The 10 biggest announcements from life and health insurers this week

LIMRA announced that former U.S. Secretary of State and retired Army Gen. Colin L. Powell will deliver the keynote address at the LIMRA 2015 Annual Conference, which will be held Oct. 25–27, 2015 in Boston. The LIMRA 2015 Annual Conference’s theme, “Pivot Point: Striking a Path for Success,” focuses on the challenges and changes affecting the financial services industry.  The conference brings together leading experts and company executives to examine today’s most important issues, and to revisit, and possibly rethink, the ideas that have informed the industry’s strategies and tactics to date. Conference-goers will learn about developments in products, demographics, technology, medicine and other vital areas. The LIMRA Annual Conference draws more than 500 industry executives from insurance and financial services companies from all over the world, and this year’s will be held at the Sheraton Boston Hotel. Those who register before Oct. 1 will receive a discount. For more information and to register online, please visit: LIMRA 2015 Annual Conference.

MassMutual Retirement Services earned record high scores for satisfaction among employers that sponsor defined contribution as well as defined benefit retirement plans, according to Chatham Partners, an independent research firm. Eighty percent of all plan sponsors said they were “very satisfied” with MassMutual in 2014, up from the previous year’s record of 77 percent and four percentage points above the industry average, Chatham Partners reports. The independent survey scores were based on responses from 4,379 plan sponsors about their experience with MassMutual in 2014. The firm serves more than 35,000 retirement plans with more than $152 billion in assets under management. For more information about MassMutual’s Retirement Services Division, please contact your financial professional or call MassMutual at 1-800-874-2502, option 4.

The American Association for Medicare Supplement Insurance has posted a free video featuring an interview on seminar selling with one of the nation’s leading Med Supp sales professionals. “We recorded a full day of interviews and sessions at the 2015 National Selling Medicare Supplement Insurance Summit and are now offering free access to view one of the programs,” explains Jesse Slome, director of the trade group and the conference architect.  The national conference held this past April in Orlando attracted over 450 attendees. The 10-minute video features an interview with Susan Hatch one of the nation’s leading Med Supp agents. Access to watch the video is free and viewable on any device with Internet access.  The Association announced a special 20 percent discount code for those interested in ordering any conference program recordings.   Enter code AAM20 as part of the check-out process. To view the free video and access the on demand library of insurance conference recordings, go here.

The Professional Insurance Marketing Association (PIMA) will have its MidYear Meeting & Exhibitor Trade Show from July 23-26, 2015 at The Stoweflake Mountain Resort in Stowe, Vermont. PIMA’s MidYear programming emphasizes marketing, technology and products and networking for business development. This year’s conference will provide participants with insightful and practical information into the most critical markets for sales growth in coming years. Marti Barletta, known by the Huffington Post as “The High Priestess of Marketing to Women,” will present the opening keynote – The (Sh)Economy. This session will provide insights and strategies businesses will need to successfully market to this influential, affluent group. The early bird registration and housing deadline is June 15. Attendance and exhibitor opportunities are open to non-members. For a brochure or to register, call 817-569-7462 (PIMA) or visit their website here.

In other PIMA news, the association has released the 2015 updated edition of its Advertising Compliance Manual. The manual covers print and electronic media advertising best practices, state advertising filing requirements, and more. It assists in ensuring that advertising copy and marketing materials meet statutory and regulatory requirements. The manual, published in a searchable CD format, is provided to members as a member service but is available for sale to non-members for only $695. For more information, including an index, see the PIMA website here. 

The Life Insurance Settlement Association (LISA), an organization representing participants in the life settlement industry, announced the election of Cynthia Poveda as the new chairman of LISA. Poveda’s appointment was announced this morning at LISA’s 21^st Annual Spring Life Settlement Conference, which was held May 3-5, 2015, at the Hyatt Regency Boston. Based on the outcome of a membership vote held at the LISA conference, the following individuals were elected to new terms on the board:

• Jim Maxson, partner at Culhane Meadows, PLLC
• Cynthia Poveda, chief executive officer of Life Equity, LLC
• Sheri Townsend, chief operating officer of Asset Servicing Group
• John Welcom, president and chief executive officer of Welcome Funds, Inc.
• Dan Young, president of Magna Life Settlements

These new directors join the other four board members still serving active terms:

• Alan Buerger, chief executive officer of Coventry
• Michael Freedman, president of GWG Holdings, Inc.
• Vince Granieri, chief executive officer of Predictive Resources, LLC
• Phil Loy, president of AVS Group

The full slate of LISA board members also elected new officers. In addition to Poveda’s election as chair, Freedman was appointed to serve as vice chair, Loy was appointed as treasurer and Maxson was selected as secretary.