When Madison Siefert founded Gamma Iota Sigma, a student organization that strengthens the insurance industry’s student talent pipeline by connecting USF students with faculty and industry professionals through corporate partnerships and community events, members could fit around a single table.
Two years after its inception,Gamma Iota Sigma is the fastest growing student organization at USF thanks, in part, to its unfailing ability to connect students with internships and full-time positions and a new rule, which requires all undergraduates enrolled in the Muma College of Business to take a course on the principles of risk management.
Unlike those for whom the required course is an introduction to the industry, Siefert knew by high school she wanted to study risk management and insurance.
“Every time a disaster hits, you kind of want to be out there and you want to be helping,” said Seifert, who was inspired by her mother, a medical billing professional, to enter the field.
Her commitment and dedication to the program at USF and her desire to build a community post-pandemic allowed her to hit the ground running when Steven Miller, former director for The Baldwin Group School of Risk Management and Insurance, suggested she found the organization.
“I was like, ‘Absolutely. Sign me up right away,’” said Seifert.
To scroll through the group’s LinkedIn page is to take a tour of the organization's impressive community engagement efforts. Students attend professional conferences — including the Risk Management Society’s RISKWORLD and the Florida Association of Insurance Agents Workforce Summit and Annual Convention — partner with Feeding Tampa Bay, take a behind-the-scenes tours of local businesses and build houses with Habitat for Humanity Sarasota. On more than one occasion, group members have come away from these events with a part-time or full-time employment opportunities.
“Madison’s leadership is second to none,” said Kristi Hoskinson, assistant vice president for strategic initiatives at USF Sarasota-Manatee and advisor to Gamma Iota Sigma. “Thanks to her, we are more than a student organization; we are a community.”
When Siefert graduated from USF and accepted a full-time position with Shepherd Insurance, she was confident Gamma Iota Sigma would remain a source of “endless” opportunity for USF students under new president Evan Fueyo, who, according to Siefert, is already taking the group to “new heights” with plans to establish a fundraising committee and to develop bylaws.
“We’ve grown a lot, and we will continue to grow,” said Fueyo, who is double majoring in finance and risk management and insurance. “My role is to set a strong foundation and make it easy for future presidents to continue our growth, continue member engagement and bring new ideas.”
To thank Siefert for all the work she did getting the fraternity up and running, Fueyo and other Gamma Iota Sigma members — there are now more than 80 in total — sent her a collection of videos and photos of awards the chapter won at a recent conference.
“To see all of our hard work pay off and be recognized and awarded was one of the most special moments of my life,” Siefert said. “It felt like the best way to close my chapter of being president of the student organization.”