The winner of NAIFA-CA's Norman G. Levine Distinguished Service Award is Jill M. Judd, LUTCF, FSS, RICP. Judd is a Past President of NAIFA-CA and NAIFA-National. She has been a State Farm Agent serving her community in Capitola, California, for the past 20 years.

Congratulations to Richard "Rick" Stamm on his retirement after 48 years in the financial services industry. Stamm has been a financial representative with Northwestern Mutual since 1974 and a loyal NAIFA member since 1978. His passion and commitment to his community in Brookfield, Wisconsin, is an inspiration to all of us.

Join us on January 11, 2022, at 1 pm eastern for "Financial Technology that Builds Long-Term Relationships for Long-Term Care," a special webinar presented by Carefull co-founder Todd Rovak and product strategy lead Michael Rubel.

Rovak and Rubel will discuss the challenge of client engagement and how Carefull's technology can help overcome it. The webinar will also feature a Q&A with NAIFA-National President-Elect Bryon Holz speaking on his own experience with long-term care insurance and how it has affected his family.

Apply today to take the LACP exam during January! The final deadline is December 15, 2021. NAIFA members receive a $200 discount on the application. There is a $50 late sign-up fee, but NAIFA members can use the code Late50 for a $50 discount when applying.

NAIFA-NY’s Don Lippencott, a loyal member since 1985 and a New York Life financial professional, told the Wall Street Journal that 23 of his clients passed away in 2020, approximately double the total for a typical year. Not only did COVID-19 increase the death rate among his clients, but pandemic-related restrictions prevented him from delivering death-benefit checks in person as he has done in the past. “It was gut wrenching and excruciating,” he told the Journal.

NAIFA is proud to announce Robelynn H. Abadie, CAP™, CHRS, LUTCF, CSA, RFC, RDA™, Founder and Owner of Abadie Financial Services (AFS), LLC, an insurance and financial services agency in Baton Rouge, LA, is the recipient of the 80th annual John Newton Russell Memorial Award. The award is the highest honor accorded by the insurance industry to a living individual who has rendered outstanding services to the institution of life insurance. The selection committee consists of representatives of the nine leading organizations in the life insurance and financial services industry. Abadie received the award at NAIFA’s National Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C., on December 6.

NAIFA is proud to announce that Robert M. Roach, CLU, ChFC, AEP, Partner at Roach McIntyre & Associates in Columbus, OH, and a Financial Representative with Northwestern Mutual since 1968, is the recipient of the inaugural Terry Headley Lifetime Defender Award.

Chad Cooper, MBA, a Financial Advisor with Gateway Insurance & Financial Services in Albuquerque, NM, has been recognized as NAIFA’s 2021 Diversity Champion.

Cooper, a loyal NAIFA member since 2018, began his career in financial services in Albuquerque in 2003, focusing his outreach and prospecting in the city’s small African American community. He saw a need for financial literacy training and worked with his firm to develop a program of monthly seminars on the financial concerns of African Americans. Today, his clients include all segments of Albuquerque’s diverse population, including members of its large Hispanic and Native American populations. He continues to offer a financial literacy program to lower-income residents through the African American Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce (AAGACC) and a grant from the Kellogg Foundation.

Brian Haney, CLTC, CFBS, CIS, CFS, CAE, LACP, Founder and Vice President of the Haney Company in Silver Spring, MD, is the NAIFA Young Advisor Team Leader of the Year for 2021.

Haney is a member of NAIFA-Greater Washington, D.C., and has served on the chapter’s Board for more than seven years. He is the current NAIFA-GWDC Young Advisor Team (YAT) Chair and a Past President of the chapter. He has chaired several other NAIFA-GWDC committees and served on the Board of NAIFA-MD. He is a 2015 graduate of NAIFA’s Leadership in Life Institute (LILI) and serves as a LILI Moderator.

Advisor Today, the official publication of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA), is pleased to announce that Steven Walker of Gate City Insurance in Fargo, ND, loyal member since 2009, is a winner of a 2021 Four Under Forty award. Additional winners this year are J. Cal Anderson, CFP, CLU, of Ameriprise Financial in Alpharetta, GA, loyal member since 2008; Joanna Dellosa, LUTCF, FSS, RICP, LACP, CLU, of Wilshire Group Financial Services in Los Angeles, loyal member since 2012; and Rebecca Schulter, LUTCF, of UCL Financial Group in Memphis, TN, loyal member since 2015.