Joanne Fisk-Jackson, first female police officer in Vermont.
Date: 10/6/2005Contact: Joan Barrett/800-690-0070
Joanne Fisk-Jackson, the secretary for the Arizona Insurance Claims Association, uses her background as the first female police officer in the state of Vermont and her natural instincts to foil the claimants who intend to defraud her clients, the insurance carriers.
When Joanne was in college in her home state of Vermont, she wrote a term paper on non-traditional jobs for women and discovered that Vermont had never had a female police officer. This presented a challenge she found impossible to resist and Joanne promptly applied to the police academy. She was accepted for what her fellow candidates and the instructors were sure was a short stint and now clearly relishes the memory of coming in third in the class and receiving the apologies of the males that had been so hard on her during the course.
It was after she advanced to the rank of Sergeant that she vacationed in Phoenix for what proved to be a fateful trip. She was so enamored of the weather and clean desert air that she investigated the possibility of transferring her service to the police department in Phoenix but found that she would have to start all over since Arizona had no reciprocity with Vermont. With Joanne’s can-do attitude, she looked in the phone book for ideas on a job that would allow her to remain in Arizona and she jokes, “got as far as the A’s under Adjuster” to find a new career.
Executive Adjusters called in response to her application and she packed her car and left her family shaking their heads that a single woman would pack up and move across the country to take on a new job in a new area. Joanne was just thrilled that she would be living in a clean area with no smog and lovely orange groves. After a year the company was sold and except for a brief stint with the State of Arizona, Joanne has worked for Dan Boozer’s Adjustment, Inc. who bought Executive Adjusters ever since.
Joanne recalls the early days of AICA meetings, where many times she was the only female present at the evening meetings. She reports that many times the fact that she is a female helps with the investigation process, as she is able to gain the trust of the people that can give her information and assistance.
Years ago she was the secretary for the AICA and when it was revived, found herself in the same position this time around. She cites the challenges of providing value to adjusters who are overloaded and must choose to attend the meetings while giving up something else they need to perform their duties.
Joanne is a multi-line adjuster in an industry that leans toward specializing and in this regard has a unique perspective on the topics that should be covered in the newsletter and as speakers for the meetings. She would love to see more topics on sexual harassment and employer’s liability but feels that in order to provide the value to adjusters the board needs to know what they need. Joanne joins the board in encouraging adjusters to supply feedback on topics that would support their needs.
Her kids, now 18 and 20 years of age, have occupied much of her leisure time in the years that she has raised them as a single mother. Her son is interested in following in her footsteps as an adjuster, but her daughter is working with the handicapped. Joanne is understandably proud of them both.