The 8 biggest announcements from life and health insurers this week

Brightway Insurance Agency owner Cody Casey opened the company's first-ever agency in the state of Colorado on Monday, April 27, the company announced via press release. Brightway, the Casey family agency is located at 7399 South Tucson Way, Suite B-3 in Centennial. Brightway Insurance is a national property and casualty insurance retailer, which also sells life insurance, selling through a network of franchised independent agencies throughout the country. The company now has 117 stores in ten states. Casey, who has lived in Douglas County for 10 years, will press his decade of customer service experience into action as he provides expert insurance counsel and the choice of more than 25 insurance companies to customers. Brightway began franchising operations in 2008, is privately owned and has 117 franchise locations in nine states. In 2014, the company was named a Top 500 Franchise by Entrepreneur magazine for the second year in a row, the 9^th Best Franchise with Less Than $150,000 in Entry Costs by Forbes, and the company was also named to Florida's Fast 100 by Florida Business Journals for the second year in a row.

During its spring board meeting earlier this month, the LIMRA LOMA Secure Retirement Institute^TM board of directors elected Kent Callahan to be the next chairman, and Aimee DeCamillo to be vice chair succeeding David Levenson of Edward Jones. With more than 30 years industry experience, Callahan is a member of the Transamerica U.S. Management Board and serves as president and CEO of the Investments & Retirement (I&R) division, which consists of Transamerica's mutual fund, variable annuity, synthetic GIC, U.S. institutional retirement plans and COLI/BOLI businesses. Transamerica's I&R division represents 25,500 plan sponsors and 5.4 million Americans with $295 billion of revenue generating investments (as of December 31, 2014).  Callahan succeeds the Institute's first chairman, David Levenson. Aimee DeCamillo was elected vice chair for the Institute and will succeed Callahan in 2016.  DeCamillo, who served as the Financial Literacy Committee Chair in the Institute's inaugural year, is vice president and head of T. Rowe Price Retirement Plan Services, Inc. In this role, she is responsible for more than 3,500 retirement plans, representing approximately 2 million participants, and with approximately $155 billion of assets under administration as of March 31, 2015. According to the Board's governance rules, each officer will serve a one-year term, offering direction to the retirement research and educational programs for LIMRA LOMA Secure Retirement Institute.

The National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA) is proud to announce Peter C. Browne, LUTCF, co-founder of Price, Raffel & Browne, as the recipient of the 74th annual John Newton Russell Memorial Award. The award is the highest honor accorded by the insurance industry to a living individual who has rendered outstanding services to the institution of life insurance. Browne will receive the award October 4, 2015, at the NAIFA Career Conference and Annual Meeting in New Orleans. Browne began his career in the insurance industry in 1962 as an agent in the Rochester agency of the Union Central Life Insurance Company. He was a part of the Rochester Institute of Technology School of Business Work Block Program as a college agent. He became the Rochester agency manager in 1964, where he recruited and mentored numerous agents who went on to great success. In 1970, the Union Central Life Insurance Company sent Mr. Browne to New York City as an aspiring manager of the C.B. Knight Agency, which at one time was considered to be one of the country's largest life insurance general agencies.

Browne also served for years on the NAIFA Board of Trustees and as treasurer of the national organization. He is a past-president of NAIFA-New York State, as well as NAIFA-New York City. He has served on the Board of Trustees of The American College and is currently the immediate past chairman of the American College Foundation Board. At The American College, he was instrumental in creating and funding the Larry R. Pike Chair in Insurance and Investments. In 2010, The American College awarded Mr. Browne the President's Trophy, and in 2012 Mr. Browne was awarded the Huebner Gold Medal along with his good friend and past John Newton Russell Award recipient Alan Press, CLU, LUTCF. Mr. Browne is a past member of the Life Happens Board of Trustees and a past member of the national board of the Life Underwriters Training Council and the board of GAMA International.

New York Life has been named one of DiversityInc's "Top 50 Companies for Diversity," ranking 27^th nationally on this prestigious list. New York Life was recognized for its talent pipeline, equitable talent development, CEO and leadership commitment and supplier diversity. "With more than 1,000 companies participating, the competition for a spot on the DiversityInc Top 50 and Specialty Lists increased over 30 percent this year," said DiversityInc founder and CEO, Luke Visconti. "Companies are recognizing the importance of diversity for corporate reputation, which directly affects millennial-generation recruiting and retention. And whether you're talking about Silicon Valley or Indiana, there's no denying that stories about how far we still need to come regarding diversity have been dominating the headlines in 2015." For the entire Top 50 list, go here or follow the conversation online with #DITop50

In other New York Life company news, they announced that Julie Herwig has been elected a senior vice president in its Office of Governmental Affairs. Herwig is responsible for managing public policy issues impacting New York Life at the federal and international levels. Herwig joined New York Life in 2006 as assistant vice president, legislative affairs, in the company's Washington, D.C. office. Prior to joining New York Life, she worked as trade counsel for the Ways and Means Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, advising Members of Congress on international trade negotiations and other legislative and regulatory trade issues. Herwig also previously worked for a member of the Ways and Means Committee, a member of the U.S. Senate and as an attorney at Hogan & Hartson LLP (now Hogan Lovells LLP).