Surety Foundation Names Eight Scholarship Recipients

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010, WASHINGTON, DC— The Surety Foundation, the educational arm of The Surety & Fidelity Association of America (SFAA), has awarded eight Surety and Fidelity Industry Scholarships for 2010-11. Four of the eight scholarships are renewals and four are new, doubling the number of scholarships that were awarded last year.

Scholarship renewal awardees are:

• Michelle Cox, a junior Accounting major at the University of Arkansas/Ft. Smith;
• Vidya Sathyamoorthy, a senior Finance and Marketing major at the University of Maryland;
• Aaron Wilson, a junior Business and Pre-Law major at the University of Virginia; and
• John Wong, a junior Business major with honors in Accounting from Texas A&M University.

New awardees are:

• Manvir Dhillon, a senior Accounting and Business Administration major at the University of Southern California;
• Alanna Hutcherson, a junior Finance major at Tuskegee University;
• Sally Kamara, a junior Accounting major at Penn State University; and
• Kea Westmoreland, a sophomore Business Administration and Finance major at the University of Tennessee.

Established in 2003 by SFAA, the objective of the Scholarship Program is to provide financial assistance to outstanding students who show significant potential to become surety and fidelity professionals and to encourage their consideration of the surety and fidelity industry and bond underwriting as a career choice. Since 2005, the Program has been administered by The Surety Foundation, whose Trustees award up to $2,500 per year to selected students to support their studies in the areas of insurance/risk management, accounting or business/finance. Should these student scholars maintain the high standards upon which their selection was based, they are eligible for a second year of scholarship award.

As part of the Scholarship Program, each student is provided with a mentor from the surety and fidelity industry who is available to the student to address any issues, concerns and opportunities related to the industry.

More information about The Surety Foundation and the Surety and Fidelity Industry Scholarship Program is available on the Foundation website, www.thesuretyfoundation.org.

The Surety & Fidelity Association of America (SFAA) is an association of more than 450 surety companies that write the vast majority of surety and fidelity bonds in the United States. SFAA is a licensed rating or advisory organization in all states including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico and has been designated by state insurance departments as a statistical agent for the reporting of fidelity and surety experience.