The 2024 NAIFA-Texas Annual State Conference was held February 16-18, 2024, at the Hilton NASA Clear Lake hotel in Houston, Texas with more than 110 guests in attendance over President's Day weekend. To view the digital program, please click here.
We are grateful for the NAIFA-Texas sponsors that make events like this possible including Fairway Mortgage, National Farm Life, Athene, The DI Center, Midland National, Abacus Life, Capital Strategies, EMG Insurance Brokerage, Kansas City Life, Security Mutual Life, Spectrum Financial Group, Advisors Academy, Sound Income Group, GPM Life, Illinois Mutual, Life Happens, Solve Ur Puzzles, Next Level Insurance, One Protection, and Texas Republic Life Insurance Company.
To start the conference, we were joined by American Warrior Initiative team Louise Thaxton and Karen Vaughn who's message is bringing awareness of the challenges facing the men and women who have served in the military when returning from war.
In 2018 AWI launched Freedom Tours with Gold Star mom Karen Vaughn. From her unique perspective—as a mom whose son was killed in action in Afghanistan—Karen shared her powerful message of obligation as everyday citizens to honor the sacrifice of those who’ve given so much for our freedom.
AWI has spearheaded hundreds of give-back initiatives to the wounded heroes of America. These wounded heroes have been served through the gifting of service dogs, business grants, home upgrades, mortgage-free housing, and more. We had the privilege of seeing a hero veteran be given the gift of a service animal during the conference. It was a magical moment many members won't soon forget!
Next we hear from motivational keynote speaker and retired combat-wounded Navy SEAL, Jason Redman. Jason shared how he built a relentless mindset with tools to be a more effective and balanced leader. He was humble, inspirational, and left the room wanting to know more.
The evening wound down with a welcome reception and the 2023-2024 Leadership and Life Institute (LILI) Graduation Ceremony that honored the now LILI Alumni: Devon Darden, Ian J, Escalante, Rebecca Garcia, Joseph Hernandez, and Derek True. To view a digital copy of the graduation program, please click here.
The Texas Leaders Round Table (TLRT) held a private, members only dinner and speakeasy honoring NAIFA-Texas Member John M. Ruckel and his achievements on Friday evening. It was also announced that the NAIFA-Texas Lifetime Achievement Award has been renamed the John M. Ruckel Lifetime Achievement Award. To learn more about TLRT and how to become a member, please click here.
Saturday 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. Later in the day these skills were put to the test with our sponsors during an interactive game and again with a Deep Dive session with Traci to make sure the audience fully grasped the lesson.
We were also joined by Michael Inkman with Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation, who moderated a panel discussion focused on “How to use Home Equity (the greatest buffer asset) to Secure Your Retirement”. The panelists include NAIFA-Texas Members Jim Thompson, Hollie Gandy, and Mike Evans.
Our final conference guest was motivational speaker and author, Steve Gilliland. Focusing on the conscious choices we make every day that impact the lives of others, Making a Difference™ is an eye-opening and heartfelt keynote detailing how to positively influence people in every imaginable way, regardless of position or status. Each of us has the potential to transform the culture of an organization through our actions and attitude. While we don’t always know what challenges face the people we meet every day, we do have the power to bring them hope. That hope can multiply a thousand times over and spread throughout the world exponentially.
Following a delightful weekend of guest speakers, the attendees took a short shuttle ride to NASA's Space Center Houston for a Dinner Reception and Leadership Awards Banquet under the stars. The NAIFA-Texas Awards program recognizes highly qualified members that have been identified and recommended by their peers for exhibiting leadership qualities, character, significant contributions to the insurance and financial industries, and meet or exceed the required qualifications for the award in which they are being recommended. During the program, we honored the following recipients:
- 2023 Local Leader of the Year Award Recipient - Mike E. Evans, CLU, ChFC, LUTCF of The DI Center
- 2023 Young Advisor Team (YAT) Leader of the Year Award Recipient - Michele L. Guzman, RICP of New York Life Insurance Company
- 2023 Bruce Murray Tall Texan Award Recipient - Mark Warren, LUTCF, Retired
- 2023 John M. Ruckel Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient - Randy T. Robertson, LUTCF, Retired
On the final day of the conference, NAIFA National President, Tom Cothron, spoke to NAIFA-Texas members and conducted the Oath of Office for the 2024 NAIFA-Texas Board of Directors.
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.
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Jim Thompson, Cynthia Mook, Deborah Ruckel, John Ruckel, and Joey Ussery |
NAIFA-Texas Past Presidents |
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Immediate Past President Rodney Mogen receives Past President Plaque |
John Ruckel, Randy Robertson, and National Farm Life |
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Swearing In Ceremony of 2024 Board of Directors |
Panel Discussion of Hollie Gandy, Mike Evans, and Jim Thompson with Michael Inkman as Moderator |
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TLRT Dinner Attendees |
Jason Redman |
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LILI Moderator Davin Bell |
Sponsor Spectrum Financial with John Ruckel |
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Mark Jones interviews John Ruckel during TLRT Dinner |
All Award Recipients and Guests |
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