NAIFA Members Serve Main Street

The premier association for agents and advisors in the United States encourages diversity, equity, and inclusion in the insurance and financial services industry and promotes financial security for all Americans.

The National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA) is pleased to announce NAIFA’s 8th Annual Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Symposium on May 22, 2023, in Washington, D.C. Presented by NAIFA’s Talent Development Center, the Symposium will focus on the importance of promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within the insurance and financial services industry to provide opportunities for financial security to all Americans. 

The National African American Insurance Association (NAAIA), a NAIFA advocacy partner, has issued a new report showing that, while insurance and financial services companies have increased diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, many fail to address inequity at a foundational level.

The NAIFA Foundation for Financial Security is pleased to announce that Gregory Jean Baptiste and Brooke Bastiaans-Brooks are recipients of the inaugural NAIFA Foundation Diversity Scholarship.

Jean Baptiste holds a bachelor’s degree in business management with an emphasis in finance from Brigham Young University-Idaho and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in financial planning and analytics at Utah Valley University. A first-generation Haitian immigrant, Jean Baptiste knows the value of a solid financial plan and is motivated to help all Americans achieve financial security. He is currently employed at a Wells Fargo branch in Lindon, UT.

On December 6, NAIFA-National Trustee and Gateway Insurance and Financial Services Vice President Aprilyn Chavez-Geissler will be a featured speaker for the webinar "Beyond Sentiment: The Business Benefits of DEI," presented by Financial Planning magazine. 

The webinar will discuss how recent research can help you craft a strategy for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) that is well-defined, driven by company leaders, and connected to business outcomes.

Christopher Gandy, LACP, Founder of Midwest Legacy Group in Lisle, IL, and the top-ranked producer for OneAmerica, has been recognized as the NAIFA Diversity Champion for 2022.

Gandy, a loyal NAIFA member since 2003, serves on NAIFA’s Board of Trustees, is a Past President of NAIFA-Chicagoland, and is a Co-Chair of NAIFA’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Council. He was also a member of the NAIFA 2025 Strategic Planning Committee, which developed the NAIFA 2025 strategic plan with a goal of increasing DEI in the association and industry. After four years as a student-athlete at the University of Illinois and playing several seasons of professional basketball for the Chicago Bulls and the San Antonio Spurs as well as in L’Hermaine, France, Gandy entered the insurance and financial services profession in 1999.

NAIFA is proud to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15 - October 15. 

Angela White is committed to recruiting diverse talent into the insurance and financial services industry and making sure they have the resources they need to succeed.

Getting Started

After several years in sales, White took a job recruiting agents and fell in love with the industry. She’s motivated by a genuine drive to connect with people and have meaningful conversations. She seeks out underrepresented talent—women, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals—and finds ways to set them up for success.

The National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA) is proud to announce its participation in The American College of Financial Services' sixteenth annual Conference of African American Financial Professionals. The event is being held at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. this week and is attended by many NAIFA members and association partners.

NAIFA is a benefactor this year and provided a scholarship to Mitrick "TJ" Johnson, a rising senior at Alabama A&M University. The HBCU institution is a traditional 1890 land grant university established the same year as NAIFA and greatly expanded the efforts of its 1879 founder, Dr. William Hooper Councill, into creating a sustainable institution focused on teaching, research, and public service. 

On August 10, 2022, tune in for "DEI Success: From Making a Great Hire to Serving a Wider Audience."

Presented by InsuranceNewsNet, this special webinar will feature two NAIFA members: Kristen Hall Eskew, Vice President of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging at OneDigital, and Toni L. Gonzales, MBA, LACP, Vice President of Sales at Ohio National Financial Services and Vice President of Women in Insurance and Financial Services (WIFS).

NAIFA is a proud member of the Coalition for Equity in Wholesaling (CEW), a group founded by Equitable to increase the number of diverse professionals in the role of insurance wholesaler. Wholesalers play an important role by building relationships with insurance and financial advisors and providing them with insurance and investment products that meet the specific needs of consumers. These partnerships are key to ensuring that all Americans have access to insurance and financial products, services, and advice.