Carrie Miller
Threlkeld & Company
NetVU is volunteer-driven, and from contributing ideas to message boards, teaching classes, hosting conferences, and participating in regional chapter meet-ups, it’s the volunteers who are the glue that keeps NetVU together. During the 2024 Accelerate in New Orleans, volunteers were honored in many ways. But the ultimate honor is the peer-nominated Volunteer Service Award in Memory of James M. Gibson, which was announced at the conference. When this year’s winner heard her name called, surprise was an understatement.
“I was shocked,” Carrie Miller exclaimed. “I was shaking and so excited. There are so many hardworking volunteers. It could have been anyone, but it has been so fun to be involved with NetVU.”
Carrie has been in the insurance industry for 11 years and is the quality control director at Threlkeld & Company Insurance in Tyler, Texas. In her role, her weekly to-do list could include anything the agency needs. Six years ago, she started leveraging NetVU resources and was encouraged to attend an Accelerate event. Carrie didn’t know what to expect, but the impact of that decision was felt immediately.
“I came back from that conference with a new perspective on how to do my job,” she said. “There were so many resources I just wasn’t using or wasn’t aware of. I felt like the sky was the limit!”
Carrie started volunteering for NetVU to share what she learned and give others the same experience she had leaving that first conference. Her first step as a volunteer was to join the host committee for Accelerate. Soon, she found herself volunteering in a variety of capacities and roles based on what her schedule would allow.
“I have appreciated meeting other people in roles like mine from across the country,” Carrie said. “I don’t see the people who attend the conference as competitors; they are collaborators both personally and professionally. You have a group of people there to support you. They are happy you are there, and you just fit right in. It is a leap of faith, but it is worth it.”
