Russ Martorana, president of Taunton’s Farrell Backlund Insurance Agency, has been honored with the Henry F. Barry Jr. Pacesetter Award by the Massachusetts Association of Insurance Agents (MAIA).
The award, which is the highest honor that MAIA bestows, is designed to recognize an independent agent for outstanding leadership and service to the agency, community and the public. The MAIA is the leading trade association for more than 1,600 Massachusetts independent insurance agencies and their estimated 10,000 employees. FBIA is one of the largest independent property and casualty insurance agencies in southeastern Massachusetts and is an affiliate of Bristol County Savings Bank, also based in Taunton.
Martorana, a 30-year veteran of the insurance business, has served as president of Farrell Backlund Insurance Agency since 1998. Prior to his career in the insurance industry, he was a Certified Public Accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Other local award recipients include:
• Colleen DeMello and Shannon Freeman, of Dartmouth and Berkley, respectively, for obtaining their Certified Insurance Service Representative (CISR) designation;
• Tom Rogers, of Lakeville, for obtaining his Certified Risk Managers (CRM) designation; and
• Diane Chaplin of Attleboro, and Doreen White of Taunton, for being two of the first three people to ever be awarded the designation of Certified Professional in Personal Lines (CPPL) by MAIA. This is a brand new designation introduced to help Personal Lines Account Managers adapt and excel in the managed competition environment.
