Johnny O’Shea, left, and Mark Rogina.

The College of Business has announced that the winners of the new Foundation for Agency Management Excellence (FAME) scholarships for insurance sales are Mark Rogina and Johnny O’Shea.

The $5,000 scholarships are sponsored by the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers and are offered to students who are pursuing a track in both sales and insurance. The two students have had internships in insurance sales.

“These new scholarships complement the two $5,000 FAME scholarships that the Katie School already offers for insurance majors. The Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers is extremely interested in seeing more young people enter the insurance sales area, especially business-to-business (commercial insurance) sales,” said Jim Jones, the director of the Katie School Insurance and Financial Services.

“The goal of FAME is to encourage more young people to enter the great field of risk management and insurance after graduation,” said Ken A. Crerar, president and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based council. “The 38 scholarship recipients this year represent our largest class ever. In addition to helping these bright, deserving students pay for their college education, I think we’re also opening more students’ eyes to the promising careers insurance can offer. These hardworking FAME scholars are the kinds of professionals we want in our industry. It’s a win-win.”

Other FAME scholarship winners from Illinois State were Jean Celestin, a junior in insurance, and Brett Glaser, a senior in insurance and finance.

Mike Boehm, the executive director of the Professional Sales Institute, thanked Jones for his efforts in bringing to fruition this pair of FAME scholarships to be offered to students pursuing a track in both insurance and the full sales sequence or even a University Sales Center Alliance sales certificate track. A commitment from FAME means these two renewable $5,000 scholarships will be offered again in 2013, 2014, and 2015.