Marie Vogel

Date: 12/8/2006
Contact: Joan Barrett/800-690-0070

Marie Vogel has a positive vibe about her that comes right out of the phone and sits down. She has a lot to be positive about; she loves her job as a General Adjuster for David Morse and Associates, newly renamed DMA Claims Services. She loves her new home in Arizona and loves taking care of property claims both personal lines and commercial losses throughout the entire state. Her enthusiasm extends to third party liability claims, construction defect investigations, everything she says “From the pipe under the homeowner’s sink to a fire in a commercial manufacturing plant”. “DMA is set up as a full service claims resource; all property and casualty claims including Workers Comp and services of a Cat team, we can do it all,” she continued. ‘That’s what keeps it interesting for me, no two days are ever the same and since I work from home I can tailor my time to accommodate my policyholders. I routinely work on Saturdays and can meet with the policyholders whenever they need me to be there.” Marie stated positively.

She relocated from Chicago to Los Angeles with her then-husband and two little boys and quickly discovered that the cost of living in Southern California wasn’t going to allow the luxury of stay-at-home motherhood. She worked at Farmers Insurance in Los Angeles in the underwriting department and then gained experience in property claims. She moved on from Farmers to work on residential and commercial claims, including inland marine and ocean cargo, including a brief stint in Auto BI. The thing that didn’t change was Marie’s strong sense of responsibility and putting the policyholder’s needs before her own. Marie explained her job to her small sons by telling them that; like their grandfather who is a doctor, “I act like a doctor for buildings; I find out what is the matter with them and what needs to be done to make them well”. An analogy that the boys understood immediately.

The little boys are now grown up and making their Mom proud. Michael received his wings recently as a US Naval Flight Officer and will be married soon, depending on deployment. Christopher is doing graduate work at UCLA and has an impressive record there. Marie has family in Phoenix and that made her transition to the area a pleasure. She now lives close to her mother and is enjoying the proximity and the opportunity to spend time with her family.

Marie was part of Claims Association boards of directors in California so she is a big supporter of the fellowship and education opportunities that the Associations can provide. She recalls how timely it was for her to hear the presentation on Business Interruption at the October AICA meeting by Joe Epps. “It was just what I needed to hear”, she said. “Actually, I have expressed interest in working on the AICA board and I really do know what I’m getting into”, she said.