RESTON, Va. (PRWEB) May 12, 2018 -- AALU held its 61st Annual Meeting in Washington, DC April 29-May 1, 2018. Convening over 1,000 attendees each year, the meeting provides a forum for professional development, networking, and advocacy for the life insurance community.
A primary topic was AALU’s recent successes in protecting their members and the value of life insurance during in the 2017 tax reform debate. “The AALU board and the government affairs team worked around the clock,” said Immediate Past President Rich DeVita, Principal in The Todd Organization. “AALU members generated over 12,000 letters to elected officials during the height of tax reform, and held over 1,000 meetings with legislators in 2017. None of this would have been successful if not for the years of relationship building that many of them have done.”
AALU also celebrated CEO David Stertzer, who will step down in September after 33 years in the role. AALU announced in March that Stertzer will be succeeded by Marc Cadin, an 18-year veteran of the organization who currently serves as Chief Operating Officer. In his address to attendees, Cadin outlined the need for growth and depth within AALU:
“Growing our membership is the single most important objective for AALU,” he said. “We will broaden our mission so that we represent not just the advanced planner, but also the next generation of holistic advisors. That mission, and everything we do, will make it clear that diversity and inclusion are important to us.”
As part of AALU’s ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion, six major carriers (AXA, Lincoln Financial Group, NFP, Northwestern Mutual, Pacific Life Insurance Group, and Penn Mutual) became AALU Diversity Scholarship investors for the 2018 meeting. These groups collectively sponsored attendance and participation for over 70 producers from diverse gender, ethnic, and age demographic backgrounds. AALU also hosted its third annual Diversity Summit on April 29, bringing together diversity and inclusion leaders from throughout the profession to discuss how the financial services industry can better address the issue.
The Annual Meeting also marks the beginning of term for AALU’s Board of Directors. David Byers of Capital Wealth Strategies succeeded Rich DeVita as President, Raymond Bening of Bening Financial was named President-Elect, and Jeri Turley of BCG Companies was named Vice-President, Treasurer & Secretary. Turley will become AALU’s first female President in the 2020-2021 Board year.
The organization also welcomed three new directors for 2018-2019—Mike James, President at PartnersFinancial, Tom Love, agent at Encore Financial Group, and Marguerite Rangel, Wealth Management Advisor at Park Avenue Securities—and honored departing directors Chris Foster, advisor at CSI Wealth Management and former AALU President, Jason O’Dell, Principal & Managing Partner at OJM Group, and John Watson, CEO at 221B Advisory Services.
At the April 30 President’s Dinner, the AALU membership honored Forest Hills Financial Group President & CEO Nat Perlmutter with the Gerald H. Sherman Service Award, bestowed each year on a member who exhibits the organization’s core tenets of strengthening, growing, promoting, and advocating for the life insurance community.
The next AALU Annual Meeting will take place from April 28-April 30, 2019. To view photographs from this year’s event, visit http://www.aalu2018.org.
Suzy Jacobs, AALU, http://www.aalu.org, +1 7036419400, [email protected]
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