Jerald Tillman accepts 2025 Alonzo Herndon Award

CHICAGO — Insurance professionals must take on the responsibility to advance their own careers and be prepared to put in the time and effort to build their expertise and their networks, said Jerald L. Tillman, winner of the 2025 Alonzo Herndon Award.

“It’s not who you know, but who knows you. It’s your responsibility to make other people aware that you exist,” he said while accepting the award at Business Insurance’s INSUREChange 2025 conference.

Mr. Tillman owns JL Tillman Insurance Agency, a multiline agency in Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio.

He began his career as a sales representative for Aetna Life & Casualty in 1974, after graduating from Miami University of Ohio, and founded his agency three years later.

Mr. Tillman said he first started thinking about diversity in insurance in 1977 when he joined an insurance association in Ohio and was one of three people of color among the 300 members.

“I was so excited to be in this industry, I had to go out and tell other people about it. I had to go out and tell other people of color about this opportunity,” Mr. Tillman said.

He spent 20 years developing the concept and establishing industry groups before launching the National African American Insurance Association in 1997.

The award is named in honor of Alonzo Herndon, a visionary businessman who more than 100 years ago founded what would become Atlanta Life Insurance, one of the United States’ largest and most successful Black-owned businesses.