BLUE SPRINGS, MO – June 15th, 2018 – Heartland Financial Group (“HFG”) announced last week that it has completed the acquisition of Unique Writers, Inc. dba Legacy Life Insurance Solutions (“UW”), a leading national independent marketing organization focused on life and annuity sales.
“This acquisition adds another key organization to HFG’s family, and further accelerates our growth and expansion plans to become the leading full-service life and health sales organization in the United States” commented Scotty Elliott, the recently named Chief Distribution Officer for HFG and President of One Life America (OLA). “UW has a proven track record and history of success in key niche markets that will both complement and further strengthen our current family of companies.”
UW’s proprietary recruiting, training and agency management systems coupled with proven sales programs have allowed it to grow exponentially over the past seven years since its founding by Mike Passaglia, an industry veteran of more than 29 years. Passaglia serves as President and CEO of UW, and will continue in that role post-acquisition, along with taking on additional responsibilities with HFG and OLA.
“This is an exciting day for our current distribution, our carriers, and even producers we have yet to meet” said Passaglia of the announcement. “The opportunity to fully immerse ourselves into HFG and OLA’s culture and current distribution, as well as their extensive, industry-leading product lines including Medicare, Final Expense, and Mortgage Protection, is a dream come true not just for me, but for every producer that wants to truly succeed in this amazing industry that has given me so much. I look forward to sharing the news of what is undoubtedly the best destination for success in this business with every producer and manager across the country.”
Passaglia entered the insurance industry in June 1989 after serving his country in the U.S. Navy for five years. He took to the insurance business right away, achieving success first as a personal producer, and then as a regional and national sales manager, where he developed and refined a sales system for Mortgage Protection agents that catapulted his sales organization to over $75 million per year in annualized life premium.
“I am very excited to add Mike’s talents and sales acumen to HFG”, said HFG Owner, Chris McDaniel. “While our relationship is still young, Mike and I share a similar history and outlook for this industry, and I know he will leverage all of his skills and experience of the past three decades to make a huge impact on HFG in furthering our expansion plans.”
HFG’s CEO Todd Hill was also very excited to share the news with the rest of the HFG Family. Hill stated, “I see in UW and Mike Passaglia some key missing pieces we need to fully capitalize on our game plan for the future. We continue to bring experienced, industry-changing leaders and companies into the fold here at HFG, that will allow us to fuel our growth and expansion into key markets and demographics. These efforts will ultimately spell even greater success for all of our HFG companies in the coming years. The future certainly looks bright from where I sit.”
About Heartland Financial Group
Heartland Financial Group (HFG), headquartered in Blue Springs, MO, is one of the nation’s leading independent distributors of life and health insurance products focused on serving the Senior Market. HFG develops and distributes life and health insurance products with insurance carrier partners and markets these products through its distribution network, which includes a career base of agents, partner IMOs and call centers. HFG has over 150 employees and a network of over 50,000 agents nationwide. HFG presently generates over 500 million of annual premium across the enterprise. You can learn more about HFG at www.hfgagents.com.
Media Contact:
Tegan Harrison
Public Relations
tharrison@e-hfg.com
816.878.9747
Partnership Inquires:
Tegrey Moot, Chief Marketing Officer
Heartland Financial Group
tmoot@e-hfg.com
602.820.8470