Bryant Brown Has Acquired His CIC designation!

Well, I suspect that everyone already knows you, Bryant, but it never hurts to refresh people's memory. Just how long have you been with American Mining? 11 years last month.

How long have you been in the Birmingham home office? Since July of 2001.

Where did you work before coming to American Mining? Kentucky Employers Mutual Insurance for a couple of years and before that I was an independent insurance agent in Kentucky.

And now the real news: you recently acquired your CIC (Certified Insurance Counselors) designation. Tell us a little bit about the CIC? The CIC is a continuing education program designed by The National Alliance of Insurance Education & Research. Of all the licensed agents, only 30,000 have received the designation since the program was started in 1969. The program gives you a well rounded base for what independent agents will face. It enables you to learn what is happening in the insurance world and to keep up with the ever changing policies and market place.

How long did it take to prepare? How many tests are there? You must take five courses and pass an exam after each in order to receive your designation. The course is twenty hours long over three days and the exam is taken at the end. It is a discussion test that has up to twenty questions and takes up to two hours to complete. To learn more about the CIC, visit www.scic.com.

Now that you've got that certification under your belt, what's next! More tests? A nice vacation? A vacation would be nice, but as Dom says "we are not making any money if I'm in the office", I must hit the road again. Will be at the ASIA, Utah Mining Association, and the Pennsylvania Coal Association conferences, all in August and MineExpo in September.

I do plan to continue my education by obtaining the Certified Risk Managers designation. This too, is a five part series and they count toward the continuing education requirements for the CIC. These courses give a more in-depth discussion of how to handle business risk using insurance and other methods. It gives you an insight to what our customers, the mining companies, must do to survive in our economy. My plan is to take classes in states other than Alabama that we do business in. That way, I may meet agents to recruit and sell our products. I feel that if the agents are taking their time and money to attend these classes, then they are the type of agents we want to represent our company. I did this for one course in my CIC and met several agents and we have gotten an application from a couple.

You've got a son in college, right? Is he home for the summer? AJ did come home for the summer and probably wishes he didn't. He works at a golf course in the maintenance department and must be at work at 5 am every day. Just what a teenager wants. He is scheduled to return August 9th to Campbellsville University in Kentucky, to start football practice. It is hard to believe that football season is just around the corner and my weekend trips start. Last year I was able to see all 10 of AJ's games, from Columbus, Ohio to Jackson, Tennessee. It is really fun to get up at 4 am on Saturday to drive at least 5 hours to see the game. We cannot leave Friday because Chris, our youngest, plays for Pelham High School on Friday nights. He will be a senior this year, I don't know what we will do if he decides to play college ball, but I am sure we will figure out something.

I want everyone to know that I have a great time working here because the people are the best.