African-American insurance professionals improve the
industry's image among minorities
By Barbara A. Morris
Three executives recently honored by the National African-American Insurance Association (NAAIA) are (left to right) Walter Bell, vice president, diversity, Mutual of New York; Al Florant, director of marketing, sales and recruiting, The MetLife Harlem Financial Services Center in Harlem; and Deborah Allen, principal, the D. Allen Agency in Rosedale (Queens), New York. They were commended for their efforts both in recruiting African-Americans into the industry and improving the image of insurers in the African-American community
The insurance industry has always struggled with the challenge of identifying and recruiting talent. Insurance, concede those who have found fulfillment and success in the industry, is not usually the career little Johnny or Jane envision for their future. And if little Johnny or Jane is an African-American, the likelihood of their entering the insurance business is even more remote.
Yet as the demographics of this nation change, as the population becomes increasingly diverse, and as the buying power of African-Americans continues to grow, insurers are revisiting their minority recruiting strategies. Several African-American insurance and financial services professionals have been recognized by the Washington, D.C.-based National African-American Insurance Association (NAAIA) for the inroads they've made in tapping this underutilized resource for the insurance industry. They have reached out to their communities, to educational institutions, and to business organizations, both to recruit African-American professionals into the industry and to improve the image of insurers among African-Americans who are potential buyers of their products. Following are the stories of three individuals recently honored by the NAAIA, which represents more than 1,000 African-American insurance professionals around the country.
Walter Bell
Looking back on his early insurance career, Walter Bell says it was "pure happenstance" that brought him into the industry. Yet Bell, vice president, diversity, Mutual of New York (MONY) Life Insurance Company, would like to see "happenstance" replaced by a proactive and organized effort among insurers and agencies to recruit more ethnic and minority professionals into their ranks.
Progress toward this goal is being made, reports Bell, who has played a major role in facilitating that progress.
In his position at MONY, Bell has developed and spearheaded a comprehensive plan to bolster diversity recruiting among financial professionals. More recently, Bell has been asked to broaden his program to address diversity recruiting among all sectors of MONY's employee population.
Recalling the serendipitous events that brought him into the insurance industry, Bell remembers a chance encounter with a manager working out of MONY's branch office in Mobile, Alabama. Bell, at the time a branch manager for a local bank, worked with the MONY executive to arrange a loan to finance a home he was building. The two professionals began a friendship, began to talk regularly and, over time, Bell was recruited into the MONY organization.
According to Bell, when he joined the MONY agency almost 20 years ago, he was the sole African-American out of a staff of some 40 professionals in the Mobile office. Several were women--the majority was white males. The agency's composition, he believes, reflected the overall demographics of the insurance industry at the time--yet in 20 years, these demographics are showing distinct signs of change.
Today, according to Bell, African-Americans comprise approximately 7% and women comprise 16% of total employees in the insurance industry. Hispanics are represented by 4%. And while he concedes these numbers are still much lower than the ideal--they do represent progress over time.
At MONY, fully 27% of recruited professionals in 2000, comprised individuals from a variety of ethnic and minority groups. As head of the company's diversity recruiting, Bell's focus has been on targeting a wide range of associations, organizations, civil, social and business groups to tap diversity talent among their ranks. Additionally, MONY has forged close ties with colleges and universities, sending recruiters into classrooms, job fairs, and career days to promote insurance as a viable career option.
Looking back on his earlier career, Bell says his natural ability to sell the insurance product paved the way for his success and acceptance in an industry that unquestionably "recognizes the ability to produce." Not long into his insurance career, Bell became active in several agents' organizations, and was eventually named president of the Mobile Association of Life Underwriters. In the years that followed, Bell was offered several opportunities to move onto the executive track but remained in Mobile to pursue his love--insurance sales.
