Senior Property and Casualty executives from major national insurance companies and Philadelphia regional insurance brokers competed Sept. 2 at Commonwealth National Golf Club in the 2003 Insurance Industry Golf Team Challenge to benefit the Kate Svitek Memorial Foundation.

Putting aside their normal business competition for an afternoon of friendly corporate team competition, 27 foursomes raised over $42,000 for the Foundation established in memory of Kate Svitek of Ambler, who died at age 22 in a snowboarding accident in 2002. Kate's parents, Frank and Ellen Svitek, said the foundation provides grants for environmental and other outdoor programs that were near and dear to their daughter's heart.

According to Frank Svitek, president and CEO of the Clair Odell Insurance Agency Inc. in Norristown, a portion of this year's proceeds will be used to provide scholarships in his daughter's memory to deserving students from Community Academy of Philadelphia (a Pennsylvania charter school located at Erie Avenue and J Street) to the North Carolina Outward Bound program.

Participating corporate teams included: ACE USA, American International
Group, Argonaut Insurance Company, CBIZ Benefits & Insurance Services of PA, Chubb Group, Clair Odell Group, C N A Insurance Co., Commerce Insurance Services, Delaware Valley Underwriting Agency, ECBM, Fireman's Fund, The Graham Company, The Hartford Insurance Company, Hilb Rogal & Hamilton, Johnson Kendall & Johnson Inc., McKee Risk Management Inc., Norman Spencer McKernan, Penn-America Insurance, PMA Insurance Co., St. Paul Insurance, The Simkiss Co., Stewart Smith East, Triester Rossman & Associates, USI Mid-Atlantic, Willis, and Zenith Insurance Co.

Major corporate sponsorship for the event was underwritten by First Insurance Funding Corp., Young Adjustment Co., Margolis Edelstein, Belfor USA, and Keenan Motors.

For more information on the Kate Svitek Memorial Foundation, go to www.katesvitekmemorial.org.