The Jack Derrickson Award For Outstanding Course Leadership

Each year, one CPCU/IIA course leader is awarded the Jack F. Derrickson Award for Outstanding Course Leadership. This award is named in honor of Jack F. Derrickson, CPCU, who served as a course leader and grader of Institute examinations for over 40 years. These course leaders have met the highest Institute standards relating to both numbers of classes led and the quality of educational outcomes. This prestigious award may be earned only once during a course leader's career. Honorees receive a cash award, a plaque, and a stipend toward attending the CPCU Society's Annual Meeting and the American Institute's CPCU Conferment Ceremony to receive the award. The Institutes are proud of the significant contribution that the following course leaders have made to risk management and insurance education. Tessa M. Lucero, CPCU, AMIM, ARe, AIAF – 2008 Derrickson Award Winner   Tessa M. Lucero is an assistant vice president in the Marine Practice department at Marsh Risk and Insurance Services in Los Angeles, CA.  She earned the CPCU designation in 1989 and has been teaching in the Los Angeles area since 1991.  She has taught CPCU 540—Finance for Risk Management and Insurance Professionals (and its predecessor CPCU 8), in both traditional classroom and online formats, for 30 semesters.  Lucero has also led courses in statutory accounting, reinsurance and commercial insurance. She enjoys working with CPCU students via the computer and participates extensively in the Institutes’ online forums. "I am delighted to have been selected to receive the Jack Derrickson Award,” she said.  “I thank all the CPCU students whose hard work, eagerness to learn, and feedback on my teaching methods over the last 17 years have contributed to my becoming an outstanding course leader." A CPCU 540 student stated, “Finance is a foreign language to me.  Thanks to Tessa, I was able to overcome mental obstacles the size of Mount Rushmore and learn a lot about the financial issues relevant to the insurance industry.  Tessa was the first person I called when I learned that I passed the exam. “The course was so daunting for me and Tessa addressed one ratio each day for a long time, responding to many, many follow up inquiries that went waaaaay (repeat, waaaay) beyond the course.  Constructive criticism, immediate feedback, the opportunity to review and review some more . . . it all paid off.  I could not have done it without Tessa Lucero!  If you have a medal for CPCU instructor of the decade, please award it to Tessa the Teacher!” British by birth, Lucero moved to the United States in 1970.  She lives in Canyon Country, California, with her husband, daughter, and son, all of whom have been very supportive of her teaching commitments.  She serves as a public transit liaison for the city of Santa Clarita and teaches Sunday School; her interests include reading voraciously, quilting, baking, hiking and long distance running.  She runs, on average, 40-50 miles per week and has completed 26 marathons. Lucero would like to thank the IEA and American Institute staff for their support and for answering countless questions; her family for putting up with her long hours and time spent writing lectures and grading papers; Jerry Sullivan (CPCU ’68) for hiring her into the industry and encouraging her to pursue the CPCU designation; Marsh for their support for her as a course leader; and all of her students for their patience, dedication, hard work and willingness to provide feedback on what works best to help them pass the CPCU exams and learn more about insurance (and for their ability to have fun in the learning process).

* Employer, Location, and Course Sponsor when the award was earned

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