Agency Nation Radio

On this episode of Agency Nation Radio, Nancy Germond, executive director of risk management and education at the Big “I,” sits down with Dustyne Bryant, director of P&C content curriculum at WebCE, to discuss the latest developments in education in commercial lines insurance. Throughout the conversation, Bryant shares insights on emerging trends in commercial lines continuing education, dispels misconceptions about professional development and explains how agents can navigate an evolving insurance landscape in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). “Even if you already have the continuing education (CE) hours that you need to renew your license, do yourself one up and really take your CE beyond just checking that box and create the education journey for yourself that you need in order to be a well-informed professional,” Bryant says. Agency Nation Radio is where insurance professionals turn on the mic to share unscripted stories about leadership, technology, marketing, success, and failure—stories that helped shape their careers. From Main Street USA to the pages of Independent Agent magazine, these are the stories insurance professionals want to hear.

On this episode of Agency Nation Radio, we meet Miles Lee, transportation insurance broker at McGriff in Savannah, Georgia. After graduating from the University of Mississippi with a degree in risk management and insurance, Miles Lee had a clear vision for his career. It wasn't until he attended a Young Agents Committee (YAC) event in Athens, Georgia and connected with carriers, fellow agents and wholesalers that he discovered political advocacy as another way to make an impact. “I think advocacy and fundraising were never more prevalent or needed than they were for the fight at the Capitol [for tort reform],” Lee says. “During that time, I realized that insurance is top of mind for everybody—it doesn’t matter if you’re a business owner or an individual who buys homeowners and personal auto insurance.” Throughout the episode, Lee discusses advocating for tort reform, his active involvement with the Big “I” Young Agents community, and what it meant to be recognized as the 2025 Young Agent of the Year. Agency Nation Radio is where insurance professionals turn on the mic and share unscripted stories about leadership, technology, marketing, success and failure—stories that helped make them the professionals they are today. From Main Street USA to the pages of Independent Agent magazine—we’ve got the stories you want to hear. For more, catch Agency Nation Radio on your favorite streaming platform or visit iamagazine.com/podcasts. Lee was also featured in the July issue of Independent Agent. Check out his interview or read the full issue online.

On this episode of Agency Nation Radio, Ashley Engl, Director of Technology Learning & Innovation at Walsh Insurance and a member of the Big “I” Young Agents Committee, sits down with two emerging industry leaders whose journeys began on the football field. Hunter McHugh, owner of McHugh Insurance Group in Wilmington, Delaware, and Gannon Laidlaw, an insurance broker at Jaffe Insurance Agency in Napa, California, discuss how their experiences as former college football players helped shape the skills they rely on today as insurance professionals. They discuss the skills, discipline, and teamwork they developed through athletics and how those qualities have translated into their work as insurance professionals. They also share advice for current and former athletes considering a career beyond sports and discuss why the independent agency channel offers opportunities to compete, grow, and make a lasting impact. “As an athlete, you have to be willing to listen, put your ego aside, take feedback and apply it to whatever it is you’re doing,” Laidlaw says. “And that mindset translates very well into the insurance industry because as a broker, clients are relying on you for critical advice. And to do that well, you have to be organized, calm under pressure, communicate clearly, be personable, but also direct and honest, and you have to be willing to keep learning because the insurance market is constantly changing.” Agency Nation Radio is where insurance professionals turn on the mic to share unscripted stories about leadership, technology, marketing, success, and failure—stories that helped shape their careers. From Main Street USA to the pages of Independent Agent magazine, these are the stories insurance professionals want to hear.

Everyone in insurance talks about growing distribution. But the gap between wanting more producers and actually activating them fast is where agencies lose ground — and talent. In this episode, Kasey Connors, executive director of the Big “I” Agents Council for Technology (ACT), sits down with Jenn Knight and Niji Sabharwal, the married co-founders who built AgentSync after living through the complexity of insurance distribution infrastructure firsthand. If you've ever watched a promising new producer sit idle for weeks waiting on appointments and contracting, this conversation is for you. They dig into what's actually holding producer velocity back, what the path from recruited to revenue-generating looks like when the process works, and where the independent channel has more leverage than it realizes. The future they describe—where an agent's professional identity travels with them and market access opens up accordingly—is closer than most agencies think. Agency Nation Radio is where insurance professionals turn on the mic to share unscripted stories about leadership, technology, marketing, success, and failure—stories that helped shape their careers. From Main Street USA to the pages of Independent Agent magazine, these are the stories insurance professionals want to hear.

