CAMDEN — Harold Campbell, co-founder of Campbell & Company of Camden, is being inducted into the Arkansas Insurance Hall of Fame on Thursday, Oct. 27, according to a news release.
Campbell is also the creator of “Sales Track” - an agency sales management system that fostered a network of independent insurance agencies providing property, casualty, life and health insurance to over 14,000 clients across Arkansas, the release states.
Campbell will be inducted during a banquet Thursday at the Farris Center on the Campus of the University of Arkansas. He will be one of eight inductees for the 2016 year. The AIHF was created in 2015 to identify and honor distinguished insurance professionals with strong ties to Arkansas, states the release. Campbell is among only the second class of inductees to receive this honor.
Campbell graduated from Hendrix College in 1957 and began his insurance career with Northwestern Mutual Insurance Company in the Dallas, Texas, office. He later returned to his town of Camden to join his then father-in-law, Ed Pace, to form Pace, Mosley, and Campbell - expanding the insurance division of the previous agency’s operation.
In 1977, Pace retired and sold his interests in the agency to Campbell. In 1978, he formed Campbell & Company by merging the previous agency with Guaranty Insurance Agency. Over the years, he added another 19 agencies to strengthen the central corporation in Camden and created the unique system which shared equally in the ownership if separate corporations with local agents to provide professional products and services. The news release states that, with their help, the agency serviced 12 locations across Arkansas to provide commercial and personal lines of insurance to a large number of outstanding clients.
Over the years, Campbell served in leading capacities in Camden as mayor, president and chairman of the city of Camden, and was involved with the Ouachita County Hospital, the Camden Jaycees, the Camden Chamber of Commerce, Camden Rotary Club, Ouachita County Red Cross Drive, Camden Area United Way, the Ouachita County Probation Board, Executive Committee of the Arkansas Municipal League, the Governor’s Advisory Board to the Insurance Commissioner, and the Arkansas Association of Professional Agents.
He served as a director of several banks, received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Hendrix College in 1976, received several local awards in Camden, and was recognized nationally for his work in the agency system. He will now have the Arkansas Insurance Hall of Fame award to add to his long list of achievements.