An insurance professional with more than two decades of experience, Hiawatha Franks currently holds the position of claims director at The Hartford in Lake Mary, Florida. Throughout his career, Hiawatha Franks has consistently worked to enhance his skills, earning several professional designations, including Associate in Risk Management and Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU).

Conferred by the professional organization The Institutes, the CPCU designation is the property-casualty industry's premier credential. Procuring the designation requires passing eight courses and examinations, meeting an experience requirement, and agreeing to abide by a strict code of professional conduct. Typically, the credential takes nearly four years to complete, making a strong level of commitment a requirement for those seeking the designation. 

Upon completion, however, CPCUs are considered property-casualty experts, and as a result most receive increased job security. Furthermore, many designees go on to work in management positions, allowing them to apply their knowledge and skills to improving the companies they lead.

In the course of his two-decade career in insurance, Hiawatha Franks has earned licensure as a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), a distinction held by fewer than one percent of all insurance professionals working in the United States today. Franks uses this distinctive education to inform his work as the director of workers’ compensation claims at The Hartford, a leading provider of group benefits, mutual funds, and property and casualty insurance in the American Southeast. He has also earned certifications in general insurance, insurance services, and risk management. 

The CPCU license is a battery of courses and tests offered by the Institutes (formerly the American Institute for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters) since 1942 for property-casualty insurance and risk management. CPCU courses train agents to apply risk management and insurance principles to everyday practice, to use technology to assess and manage complex commercial property and personal loss claims, and to develop knowledge of all functional areas of insurance and how they relate to each other in practice.