NAIFA Members Serve Main Street

Greg Ayers, CLTC, RICP, is a New York Life Insurance Company agent and advisor committed to serving Main Street USA through education and political advocacy.

Getting Started 

Ayers got a later start in his insurance and financial services career than most. He has always been interested in finance and had two career paths to choose from when he graduated from college. He was offered a financial services position, but it was an intimidating prospect. At the same time, he received a job offer for a banking position. He chose the banking job. While he gained valuable experience, he eventually got discouraged because of the lack of opportunity for upward movement. When he started looking for other options, he found his true passion as an insurance agent.

Jennifer B. Barthol, CEP, has been in the financial services industry since 1986 but found her niche working with estate planning attorneys and CPAs as a paralegal. Now, she’s a certified estate planner and helps her clients find solutions that fit their life-long goals. 

Raydania Peña got her first taste of financial literacy when her family immigrated from the Dominican Republic to the United States. Her mother didn’t speak English, so Peña translated bank documents for her. The more she learned, the more she wanted to use her knowledge and skills to help others in her community navigate their finances, too. But she didn’t plan to build a career in insurance and financial services. In fact, she dismissed the idea the first two times it came across her path. The third time, however, she decided to give it a try and became an agent with New York Life Insurance Company.

NAIFA-OK Vice President of Advocacy Chad Tredway, LUTCF^®, FSCP^®, always knew he wanted to be in the financial services industry. He studied actuarial science in college but found his true calling working with customers directly, learning their stories, and helping them as they mapped out their financial futures. After several years as an agent, he was appointed as a district manager. Now, he uses his years of experience as an agent to mentor and train agents.

Rick Lam has spent his career helping his clients plan for their financial futures and mentoring the next generation of insurance and financial professionals. Just after college, Lam became a claims adjuster with State Farm. After seven years of learning about the insurance world, he spent over 12 years as an agent before taking his current position as a sales leader in 2012. 

While attending college, Gregory Fat had an opportunity to intern with a financial advisor and saw firsthand how advisors play an essential role and are an extension of the families they work with. Throughout his internship, he helped form complex trusts, developed estate plans, and ensured appropriate insurance coverage for high-net-worth families. To provide the best possible outcomes for clients, Fat understood that he had to become an expert on the vast landscape of financial products and tools available within the industry.

Peg Fraser began her career in insurance and financial services selling health insurance part-time, but she soon found the same question coming up again and again from her clients. They asked if she could help with other types of insurance and financial planning. She wanted to do more. So, when she got the opportunity to work with COUNTRY Financial in 2008, she embraced the challenge. She got licensed and “careered” with COUNTRY, joining an elite group of financial service professionals within the company, just four years later.

With almost 30 years in financial services, there is one aspect of the industry that John Profitlich understands very well: every day is a new market. This key understanding is what keeps him motivated to deliver customized banking and lending solutions to financial professionals as Director and Northeast Regional Business Development Officer for The Bancorp Institutional Banking business.

Though Dustin Carnevale’s career did not begin in the financial industry, he always found himself extremely interested in monitoring the market and keeping up with financial news. It was only when he became involved in financial literacy education efforts through his earlier professional roles that his eyes were opened to the need for trained, objective fiduciaries to help those who are not sure where to start achieving their financial goals. This helped drive Carnevale to leave his established career in marketing and pursue his interest in finances to help fill a gap in the industry where his communication skills were needed and valued.  

If you ask Derek Glitz what he likes most about working in financial services, he’ll answer that it’s the people he works with. Specifically, he enjoys assisting financial advisors and insurance agents to reach their maximum potential and help their clients realize their retirement dreams.