NAIFA is pleased to announce that Flagship Financial, with offices in Sanatoga and Trappe, PA, has become a NAIFA 100% Agency. Under the membership program, Flagship Financial has enrolled all of its advisors as NAIFA members and enrolled them in NAIFA’s grassroots advocacy programs.

As an emergency medicine physician for 20 years, including the past 12 years working in a large, level 1 trauma center, Dr. Monica Williams has seen innumerable patients and families facing long-term care challenges. As the Medical Director for Advance Care Planning and End of Life Education for the third-largest community-owned hospital system in the United States, she has spent a portion of her career talking to doctors about how they can have effective advanced medical planning and end-of-life conversations with patients and families.

NAIFA wants to hear from you! Tell us about yourself and your business, as well as what you want from us, in the 2021 NAIFA Workforce Survey. Your responses will help us ensure that we offer programming, professional benefits, and support NAIFA members want and value. 

NAIFA’s Life and Annuity Certified Professional (LACP) certification recognizes the need for insurance and financial professionals to further differentiate themselves in the marketplace. The LACP is a fully accredited certification that shows consumers and colleagues an agent or advisor has solid experience and understanding of life insurance and annuity products. It’s a mark of professionalism held by many leading insurance and financial advisors. Every LACP recipient agrees to adhere to NAIFA’s Code of Ethics, which includes the requirement that they put their clients’ interests first. The LACP is one of only nine accredited certifications recognized by FINRA.

NAIFA has reopened access to the NAIFA Family Response Fund to benefit members of the association impacted by Hurricane Ida and its remnants, which hit New Orleans and other Gulf Coast communities, as well as Northern states including New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. High winds, extreme rainfall, flooding, tornadoes, and utility outages have resulted in significant property losses and fatalities.

NAIFA is conducting a survey to determine if association members would be interested in group health insurance or 401(k) retirement plans offered through NAIFA for either members themselves or associates at their practices.

NAIFA congratulates the members who earned the Life and Annuity Certified Professional (LACP) certification during the July testing window:

• Steven Bergee, LACP, (loyal member since 2009) Senior Vice President and Managing Partner of e4 Insurance Services in Fargo, ND.
• Wanda Caffrey, LACP, (loyal member since 2004) a Financial Advisor with inSource Financial Advisors (Ameritas) in Lincoln, NE.
• Greg Reddell, LACP, (loyal member since 2021) a State Farm Agent in Salisbury, MD.
• John Reilly, CFP, LACP, (loyal member since 1997) Senior Financial Advisor with Allied Wealth Partners in Madison, NJ.

The National African American Insurance Association (NAAIA) has announced two opportunities for those looking to start or advance a career in the insurance industry.

• NAAIA is offering five scholarships in the amount of $3,000 for higher education.  Established by NAAIA to honor its founder, the J.L. Tillman Scholarship seeks to encourage African-American students to consider careers within the insurance industry. The deadline for submission is October 1st.

This month, Fairway Mortgage and the Business Performance Center presented the webinar “How to Advise Your Clients to Get to the Zero Tax Bracket.” 

New York Life has named Robert Petrocelli, Founder and Managing Director of Petrocelli Financial Services in New York City and a loyal NAIFA member since 1979, as the 2021-2022 Chair of the influential New York Life Agent Advisory Board of Directors (ABD). The ABD, according to the company, “is an elite group of 16 agents who meet with the company’s executive leaders to provide their perspectives on corporate strategic initiatives based on their experience in the insurance and financial services industry and running among the most successful agent practices in the country.”