Diversity is Key Theme at Big ‘I’, Jackson calls for Minority Market Participation

The Reverend Jesse Jackson is not your typical speaker at your typical insurance industry gathering. But the Independent Insurance Agents of America aren’t afraid to do things differently, and they proved it again at the Big ‘I”s recent Convention & InfoXchange in Orlando, Fla.

Jackson, who is known for his civil rights activism, faced a mainly conservative crowd of insurance professionals. But it didn’t take long for the crowd to warm up to Jackson’s impassioned message as he exhorted the industry to reach out to minority markets.

‘Take off the blinders and see the market,’ he said. ‘You need to diversify, not to prove that you’re not racist, but because you like money…This is almost a trillion-dollar market of blacks and Hispanics…it’s close, it’s predictable and you can drive to it. It just makes so much sense.’

Not only did he encourage agents to provide coverage for the minority market, but to recruit from it for the perpetuation of the industry. ‘Behind the red-line zone, you find athletes, artists, doctors and lawyers,’ Jackson continued. ‘You find people who buy insurance, people who sell insurance, people who think creatively based on their knowledge of the infrastructure behind that line.’

By the end of his speech, Jackson had roused the crowd to a standing ovation.

‘It was an interesting message to deliver to that group of people,’ said Joyce Vogel, account executive for San Diego-based Barney & Barney. ‘It was about inclusion, but he made it sound like it made economic sense. He pointed out that we could make money by selling insurance to minorities, and we could make money for the industry by bringing minorities into the industry to work, so it’s positive for all.’

The diversity theme was echoed in a session titled ‘The Insurance Marketplace & Workplace’ in which attendees from both sides of the picture got into a lively impromptu debate, some seeing frequent practices of discrimination and others who swear it is a thing of the past. ‘Insurance is an inherently discriminatory business,’ said instructor Cheryl Koch, owner of Agency Management Resource Group. ‘But there is discriminatory, and there is unfair.’

Like Jackson, Koch emphasized the business potential of the minority market. ‘Typically, we’re competing for business that’s already being written by someone else—we’re talking about a brand new untapped market here.’ She offered agencies an ‘Agency Action Plan’ with both internal actions, such as preparing a written policy statement regarding discrimination; and external actions, such as actively recruiting employees from minority groups.

The Big ‘I’ enforced its own efforts to diversify by sharing the stage at its annual gathering with the National African-American Insurance Association (NAAIA) and the Latin-American Association of Insurance Agencies (LAAIA) for the first time in history.

In another convention first, Len Brevik and Thomas Ahart from IIAA’s Agents Council for Technology hosted an informative Technology Panel as part of the Big ‘I”s push to ‘Elect SEMCI.’ Fourteen carriers and technology firms demonstrated real-life applications of how industry standards can be applied in insurance agencies.

‘The fight is not over for you, as agents, to get the kind of technology you need and deserve,’ Brevik told the audience. ‘We must continue to insist on the implementation of the new technology along with the adoption of the ACORD XML standards.’

The convention included the traditional installation of officers, confirming William B. Hofmann III as the association’s 96th president. In his inaugural speech, Hofmann called on the PIA to discuss a merger to create one unified voice for agents, and also vowed to pursue the integration of technology for the industry. ‘When I started out, carbon paper was an integral part of business,’ Hofmann said. ‘I will use ACT and the new technology…I promise that the Big ‘I’ will finish what we started.’

Extensive tributes were given, both to IIAA Outgoing President William Houston and to retiring IIAA CEO Jeffrey Yates. ‘This is the unified company position: we are going to miss Jeff Yates every single day,’ said Clyde Fitch, Travelers’ senior vice president-personal lines.

Awards were given out, including Best Conference of the Year to the Young Brokers and Agents of the West for the fourth year in a row. YBAC 2000 Chairman M. Stuart Nelson accepted the award.

IIAA Past President C. Courtney Wood was presented with the Woodworth Memorial Award, given to individuals who have performed special, meritorious and outstanding service on behalf of the independent agency system and the association.

‘One of [Courtney’s] main attributes as IIAA president was his incredible passion for the role small agents play in the independent agent system, providing the political grassroots for the industry,’ Houston said. Wood, who recently suffered a stroke, accepted the award with his wife, Dorothy.

Despite the sentiment that moments like this and others (such as Christy Hoffman’s tribute to her father Bill) brought to the surface, there were plenty of lighthearted moments as well.

The video collage tribute to ‘Wild Bill’ Houston was entertaining, and the international character actors circulating at the Opening Night festivities added a colorful spark. The poolside Halloween bash brought out a host of dancing ghouls, Trekkies, pirates and farmers. Throw in a few hula skirts and Hawaiian shirts, and you have next year’s Big ‘I’ Convention in Honolulu!