Looking Ahead: Advocacy, Education, and Empowerment in 2025-2026
I hope you all enjoyed the 2025 Expo as much as I did. Kudos to the Big I MN staff for putting it all together. I’m so grateful to each and every one of them as I enter the 25/26 term as your President.
We’ll hit the ground running. As I write this message, I’m preparing to join our National Director, Chad Bjugan, our CEO, April Goodin, two of our board members, our Emerging Leader Representative, and five of our members as we head to Washington DC for the Big I Legislative Conference. We hope to make an impact on the Hill as we discuss issues important to each of you. We’ll be focused on the importance of keeping the 20% small business deduction, passing the Fix Our Forests Act, and preventing legal system abuse by requiring disclosure of third-party litigation funding, among other important issues.
When we return, your association will turn its attention to education. We’re bursting with ideas for ways we can make a great assortment of offerings even better. We also plan to roundtable some fresh ideas on tools to help you hire, attract, train, and retain talented employees.
Michelle is already working hard planning our second LeadHerShip Summit. It will be held on October 1 at the Metropolitan Ballroom in Golden Valley. Save the date! It is a perfect time to celebrate women in insurance as we enter our first year with women holding the CEO, COO, President, and Controller roles at our association.
In addition to a member survey to learn more about your agencies, we’ll continue making personal visits to our current and prospective members. We want to better identify the needs of your agencies, both small and large, to tailor our services to meet your unique needs. I hope to chat personally with some of you during those visits.
If you have ideas for how we can better serve you, please reach out to April and her staff or to me or any of the other board members. This association is about you and your clients. We want to hear from you!