NAIFA Conference Sponsor List Hints at the Storm

The National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA) is planning to start its Performance+Purpose annual conference Wednesday, in Orlando, Florida, on schedule.

Two years ago, Hurricane Irma hit the Orlando area hard. NAIFA ended up converting its in-person meeting into a virtual event.

A week ago, Hurricane Dorian looked as if it might chase another NAIFA event out of Orlando. But Dorian ended up staying offshore as it moved past Florida, without having much effect on Orlando.

(Related: NAIFA Presents Leadership Nominations)

NAIFA is still facing the effects of low interest rates and regulatory uncertainty.

The Sponsors

One sign of the interest rate storm may be that Principal Financial Group Inc. is the only publicly traded company on the list of top, platinum-level NAIFA conference sponsors.

The other three platinum-level sponsors — Ameritas, MassMutual and State Farm — are all policyholder-owned mutual insurers.

The other publicly traded life insurers on the sponsor list are Prudential, Kansas City Life, American National, Allianz and Horace Mann.

The other mutuals on the sponsor list are Guardian, New York Life and Ohio National Financial Services.

But a NAIFA representative said, after the original publication time of this article, that the NAIFA conference actually has a similar sponsor list as it's had in recent years, and that the conference had no publicly traded sponsors last year.

The Insured Retirement Institute started a three-day annual meeting of its own Monday in Charleston, South Carolina.

The top tier of sponsors for that meeting consists entirely of five publicly traded companies — Athene, AXA Equitable Life, Lincoln Financial, Principal and Prudential.

The President

NAIFA has already announced that Cammie Scott, of CK Harp & Associates, will take over from Jill Judd as president of the association later in January.

Kevin Mayeux continues to be NAIFA's chief executive officer.

The Activities

The conference will take place at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Resort, and attendees with children may find activities of interest at Disney World.

Another conference highlight will be a service project with Hands on Orlando.

Attendees who participate will get to assemble food kits and decorate piggy banks. The piggy banks will be used to attract children's attention to a basic financial literacy guide.

Correction: An earlier version of this article identified the current NAIFA president incorrectly. The current president is Jill Judd.

— Read NAIFA to Help Life Brokerage Agencies Lobby, on ThinkAdvisor.

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