Gary Cappon, CLU^®, LUTCF, RICP, FSCP, CLTC, is the President of NAIFA-NY and has been a loyal NAIFA member since 2006. He practices with Cadaret Grant & Co., in Syracuse, NY, where he is the Vice President of Sales and Fixed Annuity Insurance Solutions and assists financial professionals from all over the country with every aspect of the planning process. This role enables him to use his knowledge and skills to provide solutions to complex problems.

Mitchell “Mitch” Ostrove, CLU^®, ChFC^®, LACP, serves as the VP of Professional Development on the NAIFA-NY Board and has been a loyal NAIFA member since 1965. He practices with The Ostrove Group, in White Plains, NY, where he specializes in insuring small, closely-held corporations.

Mitch’s introduction to the financial services industry came after a family friend suggested that he go into the property and casualty business because of his experience in hospitality management. Mitch is a graduate of the Hotel and Restaurant School of Cornell and the New York State Restaurant Association was a client of his family friend’s insurance agency thus making it the perfect fit.

Neil Himmelstein serves as the Vice President of Membership for NAIFA-NY and has been a loyal NAIFA member since 1997. He practices with Main Street Planning Group, in Center Moriches, NY, where he specializes in high-net-worth programs such as Premium Finance and Restricted Property Trust and finding solutions for clients with health impairment needs.

Robert Miller, MS, MA, is currently serving as Secretary/Treasurer for NAIFA-New York and has been a loyal NAIFA member since 1983. After retiring, he practiced out of his firm, Miller-Pomerantz, where he specialized in corporate selling in New York City.

Miller is a second-generation financial advisor and “grew up around many famous New York Life insurance agents," including John Newton Russell Memorial Award winners Ben Feldman and Stan List, who he refers to endearingly as his “uncles.” 

Roger Sims CLU^®, LUTCF, has been a loyal NAIFA member since 2001 and currently practices with New York Life in High Point, NC, where he specializes in long-term care and retirement. 

Roger is a second-generation insurance agent, something his father always wanted but not something that he had planned for himself. He first began to consider a career in the industry when his father’s office moved into the building he worked in. There, he was able to observe his father’s line of work and found it “really appealing.”

Joshua Shaver, CFP, ChFC^®, CBEC, RICP, has been a loyal NAIFA member since 2008 and is currently a Senior Partner and Wealth Manager at Diamond Financial Group in Newark, DE, where he specializes in retirement. He graduated magna cum laude from the Lerner College of Business and Economics at the University of Delaware where he was actively involved with the Financial Manager’s Association. Joshua currently holds a series of designations and certificates including his Series 7, Series 66, and Series 24 registrations, as well as his Life, Health, and Ethics Insurance licenses.

Vanessa Bucklin is a financial advisor based in Conrad, MT, that has built her flourishing practice using a three-pronged approach of trust in self, trust in the process of building relationships, and trust in paying it forward for future advisors.

Trent Bryson has been a loyal NAIFA member since 2002 and manages his own firm, Bryson Wealth Management, in Long Beach, California. 

In 2000, Bryson was training for the Olympic trials in track & field for the Nike Farm Team in Palo Alto when Merrill Lynch recruited him through their development program.  Although Bryson was new to the industry himself, he grew up admiring his father’s career as a general agent for Mass Mutual. He explains, “I kind of grew up in the business and got an appreciation for him [and] the agents that surrounded him, so I grew up looking to my dad as a mentor.” It was also his dad who encouraged him to join NAIFA and eventually into leadership roles.

Daniel Irizarry has been a loyal member of NAIFA since 2012. He currently practices in Manasquan, NJ, with Allied Wealth Partners.

Although Irizarry was referred to the industry by another professional who mentioned he would be “perfect for this line of work.” The ability to control his own scheduling and operate autonomously in order to “maximize efficiency in [his] life and spend as much time with [his] family as possible while earning a modest living” is what appealed to him most.

Mark Acre, LUTCF, is a Missouri State Alumni and has been a member of NAIFA since 2009. Acre owns his own company in Missouri, One Insurance Group, which he describes as a “one-stop shop” for all your financial planning needs. Housing 23 advisors under one roof with each specializing in a different field truly is an anomaly in the industry.