The NAIFA-Texas Centennial State Conference was held February 10-12, 2025, at the Omni Austin Downtown hotel in Austin, Texas. With more than 160 guests in attendance, the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors Texas Chapter celebrated its founding and 100 year anniversary.

To view the digital program, please click here.

We are grateful for the NAIFA-Texas sponsors that made this event remarkably memorable including 1847 Financial, Abacus Life, Books Made Easy, Capital Strategies, Corebridge Financial, Coventry, The DI Center, ECA Marketing, EMG Insurance Brokerage, Fairway Mortgage, Inland Securities, Kansas City Life, Life Happens, Midland National, Modern Life, Motiv8 Advisors, National Farm Life, National Life Group, New York Life Insurance Company, Next Level Insurance, Paperback Expert, Protective Life, Quest Pro, SAM USA, Inc., Sophia Financial Solutions, Summit Legacy Strategies, Texas Association of Life and Health Insurers (TALHI), Wintrust Life Finance, and The XPO Partners. 

The program kicked off on Monday, February 10, 2025 with the NAIFA-Texas 100th Business Meeting and the swearing in ceremony for the 2025 NAIFA-Texas Board of Directors. The ceremony was led by NAIFA National President, Doug Massey. Doug joined NAIFA in 1987 and was President of NAIFA-Texas from 2012-2013.

• President, Richard "Rick" M. Demko, CLU, ChFC, RICP, AEP, LUTCF, LACP
• President-Elect, Joe Neal Kerr
• Secretary-Treasurer, Karen Easterling
• Immediate Past President, Jim Thompson
• Director, Andrea Ames
• Director, Dereck Blair
• Director, Enrique Cisneros
• Director, Joseph Hernandez
• Director, Carrie D. Sayre

The business meeting was followed by the 2024-2025 NAIFA-Texas Leadership and Life Institute (LILI) Graduation Ceremony and Luncheon sponsored by National Life Group. The ceremony recognized and featured, LILI graduates, Dereck Blair (NAIFA-Amarillo Area), Enrique Cisneros, Jr. (NAIFA-El Paso), Erni Davis (NAIFA National Chief Financial Officer), William ‘Bo’ Miller (NAIFA-POET), Bazal Morani (NAIFA-Dallas), and John Wheeler, Jr. CFP, CLU, ChFC, CRPC, LUTCF, LACP,  CLTC (NAIFA Houston).

Learn more about the LILI program

Our conference speakers included former Olympic Swimmer, medalist, coach, and motivational speaker, Wendy Boglioli. Wendy brought her riveting Olympic story, professional versatility and captivating insight to our attendees. Her message encouraged everyone to take a holistic approach to their financial and physical outlook. This session was sponsored by 1847 Financial.

We also heard from TV anchor, public relations firm executive, and author, Bob Sellers on "What's Next? Washington to Wall Street". Bob takes his 25 years of experience on TV and brings it to audiences in person, taking a look at what’s next in Washington, and on Wall Street, and how it could affect all of us on Main Street. This session was sponsored by The XPO Partners.

Our final conference guest was motivational speaker and author, Richard Dobson, CFP. During his presentation Dobson shared his favorite communications hacks that meet the following criteria; Keep It Simple, Make It Memorable, Have Fun With It!

On the evening of Tuesday, February 11, 2025, NAIFA-Texas held it's Centennial Celebration and Awards Gala at the Austin Club. 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:

• 2024 Young Advisor Team (YAT) Leader of the Year Award Recipient - Derek True, DIA, DHP of The DI Center and NAIFA-Dallas.
• 2024 Tom Currey Local Leader of the Year Award Recipient - Mark Jones of Remington Insurance Group and NAIFA Houston.
• 2024 Bruce Murray Tall Texan Award Recipient - NAIFA-Texas Past President, Hollie Gandy Donohue of Safe Money Solutions and NAIFA-Amarillo Area
• 2024 John M. Ruckel Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient - T. Leslie "Les" Littleton of T. Leslie Littleton Insurance Agency and NAIFA Pineywoods of East Texas

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.

NAIFA-Texas Past President's Breakfast
NAIFA-Texas members at the Texas State Capitol Building	NAIFA-Texas 100th Business Meeting
2024-2025 LILI Graduation Ceremony	Event Emcee, Joey Ussery
NAIFA-Texas President, Rick Demko	NAIFA-Texas Legislative Appointment Training with Government Relations Committee Chair, Jason Talley, Government Affairs Consultant Caitlin Flanders, and Governmental Affairs Consultant & Attorney at Law, Michelle Wittenburg
NAIFA National President, Doug Massey	Conference Speaker, Bob Sellers
Sales Ideas from Sponsors Session	Sales Ideas from Sponsors Session
NAIFA-Texas LILI Chair and Moderator, Davin Bell	NAIFA National President, Doug Massey shakes hands with NAIFA-Texas President, Rick Demko
NAIFA-Texas President, Rick Demko with NAIFA-Dallas President, Benjamin Gerald	Conference Speaker, Wendy Boglioli
NAIFA-Texas Past President's Panel Discussion	Conference Speaker, Richard Dobson