On September 14, we celebrated the 25^th anniversary of the FLMI Society of the Twin Cities (see article on page 2). I have many fond memories of that evening:

• The inspirational remarks of our first President, Dean Carlson
• The presentations of Past Presidents Dave Guyot, Julie Anderson and Jack Cooney
• The recognition of our Society's success by LOMA Senior Vice President Bill Rabel
• The recognition of our Past Presidents, Charter Members, and new FLMIs.
• The rekindling of old friendships and the forming of new ones

Moreover, it was a night to be proud--of our Society, of the people who formed it, and of the people who led it through its first quarter century. I still get a warm feeling thinking about that evening. If you were among the 140 who were with us at Jax that night, I'm sure you do, too.

My thanks to everyone who helped make our Silver Anniversary Celebration a success--especially Julie Hanson, who tracked down our Charter Members, prepared the programs, and arranged for the Edinburgh Brass to perform during our social hour.

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One of the highlights of our Silver Anniversary Celebration was the recognition of our local insurance professionals who earned the FLMI designation over the past year. My heartiest congratulations to all of you!

I encourage you to remain active in our Society by attending our quarterly meetings, and also by serving on our Board of Directors. You will gain experience that will help you in your career. You'll learn to work with a group to accomplish goals. You'll develop your organization, communication and leadership skills. You'll also forge relationships that will last the rest of your life.

If you supervise or manage FLMIs, you are fortunate to have some of tomorrow's leaders working for you. Value them. If they show an interest in getting involved in our Society, encourage them. If they need to attend a meeting or perform other Society work on company time, let them. They will benefit, and so will your company--many times over.

Mike Orr's election as Secretary for 2000 left the position of Education Chair open. I'm pleased to welcome Lori Fitzpatrick of American Express Financial Advisors to the Board as our new Education Chair, effective immediately. Mike will be working with Lori until he assumes his new Board position in December.

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This is our last Fellow Talk of 1999, and the last time I'll be writing you as President. When I earned my FLMI in 1988, I never thought I'd someday be leading our local Society. It's been hard work, but I've loved every minute of it. I thank the Board for helping make 1999 one of the most successful and memorable years in our history.

I'd like to share with you some "words to live by" that I first saw in an advertisement in the Wall Street Journal in 1984. The verse left an impression on me, and I clipped it out and hung it over my desk. Fifteen years later, it's still there--dog-eared and yellowed, but still proclaiming its powerful message:

Thank you for the privilege of serving as your president.

May you all rise to great heights every day in everything you do.

Paul A. Lindemann, FLMI, ACS

President, FLMI Society of the Twin Cities

WHEN: Tuesday, November 9

WHERE: Jax Caf
1928 University Ave. NE, Mpls.
(Exit 94 @ Broadway, East
on Broadway to University,
North on University to JAX)

AGENDA:

5:30 p.m. Registration / Cash Bar

6:15 p.m. Dinner

7:15 p.m. Business Meeting

7:25 p.m. Speaker:

"Life Insurance in the New Millenium"

This meeting is open to regular Society Members (those with the FLMI designation). If you plan to attend, please contact your company representative to make reservations.

September 14 was a night to remember! Our annual recognition dinner for new FLMIs was also the celebration of the 25^th anniversary of the FLMI Society of the Twin Cities. The program included remarks by four past presidents of the Society, recognition of charter members, recognition of past presidents, and comments from our keynote speaker, William Rabel of LOMA.

Leading off the program was Dean Carlson, the first President of the Society. Dean, who was with IDS Life, teamed up with David Cartwright of Minnesota Mutual in 1973 to spearhead the creation of the Twin Cities Society of LOMA Fellows, the fifth local FLMI society to be chartered by LOMA. The society had 104 charter members from 13 insurance companies. In 25 years our society has grown to consist of 1300 members representing nearly 20 insurance and financial service companies.

Dean's passion for the importance of the local society was evident in his remarks. He spoke of the original purposes of the society--to continue to advance the broad educational interests of its members, to bring into friendly and social relations those who have received the FLMI designation, and to encourage mutually helpful professional and educational relations among them. Dean encouraged all of us to continue to strive toward these goals

David Guyot, Society President in 1979-80, formerly with Prudential, entertained us with his ideas to "enhance the image of the FLMI designation." He suggested we stop the unintentional verbal abuse of our acronym so it doesn't sound like an exorcism rite ("flee me, o dark spirit") or an expectorant ("phlegmmy"). We should give ourselves the same respect as a CPAs or Ph.Ds. (notice they do not call themselves "ceepaws" or "phuds").

Julie Anderson, regional vice president for John Alden Life Insurance Company, served as President of the Society in 1987. Julie spoke about her involvement on the FLMI board of directors for 6 years. She felt the president's job was the easiest, and the real credit should go to the folks who put together the programs.

Jack Cooney, Prudential Health Care-Aetna, served as President of the Society in 1994. Jack spoke about the enormous changes our industry has been through in the last 25 years. He made it clear that the folks who were the "survivors" were those who were "students of the game"--those who were improving themselves rose to the top. These are the types of people who earn their FLMI.

Paul Lindemann, our current president, also spoke of changes in the industry. Paul remembered his early days in Consumer Affairs at Prudential when two people had to share a terminal, and steno notebooks served as the client database. Pauls personal focus for the local society is that we continue to support the individual educational objectives of our members. Paul sees our role as a society increasing as we motivate our associate members to work toward their FLMI designations.

