More Than a Volunteer, She's a Voice for Her Peers
Posted: 12/7/2021
Chasity Devasurendra is always looking for a better way. This year’s NetVU Volunteer Service Award winner admits she has to control her compulsion to fix everything.
“I’m a fixer. It’s just my nature. I sometimes have to catch myself when I’m listening to someone to not try to fix something. My husband and I have come to this understanding: first we ask the other person ‘do you want a solution, or do you just want me to listen?’”
If you don’t know her personally, you probably know Chasity by name or reputation. Her married name is pronounced deh-vuh-suh-REND-ruh. If you can’t remember that, she says it sounds kind of like the phrase “never surrender.” Which is appropriate for someone who never gives up.
And her reputation? Just listen to Mike Havens, who preceded her as chair of the AIM product work group.
“Chasity stood out, she was prepared and took her role seriously. She’s always prepared and asks questions. She studied the comments in the Ideas Portal and made notes and came prepared to ask questions.”
Havens, who’s director of training and support at RT Specialty, says Chasity embodies the qualities of a volunteer: always acting unselfishly, working to benefit the independent agency channel, her company, and Vertafore products.
Chasity actually started her insurance career at Vertafore in a support role, eventually moving to the agency side at Regions, which was acquired by CRC. She’s a graduate of Central Alabama Community College and Faulkner University. She and her engineer husband have been married six years and live in Birmingham, AL, where she works as Manager of Operations for CRC Insurance Services, one of the nation’s largest wholesalers.
As she wrote in a recent blog, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. That’s how she sees her role as chair of the work group, prioritizing improvement requests and working with Vertafore to implement them.
“Helping other users or agencies discover what the system can do - that’s a pretty big driver for me. Also, pushing issues up the ladder to get them fixed.”
She credits her time at Vertafore with giving her an appreciation of user input.
“Being on the Vertafore side I saw the importance of users submitting their suggestions and requests and working side-by-side with users. That’s why I wanted to join NetVU, to help from the agency side of it.”
For someone who likes to take action and fix things, Chasity is also good at listening.
“One of the things we’re trying to do in the AIM work group - to make it more beneficial for everyone - is going back through those ideas so they know that their voice is being heard, that by submitting ideas they are making a difference.”
Taking it a step further, she sees her role as an advocate for other members.
“We want AIM users to know that when they put something out there it doesn’t just sit out there. Reviewing all the ideas shines a spotlight back on these ideas that maybe are a few years old that should be escalated and put into a release.”
The Volunteer Service Award in memory of James M. Gibson is presented to an individual for his or her service to NetVU, going above and beyond the call of duty helping NetVU members and serving as a positive role model to members and the industry.
Going above and beyond, Chasity has built a track record of service to the industry. She started as a NetVU member, then stepped up to co-lead the AIM product work group alongside Jenny Welk. This past year she also helped coordinate the education sessions for Accelerate. Her tireless efforts and the example she sets for others earned her Chapter MVP recognition in 2020.
“I think the networking obviously is a great benefit,” she says. “But also when I run into an issue, bouncing ideas off of other agencies is super beneficial. Knowing who uses certain things, to know the right people to go to with questions.”
So it’s no surprise that Havens offers this adjective to describe Chasity Devasurendra: “committed.”