America’s life insurers are well positioned to help advance economic empowerment and racial equity throughout the nation through the products we offer and the investments we make. But we know we can do more.
Next week, we will be sharing ideas and ways to improve our diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the DEI: Expanding Opportunity in Insurance Conference.
ACLI, APCIA and LICONY are co-sponsoring the conference, April 2-4 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.
The conference will feature many sessions related to each of ACLI’s Economic Empowerment & Racial Equity Initiatives including:
Two of the highlighted sessions from the conference include a panel on financial education and a discussion about the disability community.
The panel on financial education is particularly well-timed as April is Financial Literacy Month. It will be moderated by George Nichols, President & Chief Executive Officer, The American College of Financial Services. It features panelists: Theodore (Ted) Daniels, Founder & President, Society for Financial Education & Professional Development, MC Desroisers, Chief Education and Learning Technologies Officer, Junior Achievement, and Delegate Briana Sewell, 51st District, Virginia House of Delegates. Congressman French Hill (R-Ark.) will make opening comments via video, then Nichols will lead a lively and informative discussion on ways the public and private sectors can work together to increase access to financial education and close wealth gaps.
This will be the first year the DEI conference will present a session on disability. According to Maria Town, President and CEO of American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), “The disability community is incredibly diverse. We often say that disability doesn’t discriminate; it covers all sorts of people. It’s the only diversity category that you can enter at any time in your life.”
The discussion will be presented by Tom Foley, Executive Director of the National Disability Institute (NDI). As an advocate who is blind, Tom leads NDI’s efforts in building a better financial future for people with disabilities and their families which ties into the mission of the insurance industry to provide financial security for all families. Tom’s session: “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Includes Disability”, will focus on financial inclusion for people with disabilities and will provide attendees with information about promising proven strategies to make disability a successful part of a DEI strategy.
In addition to these and other panel discussions, conference attendees will have an opportunity to network and share ideas with industry leaders, who continue to work towards creating more diverse and inclusive work environments in the insurance industry and beyond. Registration and more information on the DEI in Insurance Conference can be found here.
Olivia Gillis was Vice President, Economic Empowerment & Racial Equity and Compliance & Regulatory Affairs at the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI). She was co-lead of the EE&RE Initiative implemented to advance the leadership position of ACLI and its members in promoting economic empowerment and racial equity through policy positions that are relevant at the federal, state and international levels.
