MVCA Claims Member Profile:
JoAnn Dean - She's Baack!
By Bryan Harrison, A.N.N., Inc.

March 2008 Association News Network -
Mid-Valley Claims edition

For those who have been around the Property & Casualty Insurance Claims industry in Northern California for anywhere near a decade, you likely have known JoAnn Dean.

The list of JoAnn’s accomplishments is extensive. Besides working to build major business success pretty much from the ground up for two companies over a ten year period, JoAnn served everywhere she could. She’s a past president of the Claims Conference of Northern California (1997); Past President of the Mt. Diablo Property Association (now merged with East Bay Adjusters to form East Bay Claims Association) for two years (1996 & ‘97). She was president of the Contra Costa Chapter of the National Association of Insurance Women in 1998. She was also “Most Loyal Gander” for the Honorable Order of the Blue Goose Int’l - San Francisco Pond in 1999. JoAnn also served on the board of directors of several other claims-related organizations.

Now back, she has accepted a new marketing position with Primo Clean, a well-respected leader in restoration services, based in Lodi, CA.

Wasting no time, Jo has settled into a new place in Lodi, and has already become active in the community. Establishing herself from the get-go as an Ambassador for the Lodi Chamber of Commerce after just three weeks, JoAnn has taken on duties such as going to ribbon cuttings, chamber mixers, and like, representing the Chamber in her best light.

“Being involved in the Chamber of Commerce gives Primo Clean more exposure, and helps me learn Lodi,” she tells us. “I love it! (Lodi),” she exclaims. “They’ve got all the downtown stores, outdoor cafes, and such. It’s really nice.” She goes on to explain a little of what she’s already learned. “Lodi is actually the Zinfandel Capitol of the U.S.,” she states, going on to say that vintners in the Napa Valley buy a lot of their zin grapes from Lodi vineyards.

So, why the move to Texas those years ago? “My children had both moved there,” she shares. “When I learned I was becoming a grandmother, I knew I had to be there.” So, to be closer to her daughter, Jennifer, she uprooted her life. Michaela, her first “gran”, is now six years old. Brother Trevor is one, and Jo just learned that Jenn is due with her third on Jo’s brother’s birthday, September 27th.

JoAnn’s son, Michael (for whom Michaela was named) and his wife, Carol, have one son, Eric, as well, who turned five last August. All three grandbabies were born in Texas.

Mike and Carol moved back to the Bay Area, settling back in the family’s home town of Vallejo, in February 2007, as Mike accepted a job with Charles Schwab in San Francisco. Their move back made it easier for JoAnn to come home, too.

“I didn’t mind the state (Texas), or the people, but the weather was hard to adapt to. Plus, this is home,” she says with an air of peace at returning.

While in Texas, do as Texans do! In her six years in Dallas, JoAnn became even more involved in the insurance industry, broadening her horizons as a Property/Casualty agent for Nationwide Insurance. “I learned so much,” she tells us. “I (now) understand policy - I wrote auto and homeowners’ policies.”

“When I started in the insurance business I ran a division of Dependable Report Services (DRS), an investigations/background search firm in Martinez. At that time, Wayne Tyson ran the fire investigations division.” When Wayne went out on his own, starting Tyson Fire Investigations in 1992, he asked Jo to come along and be his Marketing Director for Northern California. His business flourished during her tenure there.

After Wayne, and a brief stint trying her hand at advertising sales, working at Harrison Promotional Services, JoAnn accepted an offer to take on the Marketing Director position for V&M Restoration, Inc., when they were starting up their first Northern California office in San Leandro. Her success there from the start helped established the Southern California-based firm in a big way. She later helped open their Sacramento office before making her move to the South.

Other than family, JoAnn’s passions include music. She plays piano, and is in the market for a “real” keyboard again. “I feel like I’m pretty much starting a new, fresh, life again,” she explains. “It was easier to part with a lot of the ‘stuff’ I had accumulated than to move it all back here from Texas,” she says. So she’s now creating a new home for herself in Lodi.

I love working for Ineke and Leo Volkert, and their son and daughter-in-law, Nick and Michelle. They have an awesome reputation in business and the industry. They’ve been in business for 27 years, and have worked hard to build their standing in the community. They’re good people, too,” she says with a smile. Leo Volkert recently accepted a distinguished appointment to the Board of Directors for the Restoration Industry Association, formerly ASCR, as Secretary and Foundation Trustee for the organization.

Working for Primo Clean, JoAnn’s territory is pretty extensive, covering as far as East Contra Costa and Solano Counties, with a primary focus in San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Sacramento, Calaveras, and Amador counties.

She plans to pick up her involvement with Sacramento Claims, Mid-Valley Claims; is back on the planning committee for the CCNC, as well as rejoining EBCA. Most locally, she’ll continue with the Lodi Chamber, and is interested in joining the San Joaquin Insurance Professionals (chapter of Nat’l Assn of Ins. Women).

JoAnn would love to hear from you. She can be reached at: (800) 760-7737, jdean@primoclean.com, or her cell at (209) 747-7432.