NAIFA has announced the completion of its 2021 Business Implementation Plan that is phase one of its 2025 Strategic Plan, and the release of its new Business Implementation Plan for 2022. The 2025 Strategic Plan builds on the NAIFA 20/20 plan penned in 2016 that navigated the organization through a complete restructure of its chapters and overhaul of its bylaws.

The winner of NAIFA-CA's Norman G. Levine Distinguished Service Award is Jill M. Judd, LUTCF, FSS, RICP. Judd is a Past President of NAIFA-CA and NAIFA-National. She has been a State Farm Agent serving her community in Capitola, California, for the past 20 years.

On December 6, 2021, NAIFA partner OneAmerica announced strategic leadership changes in its Individual Life and Financial Services (ILFS) line of business aimed at strengthening distribution, recruiting, and business development operations. By building upon its leadership core, the ILFS business is well-positioned to effectively execute on its distribution vision focused on accelerated growth and operational excellence.

New ILFS appointments include: 

• Chris Coudret, vice president, Career and Independent Brokerage 
• Kristin Dorm, vice president, Agency Growth and Development 
• David Junker, vice president, Business Development 

Jeff Levin, vice president, Care Solutions Distribution 

NAIFA is proud to announce Robelynn H. Abadie, CAP™, CHRS, LUTCF, CSA, RFC, RDA™, Founder and Owner of Abadie Financial Services (AFS), LLC, an insurance and financial services agency in Baton Rouge, LA, is the recipient of the 80th annual John Newton Russell Memorial Award. The award is the highest honor accorded by the insurance industry to a living individual who has rendered outstanding services to the institution of life insurance. The selection committee consists of representatives of the nine leading organizations in the life insurance and financial services industry. Abadie received the award at NAIFA’s National Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C., on December 6.

NAIFA is proud to announce that Robert M. Roach, CLU, ChFC, AEP, Partner at Roach McIntyre & Associates in Columbus, OH, and a Financial Representative with Northwestern Mutual since 1968, is the recipient of the inaugural Terry Headley Lifetime Defender Award.

Chad Cooper, MBA, a Financial Advisor with Gateway Insurance & Financial Services in Albuquerque, NM, has been recognized as NAIFA’s 2021 Diversity Champion.

Cooper, a loyal NAIFA member since 2018, began his career in financial services in Albuquerque in 2003, focusing his outreach and prospecting in the city’s small African American community. He saw a need for financial literacy training and worked with his firm to develop a program of monthly seminars on the financial concerns of African Americans. Today, his clients include all segments of Albuquerque’s diverse population, including members of its large Hispanic and Native American populations. He continues to offer a financial literacy program to lower-income residents through the African American Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce (AAGACC) and a grant from the Kellogg Foundation.

Brian Haney, CLTC, CFBS, CIS, CFS, CAE, LACP, Founder and Vice President of the Haney Company in Silver Spring, MD, is the NAIFA Young Advisor Team Leader of the Year for 2021.

Haney is a member of NAIFA-Greater Washington, D.C., and has served on the chapter’s Board for more than seven years. He is the current NAIFA-GWDC Young Advisor Team (YAT) Chair and a Past President of the chapter. He has chaired several other NAIFA-GWDC committees and served on the Board of NAIFA-MD. He is a 2015 graduate of NAIFA’s Leadership in Life Institute (LILI) and serves as a LILI Moderator.

Advisor Today, the official publication of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA), is pleased to announce that Steven Walker of Gate City Insurance in Fargo, ND, loyal member since 2009, is a winner of a 2021 Four Under Forty award. Additional winners this year are J. Cal Anderson, CFP, CLU, of Ameriprise Financial in Alpharetta, GA, loyal member since 2008; Joanna Dellosa, LUTCF, FSS, RICP, LACP, CLU, of Wilshire Group Financial Services in Los Angeles, loyal member since 2012; and Rebecca Schulter, LUTCF, of UCL Financial Group in Memphis, TN, loyal member since 2015.

Advisor Today, the official publication of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA), is pleased to announce that Rebecca Schulter of UCL Financial Group in Memphis, TN, loyal member since 2015, is a winner of a 2021 Four Under Forty award. Additional winners this year are J. Cal Anderson, CFP, CLU, of Ameriprise Financial in Alpharetta, GA, loyal member since 2008; Joanna Dellosa, LUTCF, FSS, RICP, LACP, CLU, of Wilshire Group Financial Services in Los Angeles, loyal member since 2012; and Steven Walker, LUTCF, of Gate City Insurance in Fargo, ND, loyal member since 2009.

Advisor Today, the official publication of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA), is pleased to announce that Joanna Dellosa, LUTCF, FSS, RICP, LACP, CLU, of Wilshire Group Financial Services in Los Angeles, loyal member since 2012, is a winner of a 2021 Four Under Forty award. Additional winners this year are J. Cal Anderson, CFP, CLU, of Ameriprise Financial in Alpharetta, GA, loyal member since 2008; Rebecca Schulter of UCL Financial Group in Memphis, TN, loyal member since 2015; and Steven Walker, LUTCF, of Gate City Insurance in Fargo, ND, loyal member since 2009.