Growing up in a small, rural town in Missouri with a population of just 669, Susan had a typical middle-class upbringing filled with sports, horseback riding, and fun. Early on, she learned the value of public speaking and business etiquette, which naturally led her to pursue a degree in Marketing Management.
After college, Susan worked in Addison, Illinois, near Chicago, selling electronic manifest systems to industrial manufacturing companies. These systems allowed companies to track multiple boxes on a manifest without handwritten labels and tracking sheets, a significant advancement akin to today's Excel spreadsheets. However, city life wasn't for her, so after a year, she returned to Missouri to work for her father, Walter Clark, who founded the Missouri Rural Roads Organization, later known as Missouri Rural Services Corp (MRSC).
Using her marketing degree at MRSC has been a blessing. After a decade of brokering package liability insurance, MRSC sponsored a new organization, Missouri Rural Services Workers’ Compensation Insurance Trust (MRSWCIT), which Susan was honored to help establish. Due to the hard insurance market in the 1980s, many pools were formed to provide employers with alternatives to traditional insurance, and MRSWCIT was one of these. MRSWCIT officially began on April 1, 1992, with 26 members and $900,000 in premiums. What set this pool apart was the inclusion of Independent Insurance Agents, whose contributions were crucial to its success.
Since 1992, Susan has progressed from Secretary of the MRSWCIT Board of Trustees to Chairwoman, and from no title at MRSC to Vice President and now Agency Principal. Over 35 years later, she still loves marketing and the challenges of the insurance business. Most importantly, she cherishes the relationships with Independent Agents, Public Entities, and Nonprofits—people who, like her, come from small towns and rural areas and have insurance needs that MRSC and MRSWCIT can fulfill.
After college, Susan worked in Addison, Illinois, near Chicago, selling electronic manifest systems to industrial manufacturing companies. These systems allowed companies to track multiple boxes on a manifest without handwritten labels and tracking sheets, a significant advancement akin to today's Excel spreadsheets. However, city life wasn't for her, so after a year, she returned to Missouri to work for her father, Walter Clark, who founded the Missouri Rural Roads Organization, later known as Missouri Rural Services Corp (MRSC).
Using her marketing degree at MRSC has been a blessing. After a decade of brokering package liability insurance, MRSC sponsored a new organization, Missouri Rural Services Workers’ Compensation Insurance Trust (MRSWCIT), which Susan was honored to help establish. Due to the hard insurance market in the 1980s, many pools were formed to provide employers with alternatives to traditional insurance, and MRSWCIT was one of these. MRSWCIT officially began on April 1, 1992, with 26 members and $900,000 in premiums. What set this pool apart was the inclusion of Independent Insurance Agents, whose contributions were crucial to its success.
Since 1992, Susan has progressed from Secretary of the MRSWCIT Board of Trustees to Chairwoman, and from no title at MRSC to Vice President and now Agency Principal. Over 35 years later, she still loves marketing and the challenges of the insurance business. Most importantly, she cherishes the relationships with Independent Agents, Public Entities, and Nonprofits—people who, like her, come from small towns and rural areas and have insurance needs that MRSC and MRSWCIT can fulfill.