The Fort Myers, Fla.-based Disabled Veterans Insurance Careers (DVIC) nonprofit said that each of its recent graduates have found employment in the insurance industry.

DVIC awarded the three newly-hired disabled veterans — Nelson Acevedo-Diaz, Jordan Hess and Paul Dunaway — Certified Insurance Service Representative (CISR) designations on Feb. 4.

Acevedo-Diaz will work at the National Alliance for Insurance Education and Research in Austin, Texas; Hess will be working at RTI Insurance Services in Ft. Myers; and Dunaway is now employed by Rosier Insurance in Bonita Springs, Fla.

"I am very proud of our three recent graduates, and am thrilled they each found the right position for them in this industry," said Gary Bryant, president and CEO of DVIC. "They are motivated, trainable, team players and I am confident they will succeed in their new careers."

Before joining the DVIC program, Diaz served as a logistics specialist in the U.S. Army at Fort Stewart, Ga., from 2003-2006, and was deployed to Iraq in 2004. He also served as a logistics specialist in the U.S. Army Reserve at Fort Buchanan in Puerto Rico from 2006 to 2010. Diaz was awarded an Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal and a Good Conduct Medal. He is also pursuing a bachelor degree in digital design and graphics at Hodges University.

Hess is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and was deployed as a company-level equipment management chief from 2012 to2013, and was an assistant team leader from 2013 to 2015. He was awarded the Combat Action Ribbon and Afghanistan Campaign Medal. Hess also worked as a sales associate with Electra Vapor Inc. in Jacksonville, N.C.

Dunaway is a veteran of both the U.S. Army and Air Force. He was deployed to Iraq in 2007 as a team leader to train soldiers to maintain technical and tactical proficiency.

Part of the success of the DVIC program is that veterans offer employers a certain set of valuable skills, such as adaptability, efficiency, loyalty, diligence and respect for authority. The DVIC trainees must exhibit positive traits in order to be considered for the program and express a strong desire to have a career in the insurance industry, Phil Tuccy, a DVIC advisory board member and owner of Ellenton, Fla.-based Insurance Group Consulting, explained in a Feb. 3 article for PropertyCasualty360.com.

DVIC was founded in 2011 to educate, train and create meaningful employment opportunities within the insurance industry for disabled veterans. The nonprofit relies on corporate donations, personal donations and support from the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs to sponsor disabled veterans who go through the CISR training program.

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Graduates of disabled veterans program land jobs in insurance industry

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