Yet when he was offered a key position in the area of diversity recruiting, Bell seized the opportunity, stressing his desire "to give back to the industry that has given so much to me. The insurance industry has given me a great life so when I was offered an opportunity to reach others and to have an impact on the entire company, I considered it a challenge I wanted to accept." Bell was named national director of emerging markets in 1996 and three years later advanced to vice president, diversity, and relocated to MONY's home office in New York City.
The challenge, says Bell, is being met every day and supported wholeheartedly by MONY's top echelons, from the chairman of the board on down through all levels of management. He strongly believes that the success of other insurers in achieving meaningful inroads into their diversity recruitment hinges largely on the commitment demonstrated by their corporate leaders. It is a commitment, Bell says, that must be nurtured, particularly in light of this country's ever-changing demographics. "Diversity recruitment," cautions Bell, "is no longer an option--it has to be a strategic part of the insurance company's business."
Al Florant
Al Florant's full-service insurance agency--The MetLife Harlem Financial Services Center--sits in the heart of Harlem, on West 125th Street in New York City, right down the block from the famed Apollo Theater. While it has been at its present location for only three years, The MetLife Harlem Financial Services Center already has become a well-known fixture in this largely African-American community.
After opening its doors on September 14, 1999, the agency established a two-fold mission, says Florant, director of marketing, sales and recruiting: first, to provide the minority communities of Harlem and beyond with information and education on a wide range of financial products and services; and second, to attract high-caliber, entrepreneurial African-Americans into the financial services industry, in which he says minorities are "dramatically underrepresented."
Florant, however, added to their numbers in 1985 when he was recruited by MetLife as an agent, working initially out of the company's Queens location. Recalling a tale that for many in the industry is all too familiar, Florant admits that like many others he didn't set out to establish a career in the insurance industry. In fact, his first master's degree was in social work--a career he pursued for several years. Yet seeing the strong interest among corporate America in young professionals with MBAs, Florant decided to try a career in business, joining a pharmaceutical company and later enrolling in an MBA program at Bernard Baruch College. When word came that the company division in which he was employed would soon be closing down, Florant attended a local job fair, not sure what he was looking for or what the outcome would be.
The outcome of that visit was a call by a MetLife recruiter who had seen Florant's resume, even though to this day Florant doesn't recall ever visiting the MetLife booth. Soon after, Florant joined the major insurer, completed his MBA and proved to be a gifted insurance and financial services sales professional--eventually receiving the prestigious Million-Dollar Roundtable Designation. In 1997, Florant was promoted to his current position and for several years paved the way for the opening of The MetLife Harlem Financial Services Center. During that time, he met with local leaders, business groups, and others to identify their needs and to forge relationships through which the agency could gain a solid foothold in the community upon its arrival. Now in its third year on 125th Street, The MetLife Harlem Financial Services Center continues to grow and serve its community, employing 10 professionals and conducting literally hundreds of seminars, workshops and special events out of its 55-seat, high-tech conference center.
Recognizing the need to reach out to the African-American insurance and financial services product buyer, Florant works closely with many community groups, associations, not-for-profit and civic organizations to tap their membership. The content of many of the workshops and seminars hosted by The MetLife Harlem Financial Services Center is likewise directed at educating attendees, making them more comfortable with the financial product choices and options that are available in the marketplace today.
Education is critical, says Florant, who observes that many African-Americans remain cautious of Wall Street, believing that the potential bounties of the stock market and other investment strategies are options only for "White America." Even the sale of life insurance to African-Americans poses unique challenges, say Florant, who reports that many of his potential clients still view the life insurance product as a "burial" policy, rather than as the highly effective savings vehicle it can be. These attitudes, Florant maintains, hearken back to a time when African-Americans either couldn't buy life insurance or were offered policies with payouts intended only to cover burial expenses.
Even today, continues Florant, Wall Street and many insurers still don't actively pursue business in urban centers, instead remaining comfortable targeting suburban America. Florant wants to see that reality change and, through his aggressive outreach and educational efforts in Harlem, is helping move that process along.
