Sometimes in life we choose our purpose. Most of the time, our purpose chooses us. At a young age, I was called into a life of service in sales. I was trained, mentored and managed by my parents, teachers, coaches and even my siblings. As you can see, the Nichols family thinks and plays large. [visual] As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child.

A special thanks and shout out of love to my father, who is smiling from the skies above, and for my mother, who is with us this afternoon. Growing up I was instilled with a strong work ethic that translated to grit, which I applied to my summer sales jobs. I was selling everything from holiday cards, lawn services, light bulbs, batteries and even radio advertising.

After university it was a family friend, Norb Winter Jr., a third-generation manager, who recruited me into the life insurance profession. He knew me as I had caddied for him at a golf country club in my home state of Minnesota. Norb saw my potential before I did.

The insurance and financial services profession became my platform to serve others. And even though I initially failed as an advisor, I never, ever quit. After eight long years, I finally became an MDRT member. It really does take a village, a community, to raise a competent, ethical and productive financial advisor.

MDRT is my community, my family. MDRT has been literally woven into the fabric of my life. MDRT trained, guided, mentored, upgraded and shared me. MDRT has held me accountable to a higher standard and became my lifestyle of choice. Someone once asked me, “What do you love about MDRT?” The people, the programs and the resources, and certainly the experiences, absolutely. Yet it goes so much deeper. It’s our value of serving one another, our mutual respect and our inclusion. There is room for everyone at our Round Table.

Becoming an MDRT member was only the beginning. My engagement and participation created an everlasting impact. In my early days as a PGA volunteer, I was directing traffic. Or was the MDRT traffic directing me? From there, it was a long-time member who nudged me along in my volunteer service and my financial contributions to our beloved MDRT Foundation. Another member listened and counseled me through some dark days of my personal adversity. One day I was being mentored, and the next day I was mentoring. The MDRT Mentoring Program provided me the opportunity to connect, to learn and to share with my fellow members. Four of them are in the audience today, and we are honored to have you here as qualifying members. Oh, how I love my MDRT family. Cheerleading to challenging, growing and serving, laughing and crying, friendships, learnings, and global experiences, the spirit of our MDRT is limitless. I stand before you proud to say I am MDRT made.

I am deeply honored and humbled to accept the nomination as secretary for MDRT. As part of the leadership team, I look forward to continuing to provide opportunities for all members to engage, build relationships, learn and experience the value of MDRT. I am so grateful to continue my life of service on behalf of our MDRT. I promise to do so with all my heart, all my mind and all my resources.