By Ayo Mseka

The Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education has appointed new officers and members to its Board of Directors, effective January 1, 2012.

Debra C. Newman, CLU, ChFC, LTCP, serves as chair of the board of directors, replacing Michael L. Weintraub. Weintraub remains on LIFE's executive committee as immediate past chair.

Stephen O. Rothschild, CLU, ChFC, CRC, RFC, is chair-elect, and Cindy V. Gentry, CLU, ChFC, LUTCF, is secretary. Brian H. Ashe, CLU, continues as treasurer, serving an indefinite term, and Marvin H. Feldman, CLU, ChFC, RFC, is president/CEO.

The chair, chair-elect, treasurer and secretary are volunteer positions held by members of the LIFE’s Board, which consists of representatives of its six producer organizations whose counsel and financial support are essential to helping LIFE carry out its public education mission. These organizations are NAIFA, AALU, GAMA International, Forum400, MDRT, and NAILBA.

The new Board members are:

Douglas A. Mishkin is president and CEO of Algren Associates, Inc. Previously, he was an agent with MassMutual Financial Group and The Guardian Life Insurance Company and was brokerage manager for Bufkin, Hefferon & Siegel.

Mishkin is an active member of many industry organizations, including NAIFA and MDRT, and has sat on numerous insurance carrier field advisory councils, including Genworth, United of Omaha, ING, and currently MetLife. He is the 2009 recipient of the Stephen A. Kramer Humanitarian Award from UJA-Federation of New York.

Nathan M. Perlmutter, CLU, ChFC, is president and CEO of Forest Hills Financial Group, Inc. He has served an unprecedented three terms as chairman of Guardian's prestigious Field Advisory Board, and his agency is a Master Agency award winner and one of the leading agencies representing Guardian.

In addition to serving as past NAIFA Trustee and the past president of the New York State and New York City Life Underwriters Association, Perlmutter is the immediate past president of AALU and a Platinum contributor to its Legislative Circle. He is the recipient of both the Spencer McCarty and the Julian Myrick awards, the Torch of Liberty Award from the Life Insurance Division of the Anti-Defamation League, and the "Citation of Honor" from the Borough of Queens.

Matt McAvoy, CLU, ChFC, MSFS, is the president and a second-generation family member of Target Insurance Services, Inc.

In 2006, McAvoy participated in meetings with the Treasury Department on behalf of the life insurance industry, discussing the benefits of permanent life insurance and the concepts of life insurance tax-deferred build-up inside annuities and permanent life insurance.

In addition to his role as past president of NAILBA, McAvoy has served as a board member and treasurer of Brokerage Resources of America since 1991. In 2005, he was awarded the Herbert A. Hedges Award from the Kansas Association of Life Insurance and Financial Advisors as its "Man of the Year."

Robert N. Garneau, CLU, ChFC is a corporate registered investment advisor with MassMutual and the past state president of the New Hampshire Society of Financial Service Professionals and past state president of NAIFA-New Hampshire. In 2003, he was the recipient of the NAIFA-NH Distinguished Insurance and Financial Advisor of the Year. A 28-year life and qualifying member of the MDRT and trustee of the MDRT Foundation, he has served on numerous committees and is currently assistant chair of the Program Development Committee for the Focus Sessions in June.

For more information, contact Jaimee C. Niles at jniles@lifehappens.org or at 202-464-5000, ext.4450.