Life Insurance Direct Marketing Association (LIDMA) Announces $20,000 Scholarship to LIDMA Life Lessons Recipient, Human API as the People's Choice Innovation Award Winner and R. Jan Pinney, Pinney Insurance Center CEO / Founder as Vision Award Winner

ATLANTA, Nov. 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Life Insurance Direct Marketing Association (LIDMA) has announced the winners of its 2021 Vision Award, its Innovation Award and LIDMA Life Lesson Scholarship Recipient.

LIDMA president, Robert Bland, remarked, "Not only did the 18^th Annual LIDMA Fall Meeting "Reconnect & Engage" set new first time attendance records, it was loaded with innovative ideas and thought provoking content.  Speakers from our major carrier partners were excellent as were the producer speakers who shared many of their secrets of success in better serving today's diverse life insurance buyers.  LIDMA is dedicated to helping our members streamline processes and improve products to enable people of character who love someone to protect their loved ones through the miracle of life insurance. Our next annual meeting of industry leaders will be held at the westdrift Manhattan Beach Autograph Collection in Manhattan Beach, CA, October 16-19, 2022.  Please visit www.lidma.org often to stay informed."

LIDMA is pleased to welcome our 2021 New Member Companies! Our Fall Meeting & Business Showcase had a record number of 65 1st time attendees!

New LIDMA Member companies include: Afficiency, Inc.; Assurity Life Insurance; Bestow Life Insurance; BetterLife Insurance; Covr Financial Technologies; Equisoft; Ethos; Harbor Life Brokerage; Haven Life; Human API, Inc.; InsurTech Connect; Instaquote, LLC; Integriant Ventures Insurance Services; Sproutt; Sureify; Symetra; Techficient Holdings, LLC; and Vantis Life Insurance Company.

Human API Receives LIDMA's Prestigious Innovation Award!

The LIDMA Innovation Award is presented annually to a Life insurance industry company or individual who have made technological or procedural enhancements that are shaping the future of how Life insurance is bought and sold through the Direct Marketing channel, while making it faster and easier for our customers to protect their families and secure their legacies.

The 2021 LIMDA Innovation Award finalists included Human API's Health Intelligence Platform; Insurance Technologies / IXN's FireLight® Embedded API; InsureAware's Digital Life Insurance Platform; Insureio Technologies' end-to-end Digital Carrier Sales & Distribution Solution and Techficient Holdings' Dynamic Quoting Platform.

"We're incredibly honored to win the LIDMA Innovation Award for our Health Intelligence Platform," said Tony Diodato, SVP of Sales at Human API. "Our platform converts health data into actionable intelligence and enables carriers and distributors to collaborate to drive shorter cycle times, higher placement rates, and better experiences. It's exciting to see the industry recognize the importance of accessing and using digital health data to accelerate innovation and meet the expectations of modern consumers."

To determine Innovation Award finalists, LIDMA conducted a thorough review to ensure each applicant's technological or procedural improvement initiative is active or in an advanced stage of development.  Finalists were then required to submit a brief video on their industry innovation. The entries were then voted on by LIDMA members with a People's Choice Award selection. Runners up for the 2021 Innovation Award included Insurance Technologies / IXN's FireLight® Embedded API; InsureAware's Digital Life Insurance Platform; Insureio Technologies' end-to-end Digital Carrier Sales & Distribution Solution and Techficient Holdings' Dynamic Quoting Platform.

2021 LIDMA Life Lessons Scholarship Recipient Receives $20,000 from the Association and its Membership!

AylaJean "AJ" Madsen Root was selected as the LIDMA Life Lessons 2021 Scholarship Recipient and joined us at the Denver Conference to share her story. New this year, LIDMA established a separate contribution fund that raised an additional $10,000 for A.J.'s scholarship, for a total contribution of $20,000!!

A college education is already a major financial challenge for most American families, but it becomes infinitely more difficult for a student when a parent dies, leaving little or no life insurance.

Life insurance is an important financial safety net that parents can leave their families. Unfortunately nearly 102 million Americans don't have life insurance, and most with coverage have far less than recommended.

Recognizing the character and perseverance that so many young people show in the face of such adversity, Life Happens sponsors the annual Life Lessons Scholarship Program for college students and college-bound high school seniors. Qualified entrants who submit essays or videos about how the death of a parent impacted their lives are eligible for scholarship money.

If your company would like to have A.J. speak at an upcoming meeting, or get involved in supporting a Life Lessons Scholarship, please contact Andrea Englert at [email protected].

Congratulations to R. Jan Pinney, the 2021 LIDMA Vision Award Recipient!

The LIDMA Vision Award, in honor of Pat Wedeking, recognizes people and organizations that make substantial contributions to the advancement of the direct response segment of the life insurance industry. It is the highest honor that LIDMA can bestow on an individual or organization.