The program continued with the recognition of Charter Members and Past Presidents in attendance:

CHARTER MEMBERS: Dean Carlson, Gordon Miller, Dale Congdon, Willford Nelson, David Guyot, Fred Picha, Jr., Michael McLaughlin, Jan M. Wilson

PAST PRESIDENTS: Dean Carlson (1973-74),

Clifford Thompson (1975-76), Dale Congdon (1976-77), David Guyot (1979-80), Julie Anderson (1987),

Sandra Breed (1990), Jack Cooney (1994), Judy Lemoine (1996), Jill Bremseth (1997),

Our keynote speaker was William Rabel, LOMA's Senior Vice President of Education. Bill spoke about the history of LOMA, which was founded in 1924. The first LOMA exam was given in 1933, and in 1936 the first designations were bestowed to a 6-person class. He also quoted some notable information from a 1997 LOMA survey:

• The average income of an FLMI is $63,000
• Half of those who earned the FLMI designation received a promotion within the next 2 years.
• More than half the FLMIs are executives, supervisors, managers or technical professionals.
• 89% of the FLMIs are still with the same company where they earned their designation

Bill stated that the educational opportunities provided through LOMA and the professional designations earned through those courses of study are clearly an investment into you and your companys future.

It became clear to us in attendance that all of the individuals who spoke and were honored tonight embodied the very essence of our society's goals of fellowship and education. We are grateful for their past and present leadership. We are grateful for 25 years of a society that is now 1300 members strong and growing. We look forward to our future!

This year's LOMA conference was held in beautiful San Diego during the last week in September. Most of the attendees were insurance professionals from North America, but there were also attendees from all over the world.

A slate of great speakers added to the conference line-up. Tony Snow, host of Fox News Sunday, was our keynote speaker. He filled us in on Washington politics and how they relate to the financial services industry.

There were presentations on growing our talents to keep pace with our changing environment, improving customer service, thriving in today's management, and dealing with difficult people. Other speakers discussed the Internets role in the financial services industry, the impact of the future on us, and the need to embrace and accept the challenges that come our way.

Paul Lindemann, Barb Prinz and Julie Hanson represented our Society's Board of Directors at the conference. They participated in meetings with officers from other FLMI Societies to share ideas and discuss common concerns.

A gala banquet ended the conference. The new FLMIs were recognized, and the top scoring FLMI and ACS students received special awards. All the Societies that won Outstanding Society Awards for 1998 (including our Society) were also recognized.

Sightseeing was a must while in San Diego. The many sights included the word-renowned Sand Diego Zoo, Sea World, Balboa Park, naval ships, and trolley cars. There is ample shopping (also known as retail therapy) with individual stores along the oceanfront, as well as shopping malls.

Next year's annual LOMA conference is in Orlando. We strongly encourage you to attend for the wide range of informative speakers, as well as the educational and networking opportunities. There is much to learn from this conference to bring back to your workplace.

The Nominating Committee made the following recommendations for the FLMI Society of the Twin Cities Board of Directors: Elected members were unanimously approved at the Silver Anniversary Dinner Meeting

PresidentEducation Chair

Barb Prinz, FLMI, ACS Lori Fitzpatrick, FLMI

Lutheran Brotherhood American Express Financial Advisors

Julie Hanson, FLMI, ACS, AIAA Sheila Johnson, FLMI, ACS, AIAA

Lutheran Brotherhood LifeUSA

Mike Orr, FLMI/M, AIAA, FLHC, ACS Terry Teske, FLMI

FALU, CLU, ChFC Minnesota Life

Hartford Life Insurance Company

TreasurerNewsletter Editor/PR Chair

Shelby Hollister, FLMI Lori Webb, FLMI, ACS, AIAA

Hartford Life Insurance Company Lutheran Brotherhood

Kathy McElroy, FLMI, ACS, ALHC Mary Smythe, FLMI

Hartford Life Insurance Company Hartford Life Insurance Company

LuAnn Maxfield, FLMI, ACS Paul Lindemann, FLMI, ACS

Hartford Life Insurance Company Prudential Insurance Company

Allianz www.allianzlife.com-ca-careers

American Express www.americanexpress.com
Open Jobs Line: (612) 671-5059

Hartford Life Service Specialists - new business, producer support

Technology Consultant/Actuarial Developer - information technology

HealthCare Compensation Strategies Benefits Account Manager/Client Relations Specialist

(Formerly MCG Healthcare) Benefits Plan Design Analyst

Insurance/Financial Planner professional (present complex

technical benefits information to Sr. Execs and M.Ds.)

Lutheran Brotherhood www.luthbro.com

National Benefit Resources Stop loss underwriter, Sr. Claim Auditor, Marketing Underwriter

Prudential Job Line (612) 557-4245

Reliastar Job Line (612) 342-3594

For more information about these jobs, including the contact persons, call the Job Posting Warehouse committee chair, Mary Smythe at Hartford Life (612-595-4533). If your company has personnel needs, please encourage your Human Resources Manager to contact us about publishing openings in our newsletter. IT WORKS! We also encourage any comments or ideas about how we can improve this service.

Our Past President, Dean Carlson

Speaking at the Silver Anniversary Celebration

Past Presidents (from left to right) Jill Bremseth, Judy LeMoine, Enjoying our History, Dale Gongdon, Fred Picha, Jr., Dave Guyot, Dean Carlson, Sandy Breed, Dale Gongdon, and Cliff Thompson

Julie Anderson, Cliff Thompson, and Jack Cooney