ELECTION 2020

NAIFA presents nominees for election of secretary and trustees.

NAIFA members will soon elect their new leadership. Cammie Scott, SHRM-SCP, MSIE , REBC, RHU, LUTCF, CLTC , SPHR, will become NAIFA’s immediate past president, and Tom Michel, LACP, will become the president of the association.

As directed by the NAIFA bylaws, the Committee on Governance has announced a single nominee for each available position of Secretary and Trustee.

Secretary

BRYON HOLZ, LACP, CHFC, LUTCF, CASL, CLU

Bryon Holz, LACP, ChFC, LUTCF, CASL, CLU, is with Bryon Holz and Associates in Brandon, Florida. He has been in the financial services industry since 1983.

He earned a B.A. degree in business (Presidential Scholar) from the University of Tampa. His areas of specialty include retirement and legacy planning, life insurance, and annuities and investments.

Holz has served NAIFA in many capacities, including as the Member Value Communication Committee/Brand Awareness Team (BAT) leader (2020), national trustee (2015-2019) and lead trustee (2018-2019).

In addition, he has served on the Communications Committee, the Government Relations Committee, the LILI Subcommittee and the YAT Committee. He has been NAIFA-FL president and NAIFA-Tampa president (Bobo Award). He is a charter member of NAIFA’s Congressional Council and a PAC Emissary Club member.

Active on the membership front, Holz has made presentations at many organizations, including New York Life, Principal, Prudential and Ohio National. He received

NAIFA-Florida’s Pinnacle Award for having recruited dozens of new members.

Holz is also a LILI graduate, a two-time LILI moderator and a member of the development team for NAIFA’s LACP certification. He is a 20-plus years NAIFA Quality Award recipient and a Life, Qualifying, Court of the Table MDRT member.

He has won numerous company awards and honors, including attendance at dozens of top producer conferences and honor clubs and a more than 10-year Achiever’s Council member.

Holz is a firm believer in giving back to his community. He is a board member of Instruments of Change (music programs for disadvantaged children), a parish council president, is active in various liturgical ministries, is a Men’s Fellowship Group moderator, and a Personal Finance Ministry moderator at St. Vincent DePaul Outreach Ministry, Nativity Catholic Church.

Holz has been a speaker at many conferences, including the MDRT Global Meeting and NAIFA-Florida Sales Symposium. He has been the featured speaker at numerous NAIFA state and local meetings, including those in Florida, Alabama, South Carolina, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Tampa and Miami-Dade.

Holz’s greatest strengths include building and strengthening relationships, encouraging the best in others, and seeking unity while embracing diversity.

TRUSTEE WES BOOKER, LUTCF

Wes Booker, LUTCF, was only three years old when his father died. After graduating from White Hall High School, he played football for the University of Central Arkansas Bears, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration.

Upon graduation, Booker joined Farm Bureau Insurance Company, and in 2002, within months of joining the company, he had broken a myriad of life insurance sales records and had won numerous awards. Today, he is the CEO of the Wes Booker Agency, The Horace Mann Companies, in Maumelle, Arkansas. He has won the NAIFA National Sales Achievement Award two years in a row and the NAIFA National Multiline Sales Award.

In addition to winning many awards and accolades, Booker is an active NAIFA volunteer and a member of the association’s Diversity and Inclusion Task Force. This task force created the NAIFA Diversity Champion Award, which recognizes the exceptional efforts of NAIFA members who seek to promote the full and equal participation of diverse people in the insurance and financial advising industries.

Booker also founded a professional minor league football team for late bloomers, known as the Central Arkansas Rhinos. As head coach and general manager, he used this team to provide good players with an opportunity to play football longer and to be seen by the arena league and the National Football League.

In addition, Booker is a football official. After officiating at the high school level, he was invited to officiate in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. In 2013, he was inducted into the White Hall Sports Hall of Fame, and in 2017, he was inducted into Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame (1991 UCA Bears National Champion Football).

Booker is also a mentor, a motivational speaker and author of several books, including Field Presence: It’s Not Enough Just to Play the Game. In this inspirational book, he details his struggles to overcome failure, his journey to influence others and his rise to success. He also serves on many boards and volunteers in whatever capacity he is needed.

