Joanna Dellosa, LUTCF, FSS, RICP, CLU, LACP, a loyal NAIFA member since 2012, has fond memories of her father heading out to his office each day with his briefcase in hand. She recalls thinking at a very young age, “I want one of those, too. I’d look so professional with a briefcase.”

Her father was an insurance agent, and Dellosa’s early impressions of him created an image that influenced her career decisions later in life. “I had that idea in my head,” she said, “I am open to the idea of becoming an agent.”

Cal Anderson, CLU, CFP, always knew he wanted to own his own business but wasn’t sure what field was right for him. After graduating from Valdosta State University, he joined MassMutual and learned everything he could about the insurance industry while working towards his CFP designation. After five years, he was ready to grow and joined an independent advisory firm, Financial Network Associates, which offered comprehensive financial planning services. In 2016, the firm’s owner, Bill Youngblood, retired and Anderson took over the business, officially becoming his own boss.

NAIFA has recognized more than 1,000 recipients of the 2021 NAIFA Quality Awards (NQA). NAIFA Quality Awards recognize the best of our membership, the hallmark of outstanding client care for advisors. Originally created in 1945 as the National Quality Award, the award focused on recognizing outstanding performance for life insurance agents. While the award has been updated and modernized, the NQA still adheres to its core foundation, to focus on quality of care and not only on production numbers.  

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.

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.

Advisor Today, the official publication of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA), is pleased to announce that Rebecca Schulter of UCL Financial Group in Memphis, TN, loyal member since 2015, 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 Steven Walker, LUTCF, of Gate City Insurance in Fargo, ND, loyal member since 2009.