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Financial Advisor with Northwestern Mutual Financial Network Ian Freeman CLU, ChFC, CASL, AEP Financial Advisor with Northwestern Mutual Financial Network After graduating from Wesleyan University in 1980 with an interdisciplinary major in government, history, economics, and philosophy, Ian became a banker and investment banker before joining Northwestern Mutual in October of 1987. Starting with a $5,000 loan from his uncle, heavy debt, and major anxiety, Ian went nearly 4 months in the business without writing a policy. By the end of that first year, he was the leading first-year agent in the Eastern region. Ian followed that by being the leading second and third-year agent in Eastern region, one of the few representatives ever to lead all three years. In his 29 year career, Ian has written over 3,800 lives and has over $1.3 billion of death benefit in force. As a measure of consistency, 100 lives written in a year is a benchmark, and Ian has done that every year except one (he wrote 98.5 – still a sore spot!) He ranks in the top 40 in career production in the history of Northwestern Mutual, and is a life and qualifying member of the Million Dollar Round Table, consistently qualifying for Court of The Table or Top of the Table honors. Ian is most proud that he is one of only 27 representatives out of 6,500 that have qualified for the Northwestern Forum, the highest measure of production at that company, every year since its inception. Ian holds the Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU), Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC), Chartered Advisor for Senior Living (CASL), and Accredited Estate Planner (AEP) designations, and is a member of NAIFA and AALU. Ian considers himself to be an old-fashioned, traditional representative working primarily in the personal market. His passion and commitment to his clients are the driving forces in his practice and carry through to his team of three dedicated associates. Ian is considered a “living legend” at Northwestern Mutual not just because of his production but because of how much time he has given back to mentoring agents throughout the country. In his “spare time” Ian has been President of the Financial Representative Association at Northwestern Mutual, the primary link between their field and home office. Less than 80 representatives in the history of the company have held this honor. Ian has served on countless committees and his counsel is often sought by senior management. He regularly gives dynamic main platform presentations throughout the U.S. to help explain the basics of insurance. He is active in several charitable organizations in Connecticut and Florida. Previous Speaker Go back to Speaker Network Next Speaker

Co-Founder of Hoopinsure Multi-Line Life, Retirement, and P&C Process Jim Bologna Co-Founder of Hoopinsure Multi-Line Life, Retirement, and P&C Process Co-Founder of Hoopinsure Multi-Line Life, Retirement, and P&C Process Jim started his career through the elite training of Northwestern Mutual after college understanding the fundamentals of selling Life Insurance and Financial Services. Becoming an MDRT qualifier early in his career, he’s been a top producer since he was awarded Rookie of the year in 2000. In 2006, Jim entered the Multi-Line Industry Channel as an Exclusive Financial Services agent for Allstate taking with him, his Life Insurance and Financial services skills. He quickly identified processes in the multi-line agencies that could increase P&C, Life, and Retirement sales. Jim has been Court of the Table for most of his career which he credits his process in the multi-line channel. He quickly developed his multi-line process for agents across the country to follow and in 2014, he launched B-File, a digital process that that helped measure his success in the Allstate channel. Jim has spoken to thousands of multi-line agents and producers captive and independent across the country and is directly responsible for increasing agents sales. His proven process built around assessing the liability limits of customers in 2018 was used with 44,000 households. Multi-line agents using the process has uncovered over 6 billion in household assets, 10,300 Life Insurance Policies, 1800 business owners, and identified an additional 900 boats, 1157 motorcycles, 418 RV’s, and 8,134 Umbrellas. Specialty Topics: Selling more as a trusted advisor in the multi-line sales process Understanding the power of policy reviews How to incorporate Life Insurance and Retirement conversations during the P&C new business and renewal process Using Liability Limits to understand your customer’s household insurance needs Selling Life Insurance that matters in the multi-line distribution channel Previous Speaker Go back to Speaker Network Next Speaker

