When Wayne Sumner started Jackson Sumner & Associates, it was just Wayne Sumner and Mimi Dobbins. Mimi and Wayne. That was in 1981. For 37 years they've been a team. And they STILL are a great team. When you see working relationships like that as an employee, it tells you that you're working somewhere that [...]
When we go through our archives, we find all sorts of things that take us way back. This banner is one of those. One year, JSA hosted the NC Insurance Women's group in Boone at Shadrack's - an all-you-can-eat buffet with barbecue, and other Southern foods, that was hugely popular in the high country in the [...]
The simple Rolodex: the original contact list; the OG database. Nothing fancy. Just a way to keep your contacts and phone numbers in alphabetical order. You met someone, they went in your 'dex. And often times that card would get scratched out and re-written many times over the course of business relationship. The Rolodex was [...]
This is JSA's first adding machine, from way back in 1981. It was in active use in the day to day business of JSA until just a few years ago. But we couldn't get rid of it,...because of the sticker. In the early days of JSA, it was just Mimi and Wayne. Wayne had two [...]
This is JSA's first typewriter, an IBM Selectric. There is a vast swath of agents today that have never used a typewriter, so allow us to explain: A typewriter was a hand-operated mechanical device that would print characters via a striking action of embossing ink onto paper. Think of a piano,...except instead of the hammer striking [...]
This week, we observed the 18th year since September 11th, 2001. When we think back to that time, we remember how our CEO, Wayne Sumner got an idea to help a member of the FDNY that was at ground zero. He called up the union and talked with them about his idea of "adopting" [...]
In April of 1981, Jackson Sumner & Associates, Inc. opened our doors and announced it with our newsletter, "The Marketeer." It became our monthly newsletter that was full of JSA news, helpful information for agents, and analysis of the insurance industry. It was pretty much like our e-newsletter today, but with a lot more [...]