As 2016 comes to a close, many of us are already looking ahead. We’re planning for the future, looking forward to building our businesses or retiring from a fulfilling insurance career. This time of year in particular, our focus has shifted to family and friends, and to what the future might bring.

Here at WAHVE, we’ve been looking back over the past year. It’s been one in which we’ve been honored to work with a number of brokers, agents, and retiring/retired workers who give new meaning to the idea of working together. We’ve been fortunate to have helped brokers and agencies connect with skilled, veteran insurance professionals who have embodied an incredible spirit of teamwork.

That team spirit appears in the way an agency in Wichita collaborates with a claims veteran located in Albany. Or the way a retired insurance professional solves a broker’s underwriting issues without ever meeting face to face. Or the way a policy rating expert in Orlando can have a policy issue cleared up before her client in San Diego wakes up.

What we love about our job at WAHVE– what we love about the wahves and the companies they work for – is how they’ve all embraced a remote relationship and not only made it work, but have shown how transformative a relationship it can become.

And that transformation happens for both the worker and the insurance firm. Workers who aren’t ready to leave their skills behind have eagerly accepted assignments helping firms looking for very specific knowledge and experience that isn’t always available locally. The “wahve” worker is able to re-engage in an industry they love while augmenting their retirement income. Firms too are transformed, as they’re able to locate right-sized talent that’s both skilled and affordable.

As 2017 approaches, we look forward to continue working with some of the most talented individuals in the insurance industry. And we’re happy that WAHVE is playing a part in helping bring that talent to companies across the country.

We’re grateful too for the phenomenal team we have here at WAHVE. As veterans of the industry ourselves, we’ve joined forces to help reinvent retirement for many who want to remain active and earning. Plus we’re solving key staffing issues for firms looking for the knowledge and experience needed to grow their business. That team spirit is infectious, and it’s why we at WAHVE love our job – because of the people who help make this wahve of change happen every day.

As 2017 approaches, we’re energized and exhilarated about the future of this industry. We’re grateful to have worked with many of you and for the opportunity to continue to do so as we move forward collectively to help make the industry better.

Let’s embrace the new year from a position of teamwork. Let’s look to the changes, challenges, and opportunities that will come our way, and let’s know that together, we can do this. Because together, we are indeed making wahves.

In this season of anticipation and hope, we wish you the promise of an exciting and rewarding new year.