MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 26, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- The Insurance Accounting & Systems Association (IASA) is pleased to announce that former Secretary of State General Colin L. Powell will kick off the 2007 IASA Annual Educational Conference & Business Show in Minneapolis, MN with a keynote presentation on Monday, June 4, 2007.
"We are so pleased that General Powell has agreed to speak to the IASA audience," said Joe Pomilia, Executive Director for IASA. "His experiences with some of life's toughest possible challenges are a testament to his strength of character and something that I'm sure our attendees will appreciate from both personal and professional perspectives."
General Colin L. Powell is the former 65th Secretary of State, in which capacity he served under President George W. Bush. Prior to being named Secretary of State, he served as a key aide to the Secretary of Defense and as National Security Advisor to President Reagan. He also served for 35 years in the United States Army, where he attained the rank of Four-Star General and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Throughout his career and his life, General Powell has always been a fervent purveyor of democratic values. He led the State Department in major efforts to solve regional and civil conflicts in the Middle East, Israel, Sudan, Congo, Northern Ireland and elsewhere. His belief that the diplomatic process is the way to achieve change and promote democracy has helped him build trust, forge alliances and begin transformations in unstable regions where societies and cultures needed to prosper.
"General Powell is the perfect addition to the 2007 IASA Annual Conference," said Steve Meziere, president of IASA and president of Life of America Insurance Company. "We have a very powerful theme for next year -- Learning Today, Leading Tomorrow -- and General Powell certainly embodies much of what we are striving to convey."
Since returning to private life, General Powell has become a strategic limited partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the renowned Silicon Valley venture capital firm. He also serves on the boards of several companies and foundations, and he is the author of a best-selling autobiography, My American Journey.
In addition to the opportunity to hear about and learn from General Powell's firsthand experience with change on a global scale, industry professionals attending the 2007 IASA Annual Educational Conference & Business Show will also get countless networking opportunities, access to over 200 exhibitors and solution providers in the industry's largest exhibit hall, and CPE credits for nearly 70 educational sessions in topic areas important to life/health, property/casualty and reinsurance companies alike. Online registration for IASA Annual Educational Conference & Business Show will begin in early January.
For additional information about the 2007 IASA Annual Conference, please visit the IASA website at www.iasa.org, or contact Margaret McKeon, IASA Conference Director at 636-978-9328 or mmckeon@iasa.org.
About IASA
The Insurance Accounting & Systems Association, Inc. (IASA) is a non-profit, education association that strives to enhance the knowledge of insurance industry professionals, and participants from similar organizations closely allied with the insurance industry by facilitating the exchange of ideas and information. IASA is the insurance industry's largest, and most well represented trade association. IASA membership includes insurance companies of all types (Property & Casualty, Life, Health, Fraternal, HMO and others) as members, as well as companies serving the insurance industry, regulators and also organizations more broadly representative of the financial services industry, including banks and investment brokerage firms. Learn more about the IASA by visiting our website at www.iasa.org or by calling (919) 489-0991.