO wholesale broker.  At each location she will spend time in a variety of roles and departments including claims, data processing, accounting, operations, brokerage, human resources, marketing, reinsurance and underwriting. “I am really excited to learn about the broker side of insurance since my main experience is agency based right now,” states Rice.

As mentioned earlier, Rice found out about the NAPSLO internship opportunity from Dr. Stan Adamson and states that he has been, “the most influential professor I have had on campus.  He helped me transition to the major and has a very caring personality.  He is always available to help if students don’t quite understand the material and has written several recommendation letters for me.”

On campus Rice is involved in Gamma Iota Sigma and Phi Eta Sigma.  In her free time she enjoys spending time with her family and enjoying the outdoors.  She plans to graduate in December 2015 and can see herself working in a variety of settings in the field of risk management and insurance, “It would be nice to take over the family business in town or explore other options with potential employment through a wholesale broker.”