NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - 14

THE FUTURE OF NAILBA

"Delivering more value to our members
in a changing marketplace is the overriding
factor behind the new strategic plan," noted
NAILBA Chairman Jim Sorebo, CLU.
NAILBA is Not Alone
The Industry Alignment Group of
Concerned Carriers and Associations (IAG), formed in 2016, is
designed to foster relationships
between NAILBA and other life
insurance industry organizations.
This group will indirectly assist in
helping NAILBA achieve the goals
of the new strategic plan. In addition to NAILBA, member associations include AALU, the National
Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA), GAMA, Women
in Insurance and Financial Services
(WIFS), Forum 400, the Society of
Financial Service Professionals, the
American College, and Life Happens. Each of these associations
has a somewhat different focus
than NAILBA along with overlapping
interests. "The noted associations
embrace what's important in pursuit of our three guiding missions,"
explained IAG Chair Warren May,
who is National Vice President-Life
Distribution at Principal Financial
Group. "Political advocacy, training and education, and promotion
of our industry are foundational to
the efforts of IAG." IAG membership
includes the CEO or president and
one board member of each member
association, and one or two representatives from each of five carriers
(Northwestern Mutual, Mass Mutual,
Guardian, New York Life, and Principal Financial Group), typically the
manager of distribution or the political affairs representative.
In addition, every member of the
group desires to expand the distri14 perspectives JULY 2017

bution universe including diversity
initiatives and generational expansion of our profession. "We already
have some interesting initiatives
underway," said May. "IAG has certainly provided an awareness of the
need for change and impetus to
start doing something different."
NAILBA/AALU, GAMA/AALU, GAMA/
American College, and NAIFA/WIFS
are advancing real outcomes while
others engage in meaningful dialogue and planning. By joining
together and pooling resources to
gain efficiency, effectiveness, and
scale, the industry can speak with
one voice when approaching insurance carriers, regulators, state legislators, and the U.S. Congress.
After several preliminary discussions, the IAG held its first inperson meeting in May 2016. Subsequently, there have been three
additional meetings, most recently
in May 2017. About 20 people attend
each meeting, usually held the day
after a member association's annual meeting. In addition, teleconferences are conducted between
meetings for updates and May also
talks with members individually by
phone.
The goal of the IAG is for the
industry to unite, speaking with one
voice and delivering a consistent
message. "We have three charges for
the group," May pointed out. "We
seek consistency of political messaging, in both D.C. and the states;
consistency of training, educating,
motivating, and recruiting talent
to our industry, including the train-

ing and educating of managers and
leaders, advisors, distributors, and
brokers both as entrepreneurs and
managers of advisors; and industry
advocacy via promotion to the public through various campaigns. We
would strive to be like other substantial industries that enjoy a single voice and platform of services.
Examples would be the American
Medical Association, the National Association of Realtors, and the
American Dental Association."
NAIFA Chief Executive Officer
Kevin Mayeux, CAE, said each IAG
member association is doing a great
job, but all of them are basically
serving in the same space: the life
insurance space. "We are trying to
see if it is possible for the associations involved to combine efforts
and do things more efficiently," he
said. "There are some compelling
business reasons for associations to
work together collaboratively."
May said alignment will be
advanced when the member associations aggregate, share resources, and evolve even greater relevance and positions of strength.
"As an example, NAILBA knows
and understands independent distribution and the BGA community and engages their constituents
with valuable education and motivation. That said, there remains an
opportunity for NAILBA to leverage
the strengths and resources of other groups to elevate its relevance in
the marketplace further."
While NAILBA focuses on the
needs of BGAs, GAMA specializ-

es in leadership development and
management training. Focusing on
the transformational categories
of Building Your Business, Building Others, and Building Yourself,
GAMA believes in equipping and
inspiring its members to secure
financial futures by pursuing excellence in leadership for the profession, for their teams, and for themselves. "We want to insure, as the
alignment process moves forward,
that the critical pillar of education and training has representation and vision at the table," noted GAMA CEO Bonnie Godsman. "We
believe this process gives all associations an opportunity to reexamine
their core mission and their unique
capabilities and to bring those to
the table to facilitate a progressive, realistic, and brave conversation about the future of the association space."
"For us to maximize the impact of
the life insurance distribution community, every organization is going
to have to focus on those strengths
rather than the threats we face,"
noted Marc Cadin, COO of AALU. "We
must have real discussions about
the potential for working together,
but also about the unique needs of
each constituency. Ultimately, that
will require real leadership among
volunteers, association leaders, and
carrier supporters.
"It's critical that every organization be clear about its direction, and
AALU commends NAILBA for doing
the hard work to chart their course
(through its new strategic plan),"
Cadin added. "Operating in siloes is
not in the long-term best interest
of our members or their clients, and
AALU looks forward to finding nontraditional ways to work together to
be more effective and relevant on
behalf of that community."
"Like NAILBA, we at GAMA also
serve a very specific faction in the



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017

NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017
Contents
Chairman’s Corner
CEO Insights
The Future of NAILBA
Mooers Nomination
NAILBA Charitable Foundation
NAILBA 36 Preview
Life Happens
Member Profile
Agency Successor Networking Group
Calendar of Events
Brokerage in Motion
Index of Advertisers
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - Intro
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - Cover2
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - 3
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - 4
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - Contents
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - 6
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - Chairman’s Corner
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - 8
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - CEO Insights
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - 10
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - 11
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - The Future of NAILBA
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - 13
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - 14
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - 15
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - 16
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - 17
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - Mooers Nomination
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - 19
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - NAILBA Charitable Foundation
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - 21
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - 22
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - 23
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - NAILBA 36 Preview
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - 25
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - Life Happens
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - 27
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - 28
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - 29
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - Member Profile
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - 31
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - Agency Successor Networking Group
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - 33
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - Index of Advertisers
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - Cover3
NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - Cover4
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