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The Experience Imperative: How Leading Carriers are Redefining Value Across Distribution

Cindy Hoes, MBA 9/15/2026

Winning distribution partnerships require coordinated strategies, connected capabilities and a deeper understanding of intermediaries’ growth goals.

Summary

Carrier–intermediary relationships are evolving as firms face consolidation, rising costs, product innovation and changing expectations. This paper explores the shift toward strategic partnership, including how carriers can provide coordinated planning, insight, education and marketing support while helping distribution firms grow across advisor models and client segments.

Creating seamless, end-to-end experiences across the distribution ecosystem can further reduce friction, improve efficiency and deliver greater value to intermediaries, employers and their clients through integrated technology, shared data and thoughtful collaboration.

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Meet the Project Director

Cindy Hoes, MBA

Cindy Hoes leads the organization’s research and thought leadership on financial services distribution, with a focus on distribution economics, organizational models, and emerging market trends. Cindy oversees more than 20 benchmark and discovery research studies as well as strategic collaborations with third-party consultants.

Prior to joining LIMRA and LOMA, Cindy served as Associate Vice President of the Nationwide Retirement Institute where she led strategy and research for programs that simplified the complexity of financial and retirement planning and workplace solutions for financial professionals, companies, and consumers.

Cindy is a Doctoral candidate at Burgundy School of Business, holds a Master of Business Administration from Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Corporate Vice President, Head of Distribution Research
LIMRA and LOMA
choes@limra.com


For more information, please contact choes@limra.com.

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