The Fortis Agency Receives Inaugural 100% Agency Award at Apex/National Leadership Conference

When NAIFA President Bryon Holz graduated from college during the recession of the early 1980s, career opportunities were few and far between. So, when his high school biology teacher, who had left teaching a few years earlier to become a financial advisor, offered to have Holz come work with him, Holz accepted. He planned on staying until he found his “real” job, but he fell in love with helping families plan for their financial futures. Four decades later, it’s safe to say he’s found his calling.

The firms' advisors join the #1 professional association for financial security professionals and prepare to participate in NAIFA’s unmatched state and federal advocacy success under an agency-wide membership program.

The National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA) is pleased to announce that Bryon Holz & Associates in Brandon, FL, has become a NAIFA 100% Agency. Under the membership program, all advisors within Bryon Holz & Associates became NAIFA members and active participants in NAIFA’s grassroots advocacy programs at the state and federal levels.

When Refine Wealth Strategies founders David J. Klein, CFP^®, CLU, ChFC^®, RICP; Brian Kelly, CLU, ChFC^®, RICP, CASL; and Larwin W. Kauffman CFP^®, CLU, ChFC, met in the early 2000s, they didn’t anticipate starting a business together. Fortunately, fate intervened—with a bit of help from 41-year NAIFA member Terry McTigue, CLU, ChFC^®, who recruited all three to Northwestern Mutual. 

In 2003, Kevin Bontrager hit a ceiling in his sales career. He wanted to help people in a more direct way, so he decided to become a financial advisor and created an independent firm. A few years later, Bontrager joined Randall Lehman, CLU^®, ChFC^®, AEP^®, RICP^®, and Rob Hayworth, CLU^®, ChFC^®, CASL^®, AEP^®, RICP^®, CFP^®, to create Summit Financial Group, a Northwestern Mutual Private Client Group. Now, Summit Financial Group has three Indiana offices in Fort Wayne, Angola, and Marion.

Lifetime Financial Group Owner Jay Meneely has been a loyal NAIFA member since 1983. Now, his whole team benefits from NAIFA membership. 

Education First

Lifetime was founded on giving financial education workshops. As Meneely says, “We're an educational firm that specializes in the delivery of financial products.” Meneely and his team work with employers to educate employees about their group benefits.

In 1978, Gary Havir, LUTCF, was ready for a career change when a client suggested he work in the insurance and financial services industry. At first, he wasn’t interested. However, after a few conversations, he decided to give it a shot. He interviewed with nine insurance companies, but chose Horace Mann because of his passion for serving teachers, educators, and school employees. 

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in finance, Next Level Founder and CEO Danny O'Connell moved to Dallas and started his career at an investment firm, but he didn’t find his passion until he was recruited into insurance and employee benefits. Once he found his niche, he never looked back.

In 2016, O’Connell founded Next Level Insurance Agency. Next Level takes a holistic approach to employee benefits covering all employer needs from startups to companies with hundreds of employees. With a growing firm, Next Level has the ability to adapt to each client’s needs. While many larger agencies use a one-size-fits-all approach to their clients, the Next Level team tailors their services to each client’s needs. “We want to be nimble and bring the right solution to our clients, not just try to fit them all into the same round hole,” O’Connell says.

Stephen Kagawa, FSS, LUTCF, founder and CEO of The Pacific Bridge Companies (TPBC), has a vision—to help families protect what they love through TPBC’s platform, Aloha Financial Advisors. As Kagawa explains, “Aloha Financial Advisors is all about doing good and having advisors who are rooted in their vision of a better world driven by their core values.”

Where It All Began

The story of Kagawa’s passion for reaching underserved communities goes back nearly a century. In 1933, his grandfather, Lawrence Takeo “L.T.” Kagawa, was disappointed to learn that life insurance companies either refused to write policies for people of color or demanded higher premiums than that of their Caucasian neighbors. He partnered with A.P. Giannini, founder of Bank of America and Transamerica, and helped bring affordable life insurance to all people of color.

The Fortis Agency, headquartered in Holmdel, NJ, at the beautiful Bellworks Complex, recently hosted colleagues from outside the agency at a networking and discussion event focused on topics in advanced planning. Those in attendance included the agency's cofounders Christine Cox-West, Michael DeVizio, Michael Manginelli, and David West, proudly sporting their NAIFA membership pins. Guests included NAIFA Trustee Dennis Cuccinelli.