BXXX Brooke Corp (MM)

OVERLAND PARK, Kan., April 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Dane Devlin, senior vice president of operations of Brooke Franchise Corporation, announced that renovations will soon be completed on its new $3 million training academy and customer service center located at 8500 College Blvd., in Overland Park, Kan. The first day of operations at the new location is scheduled to be Monday, April 23. The Brooke Academy, which was established more than three years ago, provides training for Brooke's network of independent agent franchisees. Currently, sessions are held at Brooke's national offices in Overland Park, but will move to the new facility upon its completion. During the last three years, the Academy has grown significantly. In 2006 alone, more than 300 franchise students attended Brooke Academy's three-day basic training sessions. Angela Baska, who has served as full-time coordinator of student activities for more than two years, is expected to continue in that role. Additionally, a search is underway for a full-time dean of the Academy. "The Academy has become a milestone in the professional lives of new franchisees," said Devlin. "We have located the Brooke Academy in an office with a group of our local Brooke franchisees so academy students get a taste of life as a Brooke insurance franchise." Eight franchisees from the Kansas City area will be located at the 8500 College Blvd. location. The franchisees will share an office staff of licensed customer service representatives and clerical personnel. In conjunction with the opening of the new facility, Brooke Franchise will introduce a completely revamped and updated Brooke Academy curriculum. To provide an additional perspective on the new curriculum, Brooke retained Pat Alexander, CIC, CPIW, a consultant with significant experience in workflow analysis and development of training programs. Alexander's insurance experience spans 40 years, and she has published numerous articles and regularly speaks at industry events. The updated Brooke Academy curriculum includes a new training module to qualify franchisees who want to offer bank products and services to their customers through Brooke Savings Bank. The new bank product and service offerings are made possible by Brooke's recent acquisition of Generations Bank, a federal savings bank, from Kansas City Life Insurance Company. Brooke views compliance as critical to "agent banking," and this training module will enable franchisees to comply with both regulatory and company rules. Bank management and employees will also be located at the 8500 College Blvd. location so they can work directly with Brooke Academy students. The updated Brooke Academy curriculum is based on the content and procedures contained in version 6.1 of Brooke Management System, which will be released contemporaneously with the opening of the new facility and introduction of the new curriculum. BMS 6.1 features new navigation tools and includes home rating programs from AMS Services in addition to its auto rating programs that are already a part of BMS 6.0. "Like the recent opening of the advertising center on the Phillipsburg campus, the opening of this Academy and service center demonstrates another significant financial commitment to the success of our franchisees," added Devlin. About our company ... Brooke Corporation (NASDAQ:BXXX) is listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol "BXXX". Its wholly owned subsidiary, Brooke Franchise Corporation, distributes insurance and banking services through a network of more than 750 franchise locations. Brooke Franchise was named the 22nd largest U.S. insurance agency by Business Insurance magazine (2006) and the country's No. 37 top franchise by Entrepreneur magazine (2007). For more information, visit http://www.brookeagent.com/ . E-mail Distribution ... To receive electronic press alerts, visit the Brooke Corporation Media Room at http://brookecorp.mediaroom.com/ and subscribe to our e-mail alerts online through the Get the News link. This press release contains forward-looking statements. All forward- looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, and several factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ from those indicated in the forward-looking statements: the uncertainty as to the exact dates of the opening of the Academy and service center, the introduction of the new Academy curriculum and the release of version 6.1 of Brooke Management System; the uncertainty that the Company will achieve its short-term and long-term profitability and growth goals, uncertainties associated with market acceptance of and demand for the products and services of the Company, the impact of competitive products and pricing, the dependence on third-party suppliers and their pricing, the ability to meet product demand, the availability of capital and funding sources, the exposure to market risks, uncertainties associated with the development of technology, changes in the law and in economic, political and regulatory environments, changes in management, the dependence on intellectual property rights, the effectiveness of internal controls, and risks and factors described from time to time in reports and registration statements filed by Brooke Corporation with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A more complete description of Brooke's business is provided in Brooke Corporation's most recent annual, quarterly and current reports, which are available from Brooke Corporation without charge or at http://www.sec.gov/ . DATASOURCE: Brooke Corporation CONTACT: Anita Larson of Brooke Corporation, +1-913-661-0123, Web site: http://www.brookeagent.com/

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