Jonske: The vision of our member firms, coupled with our ability to execute, is the driving force behind our innovation, which touches product, service, technology and relationships. Every day our firms are in front of affluent families—and their attorneys, CPAs and family offices—working to address a need or an objective. Because they are closest to the market, they are better positioned to see opportunities to differentiate.
Then they communicate these ideas—through our unique governance structure where member firm principals comprise the two dozen committees and task forces that guide our strategic development in key areas—to the leadership team in Portland. With the involvement of the experienced and dedicated professionals in Portland, who bring industry knowledge, technical expertise and execution capabilities, we come up with solutions—together. If there is a product that will more effectively help a client meet their goals, we work with our partner carriers to build it. If we can streamline the underwriting process to make it more efficient for the client, without compromising protective value, we deploy a project team to make it happen. If our firms see increased emphasis on carrier financial strength, we explore relationships with carriers—like TIAA-CREF Life Insurance—where we can deliver this financial strength, exclusively, to member firm clients.
Our firms will always put the pressure on us to execute on their vision and deliver results for clients, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Prince: What are the goals of the organization over the next few years?
Jonske: M Financial is a company born from disruptive change—we introduced the producer group model that has allowed us to advocate for clients in meaningful ways. So creating that next disruption in the industry that benefits clients is very important to us.
Growth is also a perpetual priority for M Financial and we spend a lot of time with firms, our board and our partner carriers to identify areas where we can accelerate our growth. First and foremost, providing differentiated life insurance and executive benefit solutions, products and services to affluent individuals and Fortune 1000 companies is our top focus and we always want to do it better, more efficiently and in ways that clients truly value. We are also exploring ways to meet the needs of the emerging affluent, who we think can benefit from M’s differentiation, and the international citizen, foreign nationals who have an interest in U.S.-based or offshore products. Technology—from service delivery to social media—is another key component of our strategy.
More than anything, we want it to be clear to everyone that we are the premier client advocate in the financial services industry—not because we say we are, but because we demonstrate it and clients recognize that we do it because they see the results firsthand. We are proud of our accomplishments over our first 35 years, but there is much to do in the years ahead.