NAIFA Members Serve Main Street

NAIFA marketing partner InsurTech Express recently launched their new IE Bookshelf to help promote and highlight books written by insurance and financial services professionals.

Current books by NAIFA members in the IE Bookshelf library include How Not to Tear Your Family Apart by NAIFA's Executive Director of the Centers of Excellence, Carroll Golden, The K-Method of Roulette by Ken Leibow, and Diversity Means Dollars by Vince Vitiello.

Martha Underwood has been in the technology space for over 25 years and is skilled at successfully managing large-scale digital transformation initiatives. Co-founder of Prismm, a platform that allows you to securely store important documents, Martha focuses on executive advancement without compromising integrity or authenticity. She is a recognized speaker on the topic of women leading in technology and innovation within the business marketplace. 

Shella Sylla is the Chief Operating Officer at Prismm. With over 20 years of experience in commercial banking, commercial real estate financing, and portfolio management, she is skilled at networking and building strategic brand relationships. Before her work with Prismm, she was the Founder and CEO of SisterGolf, where she helped improve women’s confidence and accelerated their career development using golf as an ally. 

While attending college, Gregory Fat had an opportunity to intern with a financial advisor and saw firsthand how advisors play an essential role and are an extension of the families they work with. Throughout his internship, he helped form complex trusts, developed estate plans, and ensured appropriate insurance coverage for high-net-worth families. To provide the best possible outcomes for clients, Fat understood that he had to become an expert on the vast landscape of financial products and tools available within the industry.

Earlier this month, NAIFA members were mailed printed copies of the I Love NAIFA Month issue of Advisor Today magazine. The issue features a cover story on 2023 NAIFA President Bryon Holz, an advocacy report, updates from NAIFA's Centers of Excellence, and photos from the National Leadership Conference and Belong event.

Peg Fraser began her career in insurance and financial services selling health insurance part-time, but she soon found the same question coming up again and again from her clients. They asked if she could help with other types of insurance and financial planning. She wanted to do more. So, when she got the opportunity to work with COUNTRY Financial in 2008, she embraced the challenge. She got licensed and “careered” with COUNTRY, joining an elite group of financial service professionals within the company, just four years later.

NAIFA and the National African American Insurance Association (NAAIA)

As NAAIA is a NAIFA advocacy partner, NAIFA members can be proud of the progress of insurance and financial services companies with improved diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. However, we may also feel some concern as NAAIA’s follow-up to their 2018 study noted some areas where DEI initiatives fall short. Significant findings are a lack of influence on career advancement despite sustained efforts through increased DEI-related training, support for resource groups (ERGs), and mentorship programs. In addition, an increasing percentage of respondents in the study reported racial and gender bias as top barriers to entry into the industry of insurance and financial advisors than the study completed in 2018.

Eric Bottolfsen, MBA, is a Vice President at GoldBook Financial and a financial planner with a passion for protecting the medical professionals and small business owners who make up Main Street USA.

Getting Started

Bottolfsen knew from an early age that he wanted a career in financial services. When he played Monopoly as a kid, he insisted on being the banker. In high school, he loved his finance classes and read old issues of the Wall Street Journal in his free time.

NAIFA President Bryon Holz is speaking today at the 2023 NAIFA-TX Annual State Conference. Bryon is working to get more insurance and financial advisors to experience their NAIFA first times:

NAIFA will join our Limited & Extended Care Planning Center (LECP) partner, ILTCI, for the 2023 ILTCI Conference in Denver, CO, from March 12-15, 2023, at the Sheraton Downtown Denver.

ILTCI’s annual educational conference is for representatives of the long-term and extended care planning community and other strategic allies, including providers, public policy institutions, professional organizations, federal, state, and local government agencies, and the public. 

With almost 30 years in financial services, there is one aspect of the industry that John Profitlich understands very well: every day is a new market. This key understanding is what keeps him motivated to deliver customized banking and lending solutions to financial professionals as Director and Northeast Regional Business Development Officer for The Bancorp Institutional Banking business.