About The Event
The Insurance Professional Skills Development Series, presented in partnership with the IU Kelley School of Business Executive Education, consists of three distinct four-session virtual learning series designed to help insurance professionals strengthen leadership, communication, and innovation skills. Each series includes four live virtual sessions, and participants may register for one or more series based on their interests and professional development goals.
July 2026 | Change Leadership
Speaker: Broc Pittsford
This four-session virtual series provides leaders with practical tools to navigate organizational change and improve long-term business success. Participants will explore change management principles, understand the human factors that influence change, and develop strategies for leading successful transitions.
Series Schedule:
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- Thursday, July 2 | 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. ET
- Thursday, July 9 | 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. ET
- Thursday, July 16 | 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. ET
- Thursday, July 23 | 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. ET
September 2026 | Communication with Influence
Speaker: Trent Deckard
This four-session virtual series helps leaders strengthen communication skills that build credibility, foster connection, and increase influence. Participants will learn how to communicate more effectively with diverse audiences, engage decision-makers, and leverage emerging tools such as generative AI to enhance workplace communication.
Series Schedule:
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- Wednesday, September 9 | 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. ET
- Wednesday, September 16 | 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. ET
- Wednesday, September 23 | 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. ET
- Wednesday, September 30 | 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. ET
November 2026 | Strategic Innovation for Insurance Leaders
Speaker: Greg Fisher
This four-session virtual series explores innovation as a strategic capability for insurance organizations. Participants will examine internal and external drivers of innovation and learn practical approaches for creating, supporting, and sustaining innovation within their organizations.
Series Schedule:
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- Wednesday, November 4 | 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. ET
- Wednesday, November 11 | 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. ET
- Wednesday, November 18 | 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. ET
- Wednesday, November 25 | 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. ET
Registration Fees – Single Series*
| Registration Type | Registration Fee |
| Attendee | $850 |
| MIP Certified | $750 |
*Registration fees grant access to all sessions within a single series. Please note that a separate registration is required for each series you wish to join.
Registration Confirmation
You will receive detailed email confirmation upon successful completion of the registration process for this event; please make sure to enter a valid email address on the registration form. If you have any questions regarding your registration, please e-mail events@namic.org or call (800) 336-2642.
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Registration Cancellations
All cancellations must be submitted in writing to registrar@namic.org.
The following cancellation rules apply:
There are no refunds for virtual events. Registrations can be transferred to another individual, provided access to the virtual event portal has not yet been granted to the original registrant by NAMIC.
Agenda Overview
Thursday, July 2, 2026
3:00 pm
4:30 pm
The Fundamentals of Managing Change
What are the foundational principles needed to navigate organizational change in a mutual insurance industry setting? This session establishes why effective change management is critical — directly impacting growth and adaptation, staff retention, and financial performance — while examining common failure modes such as poor communication, cultural resistance, and insufficient stakeholder engagement. Participants are introduced to common frameworks that involve concepts such as stakeholder mapping and the ability to assess where teams are emotionally and operationally within a change initiative.
Thursday, July 9, 2026
3:00 pm
4:30 pm
Assessing Readiness for Change
This session focuses on gauging organizational readiness before any change moves forward. Teaching how to evaluate key dimensions of readiness — including awareness, desire, capacity, cultural alignment, and risk — using tools such as readiness surveys, stakeholder interviews, focus groups, and risk heat maps. This prepares organizations and teams before they move into planning and execution.
Thursday, July 16, 2026
3:00 pm
4:30 pm
Tools and Tactics to Manage Change
During this session we will move participants from insight to action. We will instruct participants on how to translate assessment findings into a structured change plan — complete with scoped objectives, milestones, roles, and a segmented communication strategy that ensures the right message reaches the right audience at the right time. We then shift focus to execution, emphasizing that change ability is built through repetition, coaching, and structured routines. This will equip participants with both the strategic planning tools and the on-the-ground execution skills needed to drive adoption, diagnose resistance in real time, and build their teams' capabilities.
Thursday, July 23, 2026
3:00 pm
4:30 pm
Sustaining Change and Measuring Success
In our final session we will address an often-overlooked stage of the change management lifecycle — positioning reinforcement as the critical step in maintaining change adoption. Change often fails not during launch, but afterward, when the absence of measurement, accountability, recognition, and ongoing leadership visibility allows people to revert to old habits. Participants learn to build a measurement framework to detect backsliding early rather than after damage is done.
Wednesday, September 9, 2026
3:00 pm
4:30 pm
Projecting Confidence into Everyday Leadership Communication
We build upon our previous seminars, to retake up the subject of confidence build from credibility. This time, we discuss common ways that confidence become visible through the verbal and non-verbal communicator. We go beyond the small strategies to take big steps towards communicating in the successful way of influential leadership.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026
3:00 pm
4:30 pm
Taking the Unexpected out of Connecting with Others
In this session, we offer leaders key tips and strategies designed to connect more fully with audiences of all kinds. We go beyond simply understanding others to explore the global dimensions of difference that separate leaders and prevent successful communication.
