NAIFA 2025 President Doug Massey, LUTCF, FSS, CLU, ChFC, has come a long way since he joined NAIFA, then known as NALU, in 1987. He first attended a local luncheon in San Angelo, Texas, as a guest. It was a nice steakhouse, Massey admits, but he was reluctant and didn’t really see the association’s appeal. 

“It was the craziest thing,” he said. “We’re all competitors. Why would I want to go have lunch with a bunch of my competitors? But I soon realized they were all really good friends, had great camaraderie, and were there to help each other. It really changed my mindset about NAIFA.” 

As a new member, he attended local chapter meetings and soon volunteered to fill the chapter’s vacant Public Service Committee Chair position. It wasn’t the association’s most glamorous post. 

“We had adopted a stretch of highway west of town and it was probably the trashiest one,” Massey said. “So I was in charge of picking up the trash. It’s been quite a journey going from picking up trash on the side of the highway for Life Underwriters to being the national President.”   

After tidying up NAIFA’s section of Highway 67, Massey served in other leadership positions, moving through the committee chairs and eventually becoming President of the local association. There was one year after he left his leadership role that he held no NAIFA volunteer positions. “I was really kind of lost, thinking to myself, ‘What am I doing?’” he said. So, he returned to the local Board and began working through the committee chairs again. In 2008, he was elected to join the NAIFA-Texas Board of Directors and served as state President for the 2012-2013 term. 

He became a national Trustee in 2021 and was elected Secretary for the 2023 term, putting him on track to serve as the 2025 NAIFA National President.  

A Career Takes Off 

Massey started in the insurance business when he was 21 years old. He followed the path of a close friend of his who was an agent. “I saw that he got to go play golf every Friday and work when he wanted to and nobody put a limit on his income,” he said. “He could make as much as he wanted. It looked like a good deal.” 

Massey began in the Medicare supplement market but after a few years switched to life insurance. That was when he joined NAIFA. His early mentors, including Gerald Stewart, Jay Poynor, and Ben Jenkins, were all long-time NAIFA members. A turning point was his decision to enroll in Life Underwriter Training Council Fellow (LUTCF) courses. “I was trying to wing it and figure it out,” he said, “and while I had a lot of help from mentors the LUTCF classes really kept me in the business.” 

“That really turned my career around. I credit it much more than even the CLU or ChFC,” Massey said. “The LUTCF classes and earning the LUTCF is probably what kept me in the business. I really learned a lot because I never went through any formal training at a career agency or career company, because I was always an independent.” 

NAIFA has modernized and reintroduced the LUTCF program and Massey is an enthusiastic proponent. As NAIFA President, he strongly promotes the LUTCF and encourages anyone who could use a leg up in the business to give the program a try. 

The Power of NAIFA Connections 

Early on, Massey was a “life insurance guy” and hadn’t expanded much beyond his primary practice area. That was until Gerald Stewart, a NAIFA member with a financial planning and investments practice, approached Massey with an idea. Stewart was looking to transition into retirement and asked Massey if he would be interested in buying his practice. They worked together for a couple of years while Massey learned the planning side of the business. When Stewart retired, Massey took over the practice.  

Soon, another older NAIFA colleague approached Massey with a similar offer. Then another. Today, Massey’s practice, Doug Massey Financial Services, is thriving with a focus on financial and retirement planning.  

“This all goes back to NAIFA,” Massey said. “Being a member put me in the right place with the right people that ultimately allowed me to purchase their businesses and allowed them to retire when I picked up their block of business. I developed those connections by working my butt off at the local NAIFA level. I think they noticed that and picked up on it.” 

A Dedication to Advocacy 

One evening in 2001, Massey got a call from NAIFA-Texas State Executive Director Ken Tooley. The legislature was considering a bill that would protect life insurance policies and annuity contracts from creditors. Would he be able to drive down to Austin the next morning and speak with his representative, Appropriations Committee Chair Rob Junell, before a vote scheduled for that day? 

“I was asked to be at a meeting the next morning at 7 o’clock,” Massey said. “Well, I’m three hours away so I left before four o’clock in the morning and drove down to meet with Rob Junell before the bill got to the floor.” 

Junell came from a family of bankers – his father had been an executive and Board Chair for Citizens National Bank in Lubbock, Texas, as well as a member of the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas – and the banking industry opposed the creditor exemption for life insurance and annuities. The lawmaker’s support seemed unlikely. 

“But we talked to him, and he understood where we were coming from. He ended up supporting our legislation and it passed and was signed by the Governor,” Massey said. “I saw firsthand how advocacy really could make a difference and how I could make a difference. That’s really what got me involved with advocacy. I thought, ‘Wow! This is pretty cool.’” 

Massey has attended every NAIFA-Texas State Legislative Day since 1991 and has been to every NAIFA Congressional Conference in Washington, D.C. He has served on and chaired the state and national IFAPAC Committees. He knows from experience how successful advocacy requires building relationships with lawmakers and how NAIFA makes that possible.  

“Over the years you get a little more confidence and a little more knowledge about advocacy,” he said. “I’ve become friends with Senator Cornyn and I meet with him a couple times a year. I’ve met Senator Cruz and have some friends who work for him. And my state Rep. has become a friend. I was with him election night. And I’ve gotten to know my congressman, August Pfluger, on a first-name basis and meet with him regularly. I was with him election night, as a matter of fact. He invited me to the victory party. If it wasn’t for NAIFA I don’t think I’d have relationships with both my Senators and my member of Congress or my state Rep.” 

Looking Ahead to a Great Year 

It’s not surprising that advocacy is a priority for Massey as NAIFA President. The industry faces numerous legislative and regulatory challenges at state and federal levels. In what has been dubbed “The Super Bowl of Tax,” Congress is dealing with tax reform as the Tax Cuts Jobs Act is due to expire. Changes brought by the Trump administration present opportunities for NAIFA to influence policies on issues ranging from Medicare to retirement planning to workplace benefits. The Congressional Conference, state legislative days, summer in-district meetings, and IFAPAC are all crucial to ensuring that NAIFA’s voice is heard. 

Massey is guiding the first year of the NAIFA 2030 Strategic Plan, which focuses on three critical factors: building NAIFA’s Strength, Impact, and Awareness. Key components of each pillar address NAIFA’s role in the advocacy arena, growing membership, engaging more professionals, helping recruit the next generation of advisors, and serving all Americans and their communities nationwide. 

Strength, impact, and awareness are vital to NAIFA’s continued success, and NAIFA is important to the success of tens of thousands of financial professionals like Doug Massey. It’s safe to say that Massey understands better than most how a strong association benefits all its members as well as the American families and businesses they serve. He has come a long way from his skepticism over sharing a steak dinner with his “competitors.” 

“Some of my best friendships and relationships are with NAIFA members,” he said. “You can call on a NAIFA member and say, hey I’m struggling here or I don’t understand this and most of us who’ve been around for a while will drop everything to help a fellow NAIFA member. NAIFA members did that for me. It’s amazing to have that kind of support.” 

This article was originally published in NAIFA Community: Members in Action.