Trustee

APRILYN CHAVEZ GEISSLER, LACP

Aprilyn Chavez Geissler, LACP, is the First Executive Vice President at Gateway Insurance and Financial Advisors. Her areas of specialty include property and casualty, financial services, life insurance, disability insurance, long-term-care insurance, and employee benefits. She has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of New Mexico, and she has licenses in life and health insurance, as well as in property and casualty insurance. She is an LACP and served on the LACP Test Writing Group in 2018.

She was the 2019 recipient of NAIFA’s National Diversity Champion Award, a LILI graduate, and an Advisor 2020 moderator.

Geissler is an active NAIFA volunteer. A former NAIFA trustee, she is passionate about the association because it has contributed to her personal growth and professional success. She has attended numerous Congressional

Conferences and several NAIFA-NM Day on the Hill events and is a PAC contributor.

Geissler’s volunteerism also extends to NAIFA membership. She serves on the Membership Committee and has reached out to new members to welcome them and get them engaged in NAIFA programs. She has made membership presentations to Farmers district and state meetings, working with the company to sign up new members.

Geissler believes that she can bring relevant ideas and changes to NAIFA through communication advancements, membership strategies and outreach through her many industry connections.

She is a recipient of many awards, including the Central New Mexico Robert Burke Financial Professional of the Year in 2008. She was also an MDRT Qualifier in 2018, 2019 and 2020.

In addition, Geissler is heavily involved in various civic organizations, including Women to Be, Teamworks and Crossroads of New Mexico. She was also asked to be a speaker for Hispanic and Native American women in her community.

TRUSTEE DENNIS CUCCINELLI, LACP

Dennis Cuccinelli, LACP, began his career with New England Financial where he was a conference qualifier for numerous years as a producer, business specialist, brokerage manager and DI specialist.

Currently, he is a selfemployed employee benefits consultant. He has managed the employee benefits division of general agencies associated with New England Financial and Penn Mutual.

Cuccinelli uses his knowledge and experience to help insurance producers and employers better understand the health insurance products they use for themselves, sell to their clients and offer their employees.

Cuccinelli is the past-president of NAIFA-NJ. He is on NAIFA’s Government Relations, APIC and IFAPAC committees. He is one of NAIFA’s leading new member recruiters and is active in state and local IFAPAC fundraising endeavors.

He has promoted increased responsibility among insurance producers in New Jersey via changes to the New Jersey insurance regulations and is the catalyst for a bill that became law in 2011. He has testified before the New Jersey Assembly Banking and Insurance Committee in support of stronger producer compliance regulations.

Cuccinelli received Life Happens’ realLIFEstories Award and is the recipient of the Central Jersey Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors’ Life Underwriter of the Year Award and the New Jersey Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors’ Underwriter of the Year Award. He is also a recipient of NEF’s Edward E. Phillips Outstanding Citizenship Award.

TRUSTEE DOUGLAS MASSEY, LUTCF,

CLU, CHFC, FSS, CRES

Douglas Massey, LUTCF, CLU, ChFC, CRES, FSS, is a registered representative with OFG Financial Services, Inc., where he has been since 1992. His practice specialties include retirement planning and life insurance. His company’s focus is on nearretirees and retirees. It also does a significant amount of business in the non-profit and 403(b) market.

Massey is on the IFAPAC Committee, was on the NAIFA-TX board of directors from 2008-2014 and was president of NAIFA-TX from 2012-2013.

In his 33 years as a NAIFA member, Massey has served in numerous leadership roles, including as board member and president of a small association and chair of a major national committee.

He has attended every NAIFA Congressional Conference since the meeting’s inception and has attended every NAIFA-TX Legislative Day since 1991. He is one of the key contacts for Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz and Rep. Michael Conaway.

Massey is an IFAPAC Defender (monthly contributor), as well as a contributor at several events each year.

Over the years, he has recruited and sponsored many NAIFA members and has encouraged past members. He has moderated LUTCF and FSS classes and is a LILI graduate.

Massey has been a speaker at NAIFA-AR and NAIFA-NM conferences. He was a member of the National Tax Deferred Savings Association for 20 years and is a former life member of MDRT and Court of the Table.

Massey and his wife, Margay, have three daughters. They spend most of their summers at their lake house, which is only seven miles away from their home. He is a member of the First Presbyterian Church, San Angelo, Texas, and is a former board member of Lake Nasworthy Homeowners Association.