You could say Alex Soto was born to be a president. The position is in his genes. Long before he became president of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America--or of InSource, his Miami-based agency--his great-grandfather was president of Cuba from 1908-12, while his grandfather was elected president in 1936. I mention this because for Mr. Soto--a Havana native--Cuba looms large in his identity as an American success story and as an independent agent.
In an exclusive interview in this week's edition of National Underwriter, Mr. Soto shares with me some of his vision for the insurance industry’s future. (Click here for the complete story.)
In this blog entry, however, I hope to convey what got him to this point.
When I first met Mr. Soto, before our Commercial Insurance Agency of the Year Award Roundtable last fall, he shared his experience as an immigrant who came to Miami in 1960 after being forced to flee by the repressive regime of Fidel Castro.
I heard my family’s story echoed in Mr. Soto’s—my dad left Poland before the Nazi invasion. But while both made peace with their new home, raising a family and succeeding in business, my dad never seemed to look back. Mr. Soto, on the other hand, while a proud American, never gave up on reclaiming his heritage.
“It is now a marathon race between Fidel Castro and me,” he says in his “Black Bean Soup” speech--a compelling tale I’ve encouraged him to try to get published in some national consumer magazine. “Fidel is 80 and sick, while I’m 57. I don’t smoke; I’m trying to drink with moderation. My wife, Patty, has put me on a diet. So with a little luck I’ll be able to outlast him and outlive him, and I do plan to go back.”
The United States has always catered to those with an entrepreneurial spirit, but being an immigrant striving to excel in a foreign country adds fuel to the fire. Being an independent agent lends itself to that persona—living by your wits, setting yourself apart as unique, and, above all, driven to compete.
Mr. Soto encompasses all those characteristics, which is what makes him such a wise choice to lead the nation’s largest producer association. And as you’ll see by his interview in this week's NU, he’s also not afraid to take controversial stands (in this case, on disaster insurance and regulation of the industry) if he believes it will help his agency constituents--and, most importantly, his customers.
Still, Mr. Soto--who traces his family history to the earliest permanent Spanish settlement on Cuba in 1513—dreams of returning to his birthplace. He is not easily discouraged, even after learning his boyhood home was later used “as a place of interrogation, intimidation, torture and, in some cases, perhaps even execution” by the Cuban government.
He remains eager to make his pilgrimage to Havana once President Castro is history, should that trigger a democratic reform in Cuba’s totalitarian government.
“Will I turn my back on the United States? Of course not. I am an American. I have been here for 47 years. I love this country with every fiber in my body,” he says. “But I can see us having a second home, not unlike those of you that have beach houses, or places in the mountains. Remember, it’s only 30 minutes from Miami to Havana. And so I truly look forward to the day each of you can come and visit us in a free Cuba.”
I hope Mr. Soto’s life comes full circle, and we one day share a Cuba Libre at an IIABA annual conference in Havana.
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Mr. Soto will take part in what promises to be a provocative “Insurance Town Hall” meeting on April 27 as part of the “Big I” Legislative Conference and Convention in Washington.
Joining him in the discussion—moderated by IIABA CEO Bob Rusbuldt—will be the industry's "old friend," J. Robert Hunter, director of insurance at the Consumer Federation of America; Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., a former insurance commissioner and ex-president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners; Roger Sevigny, insurance commissioner of New Hampshire and vice president of the NAIC; and Tom Van Berkel, chairman, president and CEO of The Main Street America Group.
I'll be on hand and will blog from the conference.