On this episode of Agency Nation Radio, we meet Jackson Rollo, president of Rollo Insurance in College Station, Texas. Insurance wasn’t always part of Jackson Rollo’s plan. Growing up around the family business gave him a firsthand look at the industry, but it wasn’t until he stepped into it himself that he discovered what would keep him there: the relationships, the responsibility, and the opportunity to make a meaningful difference in people’s lives. “Once I had the maturity and context to understand what insurance actually is, I fell in love with it,” Rollo says. “I loved the relationships, the freedom it creates and the impact you can have.” Now serving as president of the agency, Rollo is helping shape its next chapter with a people-first approach to growth. At a time when consolidation and rapid change continue to reshape the independent agency landscape, his vision stands out for its simplicity and purpose—building a stronger business by investing in the clients, employees, and communities that have always been at its foundation. Agency Nation Radio is where insurance professionals turn on the mic and share unscripted stories about leadership, technology, marketing, success and failure—stories that helped make them the professionals they are today. From Main Street USA to the pages of Independent Agent magazine—we’ve got the stories you want to hear. For more, catch Agency Nation Radio on your favorite streaming platform or visit iamagazine.com/podcasts. Rollo was also featured in the June issue of Independent Agent. Check out his interview or read the full issue online.

On this episode of Agency Nation Radio, we meet Robert Strachan, President of Strachan Novak Insurance in Twinsburg, Ohio. Despite growing up in an insurance agency family, Robert Strachan was convinced he didn’t want to work on the brokerage side of the business. Instead, he pursued a career with a carrier. Years later, however, he recognized the opportunity to join his father’s agency with the goal of eventually leading it himself. “Once I realized the magnitude of the opportunity I had to carry on the legacy, to carry on that opportunity of helping generations of families and businesses, it became more than just a job for me,” Strachan said. Throughout the episode, Strachan reflects on his experience navigating the transition process into agency ownership, the various types of acquisitions he has been involved in, and what he enjoys most about working in the insurance industry. Agency Nation Radio is where insurance professionals turn on the mic and share unscripted stories about leadership, technology, marketing, success and failure—stories that helped make them the professionals they are today. From Main Street USA to the pages of Independent Agent magazine—we’ve got the stories you want to hear. For more, catch Agency Nation Radio on your favorite streaming platform or visit iamagazine.com/podcasts. Strachan was also featured in the May issue of Independent Agent. Check out his interview or read the full issue online. https://www.iamagazine.com/2026/05/01/declaration-of-independents-robert-strachan/

On this special episode of Agency Nation Radio, Will Jones, editor-in-chief of Independent Agent magazine, chats with Amy Zupon, chief executive officer, and Rick Warter, chief customer officer, both from Vertafore, during last month’s Accelerate conference in Las Vegas. The Accelerate conference is an annual event for independent agents and brokers and Vertafore users to connect, learn, and get a look at what’s next for Vertafore and the industry. During Jones’ conversations with the two Vertafore leaders, they chat with him about digital transformation, keeping a human in the loop and, of course, AI. “What I think AI brings to our digital transformation is something new that is going to drive us much faster than you’ve ever seen innovation happen in the channel before,” Zupon says. “It gives us opportunities for agencies and carriers to work differently than they have in the past.” Agency Nation Radio is where insurance professionals turn on the mic to share unscripted stories about leadership, technology, marketing, success, and failure—stories that helped shape their careers. From Main Street USA to the pages of Independent Agent, these are the stories insurance professionals want to hear.

On this episode of Agency Nation Radio, Will Jones, editor-in-chief of Independent Agent magazine, interviews Luke Bills, president of independent agent distribution at Liberty Mutual. They discuss the retirement of the Safeco brand and what the shift to a single Liberty Mutual brand means for independent agents. They also dig into how carriers and agencies can stay aligned through change, where the market may be headed over the next few years, and how technology and AI can reduce friction in day-to-day workflows—without adding yet another disconnected tool. “Everything that agents have come to love and know about Safeco is staying the same,” Bills says. “Our people are not changing, the products don’t change, and certainly, our long-term commitment to the channel does not change.” Agency Nation Radio is where insurance professionals turn on the mic to share unscripted stories about leadership, technology, marketing, success, and failure—stories that helped shape their careers. From Main Street USA to the pages of Independent Agent, these are the stories insurance professionals want to hear.