Next Item Previous Item Go back to White Papers List Having a strong organizational culture enables you to hire, conduct business and attract clients in a consistent way that aligns with your overall values. With the fast pace of technological change today, a training culture can give you a competitive advantage when it comes to recruiting and retaining the best talent. Imagine that a quality candidate is considering your organization and another one, but you offer continuous training as a benefit. That will normally make the candidate’s choice simple and obvious. Investing in training for everyone in your organization shows them that you value their professional development and advancement potential. According to Arie de Geus, head of Shell Oil Company’s Strategic Planning Group and a visiting professor at London Business School, a learning culture is not only a strong source of sustainable competitive advantage; it is a critical corporate asset. He says, “Learning is the only source of sustainable competitive advantage.” Instead of investing in training once in a while — when someone requests it or when compliance requires it — make training a key element of your company’s or firm’s makeup. So how do you build training into your culture in such a significant way that it defines your organization? Here are some tips to get started. Survey everyone in your organization to find out what types of training they want to take. What skills do they want to improve, and what type of training do they prefer — online courses, webinars, on-site classes or off-site classes? Offer training to everyone. Instead of focusing only on advisors, for example, offer training to managers and support staff as well. Hire a training manager. Or assign the job of assessing, scheduling and evaluating training to one of your existing team members. This will show the people in your organization that you are committed to making training an integral part of your culture. Establish a mentoring program. Have your senior advisors mentor newer advisors and offer jointwork arrangements. Consider participating in the MDRT/GAMA International Mentoring Program. Create a coaching program. Coach everyone. Many managers make the mistake of focusing their coaching efforts on the rookies or poor performers. Offer coaching to your top performers. They will value the extra guidance on top-level issues, and it’s important to keep them happy. Leverage the expertise of your own people. Build a company e-learning program that enables your more experienced team members to share their expertise with newer employees. Let them be the subject-matter experts who provide some of the training, and reward them for doing so. Offer training in both “hard” and “soft” skills. Some of your team members need training in skillbased areas, while others probably need training in “soft” skills like negotiation, resolving conflicts and being more customer-focused. Attach specific goals to the training. Ask every team member what he or she hopes to gain from the training and how it can also benefit the organization. After the training, have your managers find out to what extent the training lived up to those expectations. This will help you evaluate the ROI. Communicate and celebrate training outcomes. If a training program was at least partially responsible for a team member being promoted, let everyone in the organization know about it. This is an effective way to reinforce the connection between the training you offer and the advancement of those who take the training. Measure the effectiveness of your training program. Consider using a feedback app, which can contain different sets of several questions for different situations. You can repeat the questions at various intervals to create a trend analysis. Use a SharePoint-based intranet to help employees track the progress they make in implementing improvements. Building a training culture requires an ongoing commitment and strategy. Unfortunately, too many agencies, firms and companies have a set-it-and-forget- it formula, which does not move the needle in the proper direction. The rewards of establishing a training culture will help turn each of your top goals and objectives into reality, in increased productivity, expanded markets, recruitment and ultimately retention. An Effective Training Platform for Managers and Advisors An effective resource for training financial advisors is Hoopis Performance Network, which features online, on-demand, total video-based training built on four Disciplines of Success with access to more than 400 sessions. The coursework can be either self-study or facilitator-led, and it complements any firm, agency or company training programs and marketing selling systems. Your advisors can access the video training anytime, anywhere, on their computers, smartphones, or tablets. It’s a cost-effective, time-efficient way to increase productivity, thus retention. An effective resource for training new or experienced sales leaders is HPN, an innovative virtual platform designed for financial leaders who are building a region, an agency or firm, a sales unit, or a sales team. You can get access to hundreds of high-impact sessions for all levels of experience, divided into five distinct elements of success. These sessions are short and easily digestible, averaging less than 10 minutes. Your managers can access the video training anytime, anywhere, on their computers, smartphones, or tablets. 10 Tips for Building a Training Culture

We are thrilled to announce an exclusive partnership between Hoopis Performance Network (HPN) and NAIFA, a groundbreaking collaboration that introduces HPN and LIMRA’s flagship Trustworthy Selling SkillSet program to NAIFA members. This marks a pivotal shift in the financial services industry, as the program—previously available only to large enterprises—will now empower individual advisors within NAIFA to elevate their client relationships, boost productivity, and uphold the highest ethical standards. With over 30,000 graduates and a proven 25% productivity increase, Trustworthy Selling SkillSet is a transformative tool for advisors looking to grow their practices and meet evolving client needs. Through this partnership, we aim to equip NAIFA members with the skills to build trust, enhance client engagement, and achieve long-term success, reinforcing our commitment to enhancing advisor capabilities across the financial services landscape. We are excited about the positive impact this partnership will have on NAIFA professionals and look forward to supporting their continued growth and success. About Hoopis Performance Network (HPN) For more than a decade, Hoopis Performance Network has been a global leader in providing digital sales and leadership development learning solutions. HPN’s digital resources are designed to increase productivity and retention. In addition, they are scalable and customizable, depending on your organization’s virtual learning and development needs. Visit HPN at www.hoopis.com .

