BIP Fall 2024

5 Take a proactive approach to set exclusively on Medicare business. Reflecting on her time on NABIP’s

others up for success. These days, Griffey focuses

National Board and the Futures Task Force, established by Past President Rusty Rice, that developed over her time in leadership, Griffey is glad to have set a structure of continuity. “A lot of strategic plans are built, printed and then they're ignored,” says Eugene Starks, principal at Acuity Group in Ridgeland, Mississippi, and past NABIP president. “Pat had a process that created accountability month to month to make progress. That, I believe, was the impetus that led us to where we are today. She helped reshape the organization.” For instance, Eric Kohlsdorf, secretary at the time, was in charge of one of the most difficult goals: determining what needed to change about the association. “That was the hardest goal out of all of them, but Eric took it on as incoming NAHU secretary, and because he was there as he and others moved through the chairs, he knows exactly how we got there and why we did what we did,” says Griffey. In the spirit of keeping knowledge from being lost, Griffey is happy to be an open door to anyone, whether seeking advice about the industry or being a woman in a historically male-dominated field. "Having started in 1974, I was in a man's world. You kept your head down, and you did your work," she says. "I've often felt I didn't do a good enough job reaching back and grabbing women along the way. I wish I would have done more of it." Fairbairn calls Griffey's humble nature an enduring quality but quickly points out how much of an impact Griffey's had on many NABIP members, including current President-Elect Susan Rider, a fellow Hoosier. "She most certainly had a hand in shaping and mentoring Susan and others," says Fairbairn. "She's an incredible mentor. She had help along the way, and now she gives back tenfold."

4 Learn through leadership. members of NABIP, it's that if you really want your career to take off, if you want to get to know people, if you want to get connected, get involved in leadership," says Griffey, who by 2012, had converted Page 1 into a retail agency along with one of her brokers. By broadening her perspective beyond the local level, Griffey gained invaluable insight into the needs of communities across the state of Indiana. That perspective broadened further when she became Region III Vice President in 2013 and then even more when she joined the National Board as treasurer a few years later. “I had to look at six states and how different people reacted to different types of models,” Griffey says. “I thought I'd learned all I needed to know — until I got to the National Board. Until then, I didn't fully appreciate how other states’ benefits are so much different from ours and why they are so much different.” Griffey became NABIP President in 2019. “Talking to people from other states, their needs, their wants, their interests are going to be different from where I am,” she says. “It taught me to be more patient. I realized there was so much I didn't know. And so I started asking questions and listening more.” Indeed, Bechtold says Griffey is “an amazing listener.” During her time as NABIP president, “She wasn't afraid to challenge things, ask questions, get clarifications, but in a kind and open way,” says Bechtold. It didn't result in confrontation. It was just a really productive conversation. The way she handles herself is one of the things that I admire about her.” In 2006, Griffey bought The Goodwin Company and rolled it into Page 1 Benefits. By then, she'd spent several years on the NAHU state board. "If I could get anything across to the

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