CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – For Marines veteran Chris Shank, family, career and service to the country all go hand-in-hand.
Shank is half-owner and an agency representative of Shelter Insurance along with his father, Tim, and he handles life insurance for the business.
“I served in the Marines to help people, and this is an opportunity to help more people. It’s also a chance for me to grow the family name even more,” Shank said.
Serving country and community
Shank joined the Marine Corps in 2011. He said he liked the discipline of the Marines and saw it as an opportunity to make something of himself.
He said he was assigned to signals intelligence, working with classified satellite systems, and after reenlisting, he switched to cyber security. After an injury in 2019, he was medically retired in 2020 and shorty after moved to his position at Shelter Insurance.
“I take this as an opportunity and I kind of treat Shelter as my ministry. I don’t need to chase a paycheck. I don’t need to convince someone that you need to switch over. At Shelter we can really turn around and start helping people with insurance,” Shank said.
Shank said his father had suffered some health issues and talked to him about getting his insurance license and taking over the business if anything happened to him. Shank said he got an opportunity to get to know Shelter, and he liked what they stood for.
“The great part about this job is we can actually go out and try to help folks,” he said. “The thing that really spoke to me about Shelter is the company is super rare in the fact that they encourage an agent-client relationship They want us to get to know them and how to better insure them. Most companies you call a 1-800 number and talk to someone different each time, no one really knows you.”
Father-son partnership
Shank also partners with his father working with the nonprofit his dad founded, Bizvets Connect, which helps veteran owned and veteran friendly businesses connect with each other.
Tim Shank said he’s proud of his son. “Working with my son and watching him take care of clients and seeing the commitment that he has servicing the people, makes me feel very good,” Shank said.
“There were so many years not having him in my life while he was serving in the Marines, maybe once or twice a year, now every day is like Christmas having Chris here. So as far as I am concerned, I am double blessed.”
You’ll find Chris Shank at the Shelter Insurance office, 1899 Ashland City Road. To find out more visit ShelterInsurance.com/TShank, email Chris at [email protected] or call the office at 931-542-6111 or on his cell at 513-939-4544.
