The New Frontier

The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA) has taken an aggressive and positive response to the changing demographics. Four years ago it formed a Diversity Task Force, a cooperative industry group comprised of Big "I" agents and brokers, members of groups representing Latin-American, African-American, and Asian-American agents, and eight leading insurance companies. The task force's objectives are to promote racial diversity within the agent community and the company ranks, and to increase the industry's market presence in emerging urban and minority communities.

In its brief history, the task force has created two programs to reach out to minorities and to promote diversity in the local, state, and national levels.

"The number-one objective of the diversity task force is to get direct appointments to minority agencies from national carriers," said Bill Pierson, IIABA assistant vice president of agent development. "We thought if they had some sort of credentialing, then that might mean something to company people."

Road Map to Success

The Associate in Insurance Agency Operations (AIAO) credential is targeted to independent agents and available through participating Big "I" state associations. Its course outline states it "offers agents the tools and strategies necessary to be more attractive business partners for top national and regional agency carriers and to position themselves for long-term growth and success." The program was developed jointly by the task force and IIABA's education department.

The course features a specially developed curriculum taught by subject experts. Agents learn tactical planning, successful marketing strategies, and effective negotiation skills — "Everything they need to run a successful agency," according to Pierson. Lisa Harrington, vice president of education for the Florida Association of Insurance Agents, created the sales part of the class. "It's a terrific overall program," Harrington enthused. "We would like to get it going here in Florida also, but frankly, we are swamped with the required courses we already offer."

The program consists of 64 hours of in-person classroom instruction conducted over eight days, two three-day sessions and one two-day session during a 12-month period. Class size is limited to 15 students to ensure each participant receives individual attention during and after each class. Upon completion of classroom work and course-reporting requirements, each participant is awarded the AIAO designation.

The first, and at this point only, series of classes was held at IIABA's headquarters in Alexandria, Va, and produced 12 graduates. With a cost of $2,500 per person and 64 hours of instruction, it requires a major commitment by the agent, both in time and money. Despite the slow start, IIABA remains optimistic and committed to the program. "We are looking at ways to tweak the process; bouncing around ideas on how to make it more accessible," reported Piersol. "For instance, we are looking at maybe offering part of it at state conventions, or perhaps just having one in-person meeting and offering the rest online. It is a very comprehensive course and it requires a real commitment, both from the people taking it and from the state associations offering it."

Big "I's" second outreach initiative is a free tool kit for state association executives, volunteer leadership, and staff. Underwritten by task force company partners, the tool kit is a step-by-step guide for state associations to use in recruiting and retaining new members.

The task force also sponsors a diversity luncheon every year at the national convention, and regularly reaches out to other groups, such as the National African-American Insurance Association and the Latin American Association of Insurance Agencies, throughout the year.

A Leader for Change

A driving force in these initiatives is current Big "I" President Alex Soto. A native of Havana, Cuba, Soto immigrated to this country in 1960. His subsequent accomplishments could make him the poster boy for diversity-in-action.

Soto served as president of the Independent Insurance Agents of Dade County in 1980, and as chairman of the Florida Association of Insurance Agents in 1994-95. In his "working" life, he is president of InSource, Inc., in Miami. InSource itself was formed in 1997 as a blend of several independent insurance agencies: Thomas & Cook originally established in 1922; Worley, Humphrey & Ball with roots back to 1935; and Pennekamp & Soto founded in 1959.

With over 60 staff members in two offices, InSource employees "reflect the diversity of our community," Soto said. "It has happened naturally, without having to really mine it. First of all, the pool of talented people is pretty scarce, so if you start cherry-picking and putting parameters around your hires, you'll put yourself in a bind. We simply follow the demographics of the community. Whoever comes in with talent, that's who we want. We have a good number of Hispanic-Americans working here because that follows the face of the community.

"Our clientele reflects our community, also. But there is no monolithic in Dade county. I have been in this country 46 years, and there are people who have been here 46 minutes, and everything in between. So our experiences are very different. We have clients who are more comfortable speaking in Spanish, so we speak to them in Spanish."

Everyone Is Invited

As Big "I" president, Soto has written to the presidents of the Latin American Association of Insurance Agencies, the National African-American Insurance Association, and Asian-American insurance groups to bring them into the Big "I" fold. "I said if they had some agency principals they thought would benefit from joining Big "I" state associations, send me their names and I will find a sponsor to pay their dues Then the people there will mentor them and put them on committees. I am about mainstreaming people; I don't want to create ghettos.

"Big 'I' is a bottom-up organization," Soto stressed. "But you have to have a willingness to join and participate. As much as we try very hard to show people that this is in their best economic interests, some just will not join. Joining is a good business decision, but you can't put a gun to people's heads. Currently, we don't really quite reflect the face of America. Our board has one representative from each state, usually a past president who has bubbled up from the local organization. If we really wanted to reflect what American looks like, half of our board would be women."

Partners Across All Lines

But progress is being made.

"The Big 'I' has worked with us for a number of years," said Mona T. Carter, membership committee chair of the National African-American Insurance Association (NAAIA). "They reached out to us several years ago to say, 'Hey, come on, start participating with us.' They have done a lot for us as well as for the Latin community. It is phenomenal that Big 'I' is reaching for diversity. In earlier years, you'll remember it was all white, and all white males."

Carter is the national policy executive at the National Council on Compensation Insurance, Inc., in Boca Raton. She said NCCI is a strong supporter of the association and its goals. Founded a decade ago with the mission to provide networking and educational opportunities, NAAIA currently has some 400 members and is open to all insurance professionals, not just agents. The group seeks to provide a forum for people in the different disciplines to network and learn from one another. "We are growing so fast, a team of us is working on a strategic plan to focus on specific areas," Carter said. "We want to develop and foster professional experts in the field of insurance. We also want to be a resource — career development, mentoring, and continuing education are important areas with us."

While much of the association's growth is by word-of-mouth, it also has benefited by holding its annual meeting concurrently with the Big "I" each spring. "It has been a very, very good partnership for us," Carter said.

Still One Language

The Latin American Association of Insurance Agencies (L.A.A.I.A.), based in Miami and founded in 1969, also boasts a solid and growing member base. While its 150 members are largely concentrated in South Florida, Association President Fernando Gimenez, CPCU, said that neither locale nor ethnicity are deterrents to joining. "Everything is conducted in English," he stressed, "because that is the 'language' of our industry."

The head of Insurance Marketing Center in Miami, Gimenez has been working in the industry 40 years, the last 28 with his own firm. In light of the current blending throughout American businesses — and indeed, his own success — why does he see the need for a separate group? "Our customers have different ways of doing business, especially the older ones," Gimenez stated.

When all is said and done, it always boils down to the customers. Alex Soto put it in a perspective both timely and succinct: "The main issues here in Dade are not related to diversity issues. They're related to hurricanes." Spoken like a true insurance agent.