Al Parsons joined the Insurance Federation of Minnesota as its president & chief executive officer in July 1994. He came to the Federation with many years of experience in the insurance industry. Al worked in Washington, DC, as vice president of a consulting firm and senior vice president of a major national insurance trade association. Prior to his work in Washington, he was a second vice president and director of corporate communications for Lincoln National Corporation in Fort Wayne, Indiana, then the nation’s 15th largest diversified financial service company and among the nation’s largest health and life insurers. Before working in the insurance industry, Parsons spent nearly 10 years in the electric and natural gas utility industry. Parsons is a past chairman of the Midwest Society of Association Executives as well as a board member of the Public Affairs Council in Washington, DC. Other memberships include: The Public Relations Society of America; The International Association of Business Communicators; The Minnesota Governmental Relations Council; and The Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi. He is a graduate of Louisiana State University, where he majored in journalism.