Additionally, Florant strongly maintains that not only is the African-American community underserved by the financial services sector, but underrepresented as well. Bringing more African-Americans into his industry is a tough challenge, Florant concedes, in large part because there are still not enough African-Americans in upper-level positions who can attract and mentor young professionals in the industry. African-Americans, he continues, must also view insurance and financial services as a career option worthy of their consideration. Too often, he says, the brightest of them forgo a commission-driven career to pursue lucrative positions with top companies.
Yet Florant is certain that "for the right person, insurance and financial services sales is a great opportunity." Through presentations at local schools, job fairs, one-on-one discussions, and other outreach efforts, Florant is determined to entice more of these highly driven and hardworking individuals into the financial services industry in which he has found a welcoming and financially rewarding home.
Deborah Allen
At the D. Allen Agency in Rosedale (Queens), New York, it is not unusual to see young African-Americans working as interns, gaining a close and upfront view of the world of business, and more specifically, the insurance business.
Bringing interns into her agency--sometimes as many as six at a time working alternate schedules--is just one of the many ways in which Deborah Allen, principal of the small, full-service D. Allen Agency, helps promote the future of African-Americans and the insurance industry she loves.
It is an industry in which Allen has worked for 22 years, first at Prudential Insurance, then at First Investors Insurance Co., and for the past 19 years, with Allstate.
She initially entered the field of insurance sales at the urging of a close friend and after having become increasingly frustrated with her computer programming job, convinced that her abilities in sales would take her further than a "nine to five" paycheck. Hired by Allstate Insurance as an agent in 1980, Allen eventually became a franchisee and in 1998, bought out the franchise to officially open the D. Allen Agency.
Today, Allen is involved in many projects to reach local area families and businesses with the insurance information they need. Specifically, she routinely conducts workshops for new homebuyers and delivers presentations to local artisan, health care, and other organizations, as well as to minority business owner groups to alert them to their potential exposures and the insurance products that can respond. New or soon-to-be drivers also gather regularly in the conference room of the 1,600 square-foot D. Allen Agency to attend defensive driving classes which have become a popular offering.
Allen, however, is also passionately committed to helping young people in her community--to play her part in setting them on the path of education and productivity. For several years she has worked with local community groups to help young people at risk--those who perhaps have been involved with gangs or with substance abuse--to gain structure, encouragement, and hands-on business skills through an internship at the D. Allen Agency.
One of her former interns, reports Allen, not only turned his life around to return to college and earn a degree, but is also now attending law school. Several other interns have since brought their younger siblings to the agency, maintaining it was Allen's role that made the difference in how their lives unfolded. Allen believes she is making a difference, one child at a time. But she likewise stresses that the quality of life for everyone living in highly concentrated urban areas could be markedly improved "if every business person could take just one child and teach that child other ways to make a living, without risking life and limb."
Allen also maintains that young people, particularly minority youth, need all the resources and encourage-ment that can be mustered to help them realize the American dream, which she believe lies in education and training. In line with that belief, Allen provides intern sponsorships and support to the Charlie Parrish Black College Tour, an organization that helps inner city youth tour local and nearby colleges, and has mentored and provided employment opportunities for many young people in the "Ways to Grow" youth employment training program.
Allen says she feels "blessed"--blessed by the success she has achieved in a career she finds immensely rewarding. She has mapped out her success in the inner city and feels a strong commitment to give back to a community that has been so good to her. And if her mentoring and internship efforts steer any young African-American into the insurance industry--that would be a wonderful byproduct of having exerted a positive influence on the life of an individual. But if not, Allen is content to devote her time, her enthusiasm, and her agency to making a difference.
Looking ahead, Allen is hopeful that more minorities will enter the insurance industry. She views the formation of the National African-American Insurance Association and its steady growth over the past few years as a positive indication that progress in being made and will continue in the years to come. "The insurance industry is a great business," says Allen--one that she hopes more African-Americans will discover for themselves. *
The author
Barbara A. Morris is a New Jersey-based freelance journalist who writes extensively about the insurance business.