Leaders Blog

NAIFA members, mark your calendars for April 11th at 12 pm Eastern for the Q2 State of NAIFA webinar. Learn about the latest on NAIFA’s progress, advocacy efforts, and how you can get the most out of your membership.

Join us January 25, 2024, at 12 pm eastern.

The Q1 State of NAIFA webinar gives NAIFA leaders a better understanding of what is going on in their association and how they can help NAIFA members get the most value out of their membership. This will be 2024 President Tom Cothron's inaugural update on where our association stands and where we are heading. No NAIFA leader or member should miss it. As always, NAIFA CEO Kevin Mayeux will provide information on association programming and Senior Vice President for Government Relations Diane Boyle will give a legislative and regulatory briefing.

Shown Above: U.S. House of Representative Victoria Spartz sits down with NAIFA-Indiana members for a coffee during August In-District Meetings in August 2022. In-District meetings are often set in relaxed environments where elected officials have more time to really get to know NAIFA (and you!).

We look forward to seeing all NAIFA leaders at Congressional Conference next week in Washington. (And for those unable to make it, we will miss you.) Congressional Conference is the first of NAIFA’s three signature events, followed by Apex at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix, August 17-18, and the National Leadership Conference and Belong Event in Washington, D.C., November 13-15.

These signature events are where NAIFA showcases the ways we serve our members, with each one representing a different aspect of our membership promise: Advocate, Educate, Differentiate. Please note that anyone who signs up for Apex on-site during Congressional Conference will receive a discounted Apex registration, so don’t miss out! We strongly encourage leaders to attend all of NAIFA’s signature events.

If you missed the Congressional Conference "Know Before You Go" email earlier this week, you can see it online for important information to help you make the most of your time in Washington. It discusses the Congressional Conference Day on the Hill visits, the Capitol Hill Hospitality Hall, IFAPAC’s silent auction, NAIFA’s D.C. Passport program, and other pertinent items.

Make Sure Your Clients & Prospects Know You're Out of Office to Protect Them!

While you will return from your D.C. trip with great photos and memories of your time on the Hill, make sure that you tell your clients/prospects that you're out of pocket because you are going to advocate on behalf of them!  You can cut-and-paste the following as your out-of-office message: 

Cut-and-Paste Out-of-Office Message:

"I will not be in the office on May 23-24, 2022 as I am going to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. to meet with our Congressional leaders on key topics that affect your financial security. I'm a proud member of my professional association, the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA) and have made this investment of my time to ensure that our elected leaders understand the impact that proposed laws may have on your financial security." 

Add a Graphic to Your Email Signature While You're Away

Let your clients and prospects know what you're doing by adding your state's custom graphic to your email signature. Select your state and download the graphic to add to your email signature.

Update Your Facebook Profile to Let Clients & Prospects Know You're Advocating for Them

Use Facebook a lot and want to showcase to your friends that you're a financial security professional while you're at Congressional Conference? Add a filter to your Facebook profile by following these easy steps and let the world know that you believe in Financial Security for All! 

Now that we're back in person after two years of virtual events, this Congressional Congress promises to be extraordinary!

NAIFA has announced the inaugural Terry Headley Lifetime Defender Award, which will recognize a current NAIFA member who shows exemplary service to their profession, colleagues, and clients through their political advocacy and contributions to IFAPAC.

Former NAIFA President Terry Headley has a long-distinguished record of service to NAIFA. He is recognized as a key NAIFA contact for multiple members of both the Nebraska Congressional delegation and the state legislators over the years. Headley has served in leadership roles at the local, state, and national levels. He is also an IFAPAC Capitol Defender.

NAIFA’s advocacy educates and informs policymakers so they understand the important work insurance and financial professionals do to help American families and businesses achieve their financial goals and attain financial security. Well-informed officials make better decisions to serve NAIFA members and their clients as well as all Americans who seek financially secure futures.

NAIFA’s Congressional Congress, May 25-26, will be a virtual event featuring targeted advocacy training with briefings on legislative issues that affect members’ businesses, best practices for conducting congressional meetings, and tips for developing impactful long-term relationships with legislators.

NAIFA partners with one of the best state legislative tracking services in the country and is now able to offer each state a customized bill tracker (see, for example, NAIFA's bill tracker for New York State). States can either link to the bill tracking site by copying and pasting a web link or by embedding the tracker into their website using html code. 

NAIFA is offering a new membership called the NAIFA 100% Agency program. The new program provides a group membership, a new logo, a promise to be politically active and additional publicity as part of the new membership program.

The new program was rolled out on the January Membership Chairs call.  If you have an agency that is interested, please refer the lead to Dennis Cuccinelli and/or send to recruitment@naifa.org.

NAIFA is pleased to announce that The Fortis Agency, headquartered in Holmdel, NJ at the beautiful Bellworks Complex, has become a 100% NAIFA Agency. Under the new membership program, The Fortis Agency has enrolled all of their advisors as NAIFA members and enrolled them in NAIFA’s grassroots advocacy programs.