Chicago, Illinois  – Hoopis Performance Network (HPN), a global leader in learning and development in financial services, recently announced a strategic partnership with Leadercast, a premier provider of world-class leadership live experiences and digital learning content. This collaboration aims to empower members of financial services organizations by providing access to the top experts in leadership development in the world. Some of the thought leaders featured include John Maxwell, Seth Godin, Gayle King, Patrick Lencioni, Randi Zukerberg, Emmit Smith and hundreds more.   By combining HPN’s proven expertise in delivering results-driven performance improvement solutions with Leadercast’s cutting-edge leadership insights and tools, the partnership is set to revolutionize how organizations in financial services approach leadership development in today’s ever-changing world. Gartner's latest report on “The Top 5 HR Trends and Priorities that Matter Most in 2025,” highlights for the third consecutive year, leadership and management development remains the top priority for HR leaders. Despite this emphasis, 64% of HR leaders express concerns that their current leadership development programs are insufficient in preparing leaders for future challenges. This gap suggests a pressing need for more effective and forward-looking leadership development initiatives. https://www.gartner.com/en/human-resources/trends/top-priorities-for-hr-leaders   According to President of HPN Joey Davenport, “In today’s business environment, developing leadership power skills expands far beyond traditional management development. It’s become critical for organizations to also equip their employees, advisors and their teams with leadership power skills to unlock higher levels of productivity and engagement.” The HPN Leadercast content library is designed to equip individuals and teams with important skills such as Communication, Emotional Intelligence, Team Building, Time Management, Managing People and more. The library includes access to 1,200 microlearning videos, focused courses, lunch & learn sessions and meeting starters. “We couldn’t be more excited about our partnership with HPN and expanding Leadercast’s impact in financial services,” said Brian President of Leadercast. “This partnership will redefine leadership development in the financial services space.”  About Hoopis Performance Network Hoopis Performance Network is a trusted leader in professional development, delivering training and consulting solutions to organizations worldwide. With a focus on empowering leaders, enhancing team performance, and driving sustainable growth, HPN provides cutting-edge tools and strategies for success. About Leadercast Leadercast is dedicated to empowering individuals and organizations by providing access to world-class leadership content. Through engaging video resources, live events, and on-demand tools, Leadercast inspires leaders to make a lasting impact. For more information, visit https://now.leadercast.com/ Media Contact:   Grace Egan Operations Manager, Hoopis Performance Network (847) 977-2632 Info@hoopis.com

Chicago, Illinois — Hoopis Performance Network (HPN), a leader in financial services learning solutions, is expanding its decade-long partnership with LIMRA, a global authority in research and professional development. This expansion will add EDGE: The Leader’s Journey  to LIMRA’s suite of leadership development solutions for member companies in the U.S. and Canada. EDGE: The Leader’s Journey  is a leadership development platform designed to support managers at every stage : Emerging, Developing, Growing, and Excelling. It focuses on core leadership competencies, including: Recruiting & Selection Coaching & Accountability Organizational Development Leadership Mindset & Growth The platform provides access to top financial services leaders and features: Interactive modules On-demand video training Actionable tools, including systems assessments “Identifying leadership talent and equipping those individuals with the tools to become successful leaders is a critical component to ensuring organizations thrive well into the future,” says Harry Hoopis, CEO of HPN. “With the huge success of our collaboration with LIMRA on Trustworthy Selling, and now expanding our partnership by LIMRA adding HPN’s EDGE as a leadership solution to their member companies,  we’re positioned to become the premiere skill development resource for both advisor and leadership development in financial services .” Research from Harvard Business Publishing’s 2024 Global Leadership Development Study  highlights four key areas essential for leadership success: Widening Skill Sets to address evolving industry needs Challenging Existing Paradigms to foster innovation Managing Paradoxes in complex decision-making Unlocking Individual Potential for long-term growth EDGE: The Leader’s Journey  is built around these principles, helping financial leaders develop the skills needed to succeed in a changing industry .   About Hoopis Performance Network  Hoopis Performance Network provides innovative learning solutions for financial professionals worldwide. With a focus on blending digital learning tools and proven methodologies, HPN empowers individuals and organizations to achieve peak performance. About LIMRA  LIMRA is a leading global research and professional development organization serving the insurance and financial services industries. For over 100 years, LIMRA has been dedicated to advancing the success of its member companies through research, learning programs, and industry insights. Media Contact: Grace Egan Operations Manager, Hoopis Performance Network (847) 977-2632 Info@hoopis.com