NAIFA Members Serve Main Street

Nathan James always knew he wanted to make a career helping people, so when a friend introduced him to NAIFA-AK Past President Nathan McKay, he knew he had found the right place. Two years later, he is creating customized strategies to help individuals and families reach their retirement goals as a New York Life Insurance Co. agent. 

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.

Since he started his insurance and financial services career in 2006, Matt Georgopulos, LACP, has done it all—underwriting, futures trading, rock band management, and more.  Now, he specializes in helping families find the right home, auto, and life insurance. 

For HealthMarkets insurance agent Scott Gulledge, it’s all about problem-solving. He knows that health insurance is one of the biggest expenses for families and business owners and he works every day to find the best price for the coverage his clients need. 

When Ryan Mulholland was young, his father told him that he should sell insurance. But it would take years of hard work—and no small amount of serendipity—for him to begin his career as an insurance agent. Now in his second year as a State Farm agent, he loves his work because he helps protect families every day. 

As a college student, Christine Pikutis-Musuneggi, CPRC, CLTC, LACP, planned to study architecture. Her plans changed, however, when her family inherited a third-generation business and needed a financial planner to work with insurance agents, attorneys, accountants, and the other professionals required to run a business. So, Pikutis-Musuneggi changed her major to business management and became a financial planner. 

Brian Falconer, LUTCF, is a Managing Partner at Securian Advisors of New England with a heart for serving Main Street USA and mentoring the next generation of financial professionals.

Getting Started

Brian Falconer says that when he was growing up in Portsmouth, NH, financial literacy was non-existent in his family. His grandparents were immigrants from Ireland, Scotland, and Italy, and none of them graduated from high school. When he attended Fordham University, he became the first in his family to attend college. He had always been good at math but found that majoring in accounting wasn’t for him. When he took courses and finance and economics, however, he found his passion and graduated with a major in finance and a minor in economics.

In 2012, Michael Case was working in sales and looking for a new career. In the process of administering his father’s estate, he was working with several financial service professionals and found their work intriguing. After a few conversations with the managing director at Northwestern Mutual, he decided to join Northwestern Mutual as a financial advisor.

For Nicholas Lamanna, serving his hardworking clients is a passion both inside and outside of the office.

Getting Started

When Nicholas Lamanna graduated from Old Dominion University, he moved just outside of Manhattan to become a standup comic. He was waiting tables during the day and performing at night but knew he needed to make more money. He didn’t know the first thing about finance, but a hiring manager at a Midtown investment bank decided to take a chance on him. After a year as a stockbroker, Lamanna decided to pursue a master’s degree in finance and started his career at Northwestern Mutual not long after.

A financial advisor with Guided Path Financial Services and Retirement Planning, Heather Lindsley, LUTCF, RICP, LACP¹, serves her community in Green Bay, WI, by building meaningful connections.

What It’s All About

Lindsley came to insurance and financial services at the suggestion of a friend, but she didn’t take the leap right away. She had young children at the time, but once they were old enough for school, she decided to give it a try.