2023 NAIFA-Texas Annual State Conference & Day at the Capitol Recap

The 2023 NAIFA-Texas Annual State Conference and Day at the Capitol was held February 21-23, 2023, at the DoubleTree Suites by Hilton in Austin, Texas with more than 130 guests in attendance over the three day event. To view the digital program, please click here.

We are grateful for the NAIFA-Texas sponsors that make events like this possible including Harbor Life, The DI Center, Fairway Mortgage, Solve Ur Puzzles, Principal Financial Group, EMG Insurance Brokerage, Next Level Insurance, Capital Strategies, Financial Seminar Services, Kansas City Life, North Star Resource Group, GPM Life, One Protection, NAELA, Four Oaks, Illinois Mutual, Mass Mutual Brokerage, ACLI, Abacus Life, Assurity, and College In Roads. 

To start the conference, NAIFA President, Bryon Holz, joined us and shared details of his "first times", both in personal and professional life, revealing the true value of what we do as professionals and as NAIFA members. Mr. Holz also led the 2023 Board of Directors Induction Ceremony and shared his personal insights during the 2022-2023 LILI Graduation Ceremony.

College In Roads duo Annmarie Hatfield and Mike Davila then discussed "Planning for College 2023: Helping Your Clients Navigate the Crazy Road to College". Lastly, we were joined by legendary inspirational speaker, Joe Jordan who led his session titled "Prospering in a Post-Covid World". 

Tuesday evening concluded with a welcome reception and the 2022-2023 Leadership and Life Institute (LILI) Graduation Ceremony that honored the now LILI Alumni: Michael Ferrara, CFP, LUTCF, Julian Garza, Dominique Miles, and Roel Rodriguez. To view a digital copy of the graduation program, please click here.

Wednesday morning started off with fraud-busting, body language expert, Traci Brown. Traci taught us how to win the game of 'two truths and a lie' that we play every day with our clients, boss, our team, and prospects. In addition, Traci brought copies of her book "How to Detect Lies, Fraud and Identity Theft" for each member of the audience. 

In preparation for our Day at the Capitol we then heard an update from the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) on their 2023 Legislative Priorities given by Insurance Commissioner, Cassie Brown. Following the Commissioner's presentation, NAIFA-Texas Government Relations Committee Chair, Jason Talley and NAIFA-Texas Lobbyist Elizabeth Hadley, led a Legislative Briefing for the NAIFA-Texas members who planned to participate in meetings at the Capitol Building. Important topics of discussion included the Insurance 101 Handbook and the Legislative Watch List. Members then departed for their individual meetings with legislators. The evening concluded with a Legislative Reception. 

The Texas Leaders Round Table (TLRT) held an exclusive, members only dinner on Wednesday evening with guest speaker, Ed Deutschlander, with North Star Resource Group. To learn more about TLRT and how to become a member, please click here.

The final day of the conference welcomed international speaker, Dr. Travis Parry with his session titled "Living a Balanced Life as an Advisor". Thanks to our generous sponsors, each guest in attendance received a copy of his book. We were also welcomed by professional speaker and hit reality show 'Survivor Nicaragua' contestant, Holly Hoffman, who taught us that challenges allow us to step out of our comfort-zone to push ourselves beyond our own self-limitations.

The conference concluded with an Awards Luncheon that honored the recipients of the Local Leader of the Yar Award, Lel Arandela, LUTCF, ChFC, CLU, CASL of Eagle Strategies and New York Life Insurance, the Young Advisor Team (YAT) Leader of the Year Award, David Tucker, RICP of Cadence Wealth Management. In addition, the Bruce Murray Tall Texan Award was presented to Frank Correa, LUTCF, FSCP of TransAmerica Agency Network, and Joey Ussery, CLU, ChFC, LUTCF of John Hancock was honored with our most prestigious award, the Lifetime Achievement Award. 

Thank you to everyone in attendance for making our event special and memorable. Please enjoy some of the photos we were able to capture during the conference. To view the digital program, please click here.