John Wiscaver, director of catastrophe response for State Farm Insurance, will discuss "Insurance: Dealing with Disasters, Death and Deception" at the Parker Ethics Lecture Thursday [JAN. 24] at East Central University. He will speak at 6:30 p.m. in the Estep Multimedia Center in the University Center.
Wiscaver has subtitled his presentation "Real life stories involving ethics and emotion" and will cite real-world examples from his career in the insurance industry.
The lecture is sponsored by ECU's Oscar L. Parker Center for the Advancement of Ethical Standards in Business and Society with assistance from the ECU Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team.
"We are very fortunate that John Wiscaver will present this year's Parker Ethics Lecture," said Dr. Pat Fountain, director of the Parker Ethics Center. "His background and the nature of his talk should appeal to a wide range of people, including those interested in legislative affairs, public relations and business as well as anyone who has or hopes to have insurance."
From managing his company's brand in Oklahoma to coordinating the public relations response after natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the recent historic ice storm in Oklahoma, Wiscaver has a unique perspective on how ethics is the foundation in the insurance business, Fountain said.
Wiscaver is a member of State Farm's Public Affairs team and is located at the Tulsa Operations Center. He is the company's catastrophe response coordinator for Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas and Louisiana. He also oversees State Farm's legislative affairs, media relations and community relations for Oklahoma.
He joined State Farm in 1987 as a fire claims representative in the St. Louis metro area and advanced through the claims ranks before joining the company's public affairs department the Illinois Region in 1995. He moved to Tulsa in 2000.
Wiscaver serves on the boards of directors for Junior Achievement of Eastern Oklahoma, Leadership Tulsa and the Tulsa Community College Foundation. He also was part of the Tulsa Area United Way leadership team for the 2007 campaign.
Fountain is a professor of business administration and ECU's service-learning director. He is the current vice president of the Association of Collegiate Marketing Educators and the president of the Career Guidance Network of Oklahoma. In 2007 he was recognized for outstanding service by the American Society of Business and Behavioral Sciences.
He holds a bachelor's degree from ECU; a master's degree in regional science from the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, and both a master's degree in human relations and supervision and a doctor of business administration degree from Louisiana Tech University.
The Parker Ethics Center was established at ECU in 1988 through a trust agreement to provide a forum for the presentation of issues involving business and societal ethics of interest to the business and academic community and the general public.
Oscar L. Parker was a respected educator, businessman, college administrator, civic leader and long-time ECU employee.
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