Each year, the Corridor Business Journal shines a spotlight on young professionals who have made a meaningful impact on the region early in their careers.
This year, we are proud to introduce you to the 19th class of Forty Under 40 honorees. In this post, you’ll find the insurance professionals being honored.
Mandy Ferrante
Personal and Commercial Lines Agent | Bouslog Insurance
Age: 39
Family: Husband, Phil; children, Scarlett and Leo
Residence: Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Hometown: Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Education: University of Northern Iowa – Bachelor of Arts in Management
Best advice you ever received? Do the hard thing first. Stay positive. Learn from mistakes/failures and move on.
What do you consider your “big break” in your career, so far? Connecting with my current boss through networking and it ended up being the perfect fit for me.
What would most people be surprised to learn about you? I have a yellow belt in karate (from when I was 10 years old- but don’t test me)!
If you had $1 million to give, what causes would you support? Junior League of Cedar Rapids, an organization of women whose mission is to advance women’s leadership for meaningful community impact through volunteer action, collaboration, and training. Celebrating 90 years of Corridor impact this year!
What’s the biggest issue facing the Corridor, and why? Hard to choose just one, but I’d say affordable housing. Without stable housing, some of the other issues like education, lack of affordable day care and transportation can’t be addressed.
What are your passions outside of the workplace? Being a mom, traveling to new places, spending time with friends and family, having fun outdoors – hiking, biking and boating.
What’s something people should know about your generation in the workplace? This generation will not just follow orders. They aren’t afraid to challenge authority and question processes. Sometimes this is because they are being lazy and don’t want to do something, but good employees want to have their voice heard and contribute to improving processes and systems.
What do you want to accomplish by the time you are 50? I would love to have my own personal assistant, but I’m sure I can make that happen sooner than that!
Joe Vens
Risk Advisor | First MainStreet Insurance
Age: 32
Family: Wife, Erin; children, Lyla, Dean and Rory
Residence: Tiffin, Iowa
Hometown: Clinton, Iowa
Education: University of Iowa – Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance
Best advice you ever received? Do not rush through the moments that your future self would give anything to go back and relive just one more time.
What would most people be surprised to learn about you? I “do the work” (therapy) once a month and have been for the past two years. It is probably the most important hour of my month and one I’d encourage anybody to explore.
If you had $1 million to give, what causes would you support? I’d want to get advice from others who are much more familiar with local and deserving causes before making decisions here. Several I’m aware of that are doing great work in our community that I know I’d want to contribute to are No Foot Too Small, The TrueNorth Foundation, and Veritas Church.
What’s the biggest issue facing the Corridor, and why? It’s important to first acknowledge that we have it really good here in the Corridor. Challenges certainly exist, but when taking a comparative look I’m convinced this is an extraordinary place to live and raise a family.
What’s something people should know about your generation in the workplace? I believe our generation wants to truly feel valued by their employer and have a level of autonomy within their work life. Recognition and flexibility.
What do you want to accomplish by the time you are 50? There is nothing that has brought me more joy and fun than coaching our daughter’s 3rd/4th grade basketball team. If I could lock in one goal I’d like to achieve before that age, it would be to coach them all the way through and end up being Clear Creek Amana’s high school girls’ basketball head coach when they go through those high school years.
