Brokers International's Mark Williams on the Annuity Market Force to Watch

What You Need to Know

Mark Williams says this is an important time to support the National Association for Fixed Annuities.
Early on, he was a special forces officer.
Today, he owns and works on older cars.

Mark Williams says anyone involved in helping clients with annuities right now had better be paying close attention to Washington. Williams is CEO of Brokers International — a 36-year-old Urbandale, Iowa-based annuity and life field marketing organization that is now part of Integrity Marketing.

Brokers International can offer insurance agencies and financial advisory firms a wide range of support services, and it has distribution relationships with more than 40 different insurers, including AIG and Voya.

Williams has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Phoenix. From 1987 through 1991, he was an officer in special forces marine units with the Israeli Defense Forces.

Early on, he worked in insurance sales and marketing at Allianz Life, the Hartford and GamePlan Financial Marketing.

In 2014, he joined Brokers International as the company’s chief sales officer.

The company named him president and CEO in 2016.

Last year, he published the book “Lead, Don’t Manage: 12 Lessons in Creating a Leadership Culture Based on Core Values.”

Via email, we asked Williams a set of questions that touch both on his professional knowledge and on what he does off the clock.

1. What market indicator, industry statistic, regulatory change or advisor trend are you watching most closely right now and why?

The thing that we are watching the most is the possible regulatory change from the U.S. Department of Labor over the best interest standard and fiduciary rules with respect to qualified funds.

There are currently two exemptions, 84-24 and 20-02, that have the ability to change the selling landscape for the entire industry.

The current DOL approach would require agents to be securities-licensed in order to sell certain products depending on where the money comes from.