Wednesday, September 23, 2026
3:00 pm
4:30 pm
The AI of Influence
Here, we talk about how to get to the point with busy workplace deciders and how Generative AI is quickly becoming the number one workplace partner of so many leaders. In the session, we demystify AI use, demonstrate successful ways it can be used in everyday leadership communication, and further enhance our workplace credibility.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
3:00 pm
4:30 pm
Change as a Leadership Concept
This final gathering will engage the key elements of change necessary to move people forward with winning ideas, big and small. It will explore the common mistakes and pitfalls that leaders make, demonstrating proven concepts to organize others around movement towards action of every kind.
Wednesday, November 4, 2026
3:00 pm
4:30 pm
The Strategic Innovation Imperative
Why must mutual insurers innovate — and why is “innovation” not one thing? This session examines the competitive pressures, evolving policyholder expectations, and market dynamics that make strategic innovation essential. Participants will be introduced to a practical framework that distinguishes four distinct modes of innovation, each with different drivers, strengths, and trade-offs. Leaders will assess where their own organization currently stands and begins to think strategically about their innovation choices.
Wednesday, November 11, 2026
3:00 pm
4:30 pm
Driving Innovation from Within
How can organizations harness the ideas and energy of their own people to innovate? This session explores two internally focused modes of innovation — one driven by leadership through formal structures and strategic direction, the other fueled by employees through grassroots experimentation and intrapreneurship. Participants will examine real-world examples of both approaches, consider the tension between top-down direction and bottom-up initiative, and identify opportunities to strengthen internal innovation in their own organizations.
Wednesday, November 18, 2026
3:00 pm
4:30 pm
Bringing Outside Ideas In
Some of the most powerful innovations come from beyond an organization’s boundaries. This session explores two externally focused modes of innovation — one involving structured partnerships, alliances, and ventures with outside organizations, the other tapping into customers, agents, and broader communities as sources of innovative ideas. Participants will examine how leading organizations manage external innovation relationships and will map opportunities to better leverage their own external networks and stakeholder communities.
Wednesday, November 25, 2026
3:00 pm
4:30 pm
Building Your Innovation Portfolio
Innovation is most powerful when leaders think in terms of a portfolio of approaches rather than a single initiative. This final session integrates the four modes of innovation and introduces the individual-level action principles that enable leaders to drive innovation regardless of the mode they are activating. Participants will assess which modes are underdeveloped in their organizations and develop a personal action plan with concrete steps to foster strategic innovation in their teams and areas of responsibility.
Location
Hotel
Virtual
Event Hotel Rate and Cut Off Date
Travel
For more information on sponsoring Insurance Professional Skills Development, please contact our sponsorship team at sponsorship@namic.org.
If you would like to learn more about NAMIC’s sponsorship and advertising program, please click here.
FAQs
Will the sessions be broadcast live or can I watch at my leisure?
All sessions will be broadcast live during the scheduled event time and will include a live Q&A session with presenters. We strongly suggest attendees participate during the live broadcast; however, session recordings will be accessible on demand within 48 hours of the live broadcast.
Can I access recordings and sessions after the event has ended?
Yes, you will be able to access the recordings through the end of the calendar year.
How do I obtain an advance copy of the attendee list?
In an effort to provide our sponsors, speakers, and attendees the best level of service, we will send an electronic list of current event registrants to the attendee or email listed as the main contact as follows:
- Attendees: A minimum of 10 days out from the event, in the pre-conference communication email;
- Sponsors: Approximately 60 days in advance of the event with paid sponsorship;
- Exhibitors: Approximately 30 days in advance of the event with paid booth registration; and
- Speakers: Approximately 30 days from the event.
I’m interested in speaking at this event. How can I submit a proposal?
NAMIC does not accept speaking proposals for this event. To learn more about what events do accept proposals and how to become a speaker, please visit our Become a Speaker page.
How can I access presentations and event materials?
Please refer to the link in your pre-conference communication to access presentation slides and other event materials like the attendee list.
What registration payment options are available?
The online registration system accepts credit card payments, check payments, and multiple registrations under the same payment method.
When and how is registration confirmation sent?
Confirmation is sent via email, so please enter a valid email address. Paying online with a credit card allows for the most expedient confirmation. Confirmation will be sent immediately after you submit your credit card information.
Several people from my company wish to view the event. Do all of them need to be registered?
Anyone who wishes to participate needs to be registered individually.
What does my registration include?
Registration fees include access to all educational sessions, speaker presentation materials, and the attendee list. Please review the agenda for additional event details.
I am registered but my plans changed, and I am unable to attend. What do I do?
Please visit the Registration tab above for more information.
When will I receive access to the virtual event portal?
You will be able to access the virtual event portal using your log-in information approximately 10 days prior to the event.
How do I access my log-in information for the NAMIC virtual event portal?
You will receive your log-in information in a pre-conference communication email from events@namic.org approximately 10 days prior to the event.
Having trouble logging into the NAMIC virtual event portal?
Further Questions?
If you have any questions regarding the summit, contact the Events team at events@namic.org or call 317.875.5250 and ask for the Education and Events department.
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