BIRMINGHAM, Ala., May 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- BBVA Compass announced today that Harold 'Hal' Shults, Jr., has joined the bank as president of BBVA Compass Insurance, a subsidiary of BBVA Compass. In his new role, Shults will oversee the BBVA Compass Insurance network of agencies and their operations, with responsibilities that include driving profitability, compliance and management of nearly 300 employees.
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From his Houston base, Shults will manage a total of ten agencies located throughout the Sunbelt Region, including key markets such as Birmingham, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Denver and Phoenix. In recent years, BBVA Compass Insurance has experienced growth in these markets and others, which can largely be attributed to successful acquisitions of profitable agencies. It's a strategy that has worked, as indicated by the 2008 edition of the Who's Who in Bank Insurance, which ranked BBVA Compass 12th in insurance brokerage revenues amongst the top 100 banks with insurance operations.
'We're extremely pleased to have someone of Hal's caliber join our BBVA Compass Insurance team,' said Manolo Sanchez, President and CEO of BBVA Compass. 'We're ready to significantly enhance and expand BBVA Compass Insurance and Hal, with his many years of experience in strategically building business and revenue, is the perfect person to lead this charge.'
For the past 15 years, Shults served as the President and CEO of Guaranty Insurance Services, Inc., the sister company of Guaranty Bank. Under his leadership, Shults grew the agency from a $15 million, 60 employee agency in 1995, to a $70 million agency with 300 employees in both Texas and California in 2008.
A native of Decatur, TX, Shults graduated from University of the South in Sewanee, TN. He is a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and maintains both Property & Casualty and Life licenses. He has served on Hartford's Advisory Council for three years and co-chaired Hartford's Large Commercial Advisory Board.
