NAIFA members were featured speakers at last week's SHIFT X Advisor Sales Summit. The summit's inaugural event was a huge success, with these NAIFA members and thought leaders contributing to the star-power of the event:

NAIFA National President Lawrence Holzberg, LUTCF, LACP stopped into NAIFA-WI to attend their 2022 Sales Congress: May the Fourth Be With You.

Holzberg's remarks at the event reviewed the State of NAIFA and challenged insurance and financial professionals to be the best they can be as producers and as advocates for their businesses, association, and Main Street clients.

Our clients look to us to lead them both in word and deed as trusted advisors. If you are going to advise a product that you should own, then you need to take action to purchase it yourself. Over the years, I have seen hundreds of agents who will carefully analyze their clients’ needs while giving little or no thought to their own.

In 1993, Sheryl Hickerson faxed her resume to MassMutual—by accident. But they called her back and offered her an interview. Nearly 30 years later, it’s the best mistake she’s ever made. 

Serving Main Street USA

Hickerson is the founder and CEO of Females and Finance, a private vetted community that offers support for hiring, mentoring, training, and advancing women. In her practice, Hickerson is especially passionate about helping families. “Women are often the glue in families,” she begins. “I’ve seen far too many friends displaced from their homes because of a lack of insurance.” With so many advisors focused on high-net-worth individuals, the industry doesn’t have nearly enough advisors focused on Main Street Americans, she says.

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in finance, Next Level Founder and CEO Danny O'Connell moved to Dallas and started his career at an investment firm, but he didn’t find his passion until he was recruited into insurance and employee benefits. Once he found his niche, he never looked back.

In 2016, O’Connell founded Next Level Insurance Agency. Next Level takes a holistic approach to employee benefits covering all employer needs from startups to companies with hundreds of employees. With a growing firm, Next Level has the ability to adapt to each client’s needs. While many larger agencies use a one-size-fits-all approach to their clients, the Next Level team tailors their services to each client’s needs. “We want to be nimble and bring the right solution to our clients, not just try to fit them all into the same round hole,” O’Connell says.

NAIFA Past President John A. Davidson, LUTCF, FSS, was featured in this month’s InsuranceNewsNet Magazine. Davidson discusses the role of building meaningful relationships for insurance and financial professionals, for whom personal and professional relationships often overlap.  

We are increasingly aware of the importance of staying secure in a world where cyber threats increase day by day. Heightened awareness around the Ukraine-Russia geopolitical tensions has taken cybersecurity to the next level. There are alerts and notices coming across multiple sources from regulatory bodies to industry-specific regulators, government agencies, consulting firms, and more. Samples include White House Cybersecurity Briefing,  CISA (Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency), NYDFS, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Cybersecurity Intelligence Warning, and Accenture’s Cyber Threat Intelligence group.

Alongside these continued tensions between Russia and Ukraine is the potential for increased cyber threat activity. With military attacks, we should assume there will be accompanying cyber attacks.

Don’t miss NAIFA’s 7th Annual Diversity Symposium on May 23, 2022, in Washington, D.C. Each year, NAIFA spotlights the importance of promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion within the insurance and financial services industry to provide opportunities for financial security to all Americans.

This year’s event will take place on May 23, immediately followed by the kickoff of NAIFA’s 2022 Annual Congressional Conference. Join powerful industry DEI thought leaders for this free event.

Tinja Anderson is passionate about serving her clients and her community.

Serving Main Street USA

After spending a decade doing strategic sales and communications consulting for Fortune 500 companies, Tinja Anderson decided to make a change. “In consulting, it's all about business; it's never personal,” she says. When she joined MassMutual Greater Houston in 2018, she found that she liked the personal connection with her clients. Now, she provides comprehensive financial planning services, from fee-based planning to executive compensation to employee benefits. 

Examples of Following the Code

When we think about the NAIFA Code of Ethics, we are a third of the way through 2022, and this is a good time to review how some of the key activities either about to occur or that have already occurred reflect on our ethical standards. 

2022 Congressional Conference in Washington, D.C.

One of our key activities that occurs each year and will soon be held is the 2022 Congressional Conference in Washington, D.C. We can be proud of the active involvement of NAIFA members in the political activities that ensure our democracy in our country will survive and thrive.