PIA Connection Online

by Mike Skiados

In September, PIA hosted an extremely successful 2025 PIA Annual Leadership Conference and Advocacy Day, with over 140 attendees. At this annual meeting of PIA Leaders, we highlighted our commitment to the 2025 strategic initiatives of financial stability, CPIA program enhancement, strengthening Affiliate relationships, and exploring membership growth. Our work for the year has yielded significant results that directly support your efforts as an insurance agency owner. I extend my sincere gratitude to Immediate Past President Ariel Rivera for his dedicated service, vision, and leadership in our success.

I’m also thrilled to welcome our new PIA President, Mark Suhr, CIC, CPIA, of Seward, NE, who was sworn in at the Board of Directors meeting during the conference. President Suhr has set a clear priority of equipping member agents to leverage technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI). This focus is crucial for adapting to rapid market changes and maintaining our competitive edge, a goal bolstered by our Tech Council members who are dedicated to increasing technology adoption among independent agents.

We reimagined the event with a more inclusive format featuring highly interactive sessions, including a Board Working Session and a forward-looking Technology Council meeting that included Tech Talks from industry leaders.

Most notably, we held a special joint session focused on Reimagining the Insurance Industry with our Board, Ascending Leaders Council (profiles are in this issue), and Carrier and Tech Councils. This session successfully generated fresh, realistic ideas to attract new talent and customers to agencies, ensuring the vitality of the independent agency channel.

For Advocacy Day, over 100 members visited Capitol Hill to advocate for the needs of the independent insurance agent industry. Our Government Relations team had a banner year in 2025, securing major advocacy wins for independent agents on Capitol Hill including making the 20% Qualified Business Income (QBI) deduction permanent, providing vital financial stability for thousands of independent agencies, securing the reinstatement of the annual Administrative and Operating (A&O) inflation adjustment for crop agents, a crucial win addressing years of effective commission cuts, and successfully opposing federal legislation that would have imposed a moratorium on state AI regulation in insurance, safeguarding the state-based system that allows for local adaptation.

This is a time of immense progress for PIA National and the independent agent channel. We will continue to build on this momentum to serve you and secure our industry’s future.