----7/16/2010----

LINCOLN - Arthur Parks was seated Friday (7/16) as a member of the Lincoln Electric System Administrative Board.

He is claims manager - property and casualty at State Farm Insurance where he has been employed since 1993. He leads the centralized auto claims operation for the six-state Heartland Zone. Lincoln is the sixth community where he has worked with the firm: Columbia, Mo., West Lafayette, Ind., Salem, Ore., DuPont, Wash., and Bloomington, Ill.

At State Farm, he has held leadership positions with its credit union, and he is leading a study of existing and emerging demographics in the Heartland Zone. He also has worked with legislators in several states on issues affecting the insurance industry.

He has been involved with the United Way and Chamber of Commerce and served on a school district citizen's advisory council in other communities. He has been a Scoutmaster with the Boy Scouts of America and has volunteered in Lincoln as a YMCA youth sports coach.

Parks was born and raised in St. Louis, Mo., and earned a bachelor's degree in accounting in 1992 from Truman State University in Kirksville, Mo.

He was appointed by Lincoln Mayor Chris Beutler and approved by the Lincoln City Council when Kathy Campbell resigned from the board after serving six and one-half years.