Work Hard and Never Stop Being Curious

By Lexie Anderson | Posted: 2/2/2021

The February issue of our Meet the Board series features none other than Dana Coates, Board Member at Large. Dana Coates is the CEO of United Western Insurance Brokers (UWIB). He lives in Pasadena, CA with his wife, dog, and cat, but frequently travels back and forth between the Pacific Northwest and Pasadena, CA where UWIB has offices. 

Dana and UWIB got involved with NetVU when they switched from a competing management system to Vertafore. When switching to Vertafore Dana took advantage of the NetVU Community where he realized there is a vast wealth of knowledge. Still utilizing the NetVU Community today he has been able to learn the ins and outs of all the Vertafore products UWIB uses. They currently use AMS360, InsurLink, ReferenceConnect, BenefitPoint, VSSO, Platform, AgencyEdge, and PL Rating. 

While he comes from an insurance family Dana pursued a multitude of career paths before finally settling into insurance. Some of those vocations being a restaurant waiter, auto mechanic, cowboy, and policeman. He may tell you insurance was his safe option however taking away as much knowledge as he did only helped him become an even better risk manager. 

One of Dana’s favorite things about NetVU is the opportunity to learn new things and see how others are executing the new ideas within their own agencies. He can’t stress enough how essential the NetVU Community is for learning about each individual Vertafore product. Dana wishes more people were aware of, “if you compare the number of participating NetVU visitors to the number of actual product users, it becomes instantly clear that a lot of product users are missing out on the resources that exist in the NetVU community.” NetVU offers so many resources enabling its members to get the greatest return on investment for the dollars spent on major technologies.

When he isn’t busy working or serving on the NetVU Board of Directors, Dana and his wife love to travel, Italy being their favorite country. Dana lived on the island of Cerralvo, in the Sea of Cortez for a couple years back in 1967. Dana’s favorite quote is somewhat of an inside joke, “hang on while I overthink this”, but if you know Dana then you will understand. He knows how important it is to be able to laugh at yourself in life.

Insurance may not have been Dana’s first career choice, but he has made quite a name for himself within the industry and now serves as a Board Member at Large on NetVU’s Board of Directors. Dana truly believes insurance is a relationship and trust business. “The short game is a lot more manageable if you play a strong long game, in other words, work hard, look for and take advantage of every opportunity to learn, and never stop being curious”. The resources that NetVU offers allows you to be curious and find answers to your questions. Whether it be on the NetVU Community, or on one of our Corporate Partner or Education webinars. NetVU prides itself on our ability to bring easily accessible, top tier education and resources to Vertafore product users.

You can find Dana and say hello on the NetVU Community.