Press Release:
-- Aprilyn Chavez Geissler of Albuquerque, N.M., has been recognized as the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors’ 2019 Diversity Champion. She is First Executive Vice President at Gateway Insurance and Financial Services, Inc. A national firm with over 200 office locations, with a corporate home office based in Albuquerque, N.M.
Aprilyn has been instrumental in helping Gateway Insurance and Financial Services, Inc. focus on providing insurance and financial services to Hispanic and Native American families. After building her own successful local agency in Albuquerque, NM, she merged her practice with Gateway and the past five years has helped the organization to embrace and serve clients from diverse backgrounds. She has also expanded the Gateway staff to be diverse and includes members who speak Spanish and Navajo to better serve the national client base. She has employed young minority women as interns to give them experience working in a professional environment, providing them with education about personal finance and how to manage their own money.
“Aprilyn Chavez Geissler has done incredible work with NAIFA and in business to promote diversity within the life insurance and financial services industry, providing needed products and services to diverse communities,” said NAIFA President Jill Judd, LUTCF, FSS. “When you also consider the volunteer work she does around Albuquerque, Aprilyn perfectly exemplifies the type of financial professional the NAIFA Diversity Champion award was created to honor.”
Aprilyn Chavez Geissler is a former NAIFA trustee and has been an active member of NAIFA’s Diversity Task Force. She has participated in numerous NAIFA Diversity Symposiums.
In her community, Aprilyn works with TeamWorks NM, a nonprofit welfare-to-work program for minority women who are single parents or coming out of abusive relationships. She speaks at a group home for victims of domestic violence about the importance of financial literacy, providing important information about creating budgets, planning for the future, setting and achieving financial goals. She also volunteers with Crossroads for Women, and Albuquerque area nonprofit organization that provides housing and therapeutic services to empower women emerging from incarceration.
“One of Aprilyn’s biggest strengths is her ability to recruit a broad spectrum of talented support staff to her successful local New Mexico office and the multi-line division of the firm,” said James R. Hawk, CLF, LUTCF, president of NAIFA’s New Mexico chapter. “Most of Aprilyn’s staff is bi-lingual giving her office the ability to explain complicated and detailed information to clients in languages other than English, enhancing their ability to make informed decisions regarding their insurance needs. As a NAIFA leader, she constantly works to making sure we represent the needs of all agents of all backgrounds, including promoting NAIFA-New Mexico sponsored speakers and training to support women and minorities.”
