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At 90, LIMRA International Continues to Grow and Change
10/16/2006
Windsor, CT, October 16, 2006 — LIMRA International observed its 90th anniversary today, near the end of a busy year in which the financial association launched new products, expanded its activities in Asia and other regions and, for the first time, acquired a for-profit business.
"The life insurance executives who founded LIMRA on this day in 1916 would be very proud of the organization they created," said Bob Kerzner, LIMRA's president and CEO. "The generations that followed the founders have expanded their original vision to a global scale."
"The life insurance executives who founded LIMRA on this day in 1916 would be very proud of the organization they created," said Bob Kerzner, LIMRA's president and CEO. "The generations that followed the founders have expanded their original vision to a global scale."
LIMRA was founded at a meeting in Chicago to conduct research for member companies to improve sales and marketing of life insurance. The organization took up permanent residence in Hartford in 1924.
LIMRA and its staff of nearly 220 formally marked the occasion with a group photograph and a flag-raising ceremony outside LIMRA's three-story Windsor office building.
"As much as LIMRA has grown over the years, its basic mission remains to help member companies maximize their marketing and distribution effectiveness," Kerzner said. "Today we have some 850 members in more than 60 countries, including the world's largest life insurers, major banks, brokerages, and other financial organizations."
LIMRA is best known for its broad research on life insurance and financial products. Each year LIMRA publishes several hundred studies for its members on consumer behavior and attitudes, product sales, distribution issues, retirement trends, and technology. LIMRA also does consulting projects, executive development, preemployment testing, and compliance services.
"Industry and trade organizations today have to focus hard on being absolutely relevant to the needs of their members," Kerzner said. "At the same time, we have to be financially strong and businesslike in our operations." Among the key initiatives of the past year, LIMRA:
- Acquired Kenneth Kehrer Associates, the leading research and consulting firm in bank sales of life insurance products
- Launched new compliance products to help member companies meet new regulatory requirements
- Doubled revenues in consulting projects outside of North America
- Established a strategic relationship for research and consulting with China's largest life insurer
- Reorganized European operations to strengthen delivery of benefits and services
"We're doing all the things we need to do now to guarantee that we'll still be here for at least another 90 years," Kerzner said.