Specifically, the LIDMA Vision Award winner is selected based upon several criteria:

• Innovation in improving the process of how life insurance is delivered to middle America
• Dedication to LIDMA and the mission to distribute more life insurance, enhance industry profitability and protect more American families
• Integrity in combining a keen business sense with care for other people, kindness, and a passion for the benefits of life insurance

Jan Pinney, Chairman and CEO of Pinney Insurance was chosen as the 2021 LIDMA Vision Award winner.  "I've learned the only people who buy life insurance are people of character who love somebody", Pinney stated. "For 20 years LIDMA has been the preeminent leader in creating innovative processes and technology to make the act of acquiring life insurance easier and more efficient for the consumer.  It is particularly humbling to receive the LIDMA Vision Award from such a cutting-edge organization that is packed with visionaries at every level."

R. Jan Pinney, CLU, ChFC, CPCU served as 2018-19 President of the Life Insurance Direct Marketing Association. He is the CEO and Founder of Pinney Insurance Center, Inc., a life insurance sales organization and ISU Francis-Pinney Insurance Services, Inc., a property and casualty agency, both located in Roseville, CA.

A 46 year life and qualifying member of the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT), Mr. Pinney also is an 18 year member of MDRT's Top of the Table.  He has served as president of the Sacramento Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors and was 2004-2005 President of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors for California where he testified before Assembly and Senate committees on insurance and finance, and from which he received the Distinguished Service Award in 2011.

He received national attention for various issues discussed during his tenure on the Roseville Joint Union High School District Board of Trustees. He has also testified before Assembly and Senate committees on insurance and finance. Jan is a prominent and active figure within the insurance industry where he advocates at the State and National levels for common-sense laws, transparency in regulator oversight, and a consumer-first focus on insurance company product designs, sales distribution, and consumer protection. Most recently, he has led a coalition of NAILBA, LIDMA, and NAIFA leaders in fighting for an insurance agent exemption to the TCPA Laws that currently prevents a licensed agent from contacting a consumer (their client) regarding an existing insurance policy via telephone without written permission. Under the current rules, agents may only have telephone contact with their clients without written permission for a period of 18-months from the inception of a new insurance policy or are subject to fines.

Jan Pinney has and continues to serve LIDMA and the industry with the utmost distinction and professionalism. During his tenure he has contributed countless time and energy to further his commitment to advancing the life insurance direct marketing channel. His passion led the LIDMA Board of Directors to engage LIDMA's legal counsel, Locke Lord in advocating for change in TCPA definitions as related to the life insurance industry.

New Federal Communication Commission nominees were just named on October 26, 2021 in what has been a historically long wait by the new Administration. We await the confirmation of a new FCC Commissioner for LIDMA's petition joined by the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, National Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies and the Association for Advanced Life Underwriting filed on June 18, 2018 for an expedited Clarification of one of the Commission's do-not-call requirements and clarification or ruling that life insurance agents and brokers are permitted to call their customers while the life insurance policies sold are in effect and for a period of 18-months after the policies expire based upon an established business relationship (EBR) between life insurance agents and their customers. View Petition

On November 9, 2018 petitioners joined Mr. Pinney at the FCC to make oral arguments related to the expedited ruling on EBR concerns. You can view a summary of the meeting in which the Commission was looking at TCPA and a recent decision in ACA Int'l v F.C.C. in an effort to address all TCPA issues, including existing business relationship concerns. Finally, as an alternative to an expedited ruling on the EBR decision requested in the Petition, a statement of non-enforcement was discussed where Petitioners seek a pronouncement that no enforcement or other legal action can be taken pending clarifying guidance from the Commission. The American Council of Life Insurers added their support to the Agent's EBR Petition in February 2019. ACLI FCC Letter in Support of Agents EBR Petition-FINAL

LIDMA also initiated filing a U.S. Supreme Court Amici Brief in Facebook v Dugan regarding the definition of robo-dialers on September 10,2020. The petitioners included LIDMA, the American Property and Casualty Insurance Association and Consumer Credit Industry Association in support of the petitioner. View Amici Brief. On April 1, 2021 the Supreme Court unanimously sided with Facebook and its petitioners.

The court adopted a narrow reading of a key definition in the federal ban on robocalls and robotexts to cellphones. It held that to qualify as an "automatic telephone dialing system" under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, a device must have the capacity either to store, or to produce, a telephone number using a random or sequential number generator ? a type of obsolescent marketing technology.

The decision is likely to have major implications for the future of telemarketing. Of most import, it means that the act does not ban the use of now-dominant predictive dialing technology that can call or text targeted customers, including technology that relies on the massive amounts of data now collected on American consumers, so long as an artificial or pre-recorded voice is not used. In so holding, the justices made clear that it's the job of Congress, not the court, to update statutes in the face of technological change.

About LIDMA
LIDMA is the primary association dedicated to supporting businesses and professionals active in direct sales of life insurance products to consumers ? the fastest growing sales segment in the life insurance industry.  The LIDMA "Seal of Approval," developed by affiliated carriers, vendors, attorneys, and producers demonstrating compliance with articulated process requirements around e-Delivery, e-Signature, and Voice Signature, has become a standard-bearer for a consistent approach to process improvement and positioned LIDMA as the leading life insurance organization in e-Process initiatives. The not-for-profit organization is committed to helping members protect more families while boosting their revenues and reducing costs.  For more information, visit www.lidma.org.

SOURCE Life Insurance Direct Marketing Association