(Fairfax, Va.)—The National Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies (NAILBA) last week presented David S. Lenaburg, president and chief executive officer of Banner Life Insurance Company and William Penn Life Insurance Company of New York, with its 2009 Douglas Mooers Award for Excellence.

The annual award, NAILBA’s most coveted and prestigious accolade, honors distinction in brokerage and is bestowed upon the individual most committed to furthering independent life brokerage as a distribution system. Lenaburg was recognized at a special awards dinner held November 13, 2009, as part of the association’s annual meeting, NAILBA 28.

In presenting the award, Doug Mishkin, NAILBA Immediate Past Chairman, said Lenaburg “embodies all of the qualities” the award represents.

“Not only has Lenaburg supported the brokerage industry as a whole, he has been firm in his commitment to NAILBA and its charitable foundation,” Mishkin said. “This commitment, both individually as a foundation director, and financially, through the support of his companies, has been instrumental to the success of the foundation.”

Lenaburg’s use of high-profile contributions has provided between 30- and 50-percent of the funds for charitable foundation grants each year for the last four years, Mishkin added.

With three degrees in mathematics, culminating in a PhD. from Louisiana State University, Lenaburg worked in education for years before making the transition 30 years ago to private industry.  He began with a managerial position in a corporate actuarial department and eventually moved up the ranks, until he was named president and CEO in 1987.

Lenaburg credits his mentor, Pasquale Porcelli, an LSU mathematics professor, for pushing him to excel with a sort of “no excuses, tough love.”

“Pat, as we called him, was the most honest man I’ve ever known, and if he said he’d do something, he would surely do it,” said Lenaburg. “That was a lesson I’ve taken and modeled into other business decisions, and if it weren’t for him, I don’t think my life would’ve turned out the same.”

Lenaburg humbly points to NAILBA and to previous Mooers Award recipients as an example of the best and brightest in the industry.

“I look at the people in the past who have won this award and I am truly honored to be named in the same company,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anyone here who doesn’t understand my love for NAILBA and what they’ve done for me and for the industry.”

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The National Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies (NAILBA) is the premiere insurance industry organization promoting financial security and consumer choice through the use of independent brokerage distribution.  NAILBA member agencies represent 250,000 producers who deliver more than four billion dollars in first year life insurance premiums annually. For more information visit http://www.nailba.org