Every year, the Agent for the Future Awards celebrate forward-thinking agencies that are embracing innovative technologies, evolving to meet the changing demands of the market, and finding new ways to bring value to their customers.  

The 2025 Agent for the Award winners show that the future of insurance is both deeply digital and deeply human. This year’s winners are blending technology with human connection, using AI and automation for routine tasks and after-hours service so their teams can prioritize meaningful connections with clients. They are building cultures that empower their clients and their teams, focusing on client education and employee mentorship and coaching. They are building trust and establishing themselves as thought leaders by giving back to their communities and to the independent agency system as a whole.  

Here are the 2025 Agent for the Future Award winners:  

Outstanding Agency Overall: Valor Insurance Group, LLC 

Valor Insurance shows how a small agency can use technology to drive growth through building relationships with customers at scale.  

The agency’s Think Insurance YouTube channel reaches more than 37,000 subscribers and 500,000 viewers annually, generating more than 1,700 high-intent leads in the past year. AI-driven, automated follow-ups through the agency’s CRM converted 40% of inbound digital leads into appointments. The agency pairs educational video content with personalized microsites for each agent, making the experience feel local and human. And the agency’s AI voice assistant provides after-hour service.  

Outside of the agency, Valor has built strong partnerships with local businesses by helping them improve their social media presence. Valor’s founder, Mark Flockhart, also shares his advice and best practices with other insurance agents through his YouTube channel, meetings and interviews with industry influencers.  

Looking ahead, Valor plans to grow its team and build stronger referral networks across multiple states. Their digital-first yet human-centered approach to becoming a trusted resource for their clients, community and wider independent agency system demonstrates what an Agent for the Future looks like.  

Outstanding Large Agency: RIGHTSURE, INC 

In the past 18 months, RIGHTSURE integrated AI into nearly every customer-facing and operational process. Their AI-powered communication systems answer more than 100,000 inbound calls a year, ensuring clients are never left on hold and driving a 12% increase in after-hours calls that resulted in new business sales. AI automations delivered after-hours service to more than 3,000 policyholders and instant support for more than 2,000 small claims. 

AI has simplified the agency’s quoting process, with average intake time reduced from more than nine minutes to just over three minutes, and more than 15,000 quotes processed from speech-to-text, reducing manual rekeying. 

RIGHTSURE’s mission is to leverage technology to make insurance more human. While AI drives efficiency, the agency’s “famously friendly humans” are at the heart of every interaction, driving a 98% customer satisfaction score and a 40% increase in unsolicited 5-star reviews. Future plans for AI include expanding the agency’s AI-backed coaching system to every client role and investing in AI predictive modeling to anticipate customer needs. The agency is even finding ways scale their community initiatives by using AI to identify local causes where the agency’s resources can make the biggest impact.  

As RIGHTSURE’s founder, Jeff Arnold, often says, the agency isn’t waiting for the future, they’re designing it – one AI-driven, customer-centered, data-empowered experience at a time.  

Outstanding Small Agency: BluePrint Risk  

BluePrint Risk blends innovation, education and a focus on workplace culture to deliver a client experience that is personal, transparent and future-focused.  

The agency’s proprietary BluePrint365 process helps clients identify hidden risks and better understand coverage options. Over the past year, the approach boosted client satisfaction scores and drove a 20% increase in policy conversions. Internally, the agency launched automation workflows in AgencyZoom and their marketing systems, cutting the time the team spent on administrative tasks by 30%. 

While technology enables growth, a focus on culture is at the heart of everything the agency does. The agency’s six core values remind the team to do work, wow everyone, live zen, explore more, educate first and give back. The team is fully remote, allowing flexibility for employees and helping attract candidates from a broader hiring pool.  

Looking forward, BluePrint Risk is investing in advanced automation tools and AI-powered workflows to streamline operations even further. As they look to expand their team, the agency is developing a structured training and mentorship program to support career growth and ensure consistent service. They are also enhancing the BluePrint365 process by integrating data-driven insights to provide even more personalized risk management advice.  

Digital Innovator: Rate Insurance and McClain Insurance Services  

This year brought the first-ever tie in the Digital Innovator category, with two agencies showcasing the different forms digital innovation can take in large and small agencies.  

Rate Insurance  

With a remote team that serves clients in all 50 states, Rate Insurance has invested in digital infrastructure that supports collaboration and enables personalized customer experiences at scale. At the center is RateConnect, a fully customized platform within Salesforce that brings together quoting, customer data, communication tools and marketing automation. The platform connects directly to top carriers through APIs, uses artificial intelligence to summarize customer interactions and allows the team to leverage data to personalize client communications and identify opportunities for cross-selling.  

Through the agency’s digital marketplace, customers can compare quotes and bind policies in minutes. The marketplace is integrated into the mortgage process offered by Rate’s parent company, allowing customers to get insurance coverage as part of their home-buying journey.  

As the agency’s team has grown, Rate has focused on aligning culture with digital transformation. The agency’s Salesforce workspace includes embedded workflows, tailored training and real-time support, with structured onboarding check-ins and digital feedback loops to refine the employee experience. The agency’s wellness app, integrated with the Rate app and Wellable, earned the Platinum Bell Certification for Workplace Mental Health.  

In the coming years, Rate Insurance plans to enhance RateConnect with AI tools to automate call auditing, analyze customer sentiment and enable real-time coaching for sales staff. The goal is to create a frictionless, personalized experience from quote to bind.  

McClain Insurance Services  

McClain Insurance Services demonstrates how a small, long-standing agency can build a connected ecosystem of technology tools that saves time and strengthens communication and provides clarity for customers and staff.  

Along with mapping every process in their visual workspace in Mural, the agency also built McClain Brain, an AI knowledge hub that makes procedures, training and scripts instantly searchable. These tools ensure consistent service across the team and have cut new hire training time by months.  

To save staff time, Eventual Treasury automates routine tasks by pulling policy notices from 14 carriers and creating service tickets in Agency Zoom. This has cut 10-15 hours of busywork per week while also reducing errors. 

For client communication, a customized hub in Agency Zoom integrates with several other tech tools to power proactive outreach, personalized education and follow-ups. The agency’s branded InsureLink app offers clients 24/7 access to policy information, and customized Loom videos help clients understand their coverage options. Pairing personalized communication with convenient service tools boosted retention to 98% and cut response times by 30%. And their client education has resulted in a 76% telematics adoption rate.  

In the next few years, McClain plans to continue building their technology tools to streamline workflows, strengthen communication and provide excellent customer service. The systems they’ve built will allow them to expand their team and explore opportunities in commercial insurance.  

Outstanding Female Agency Principal: Marrissa Winkelman, Webb + Winkelman Insurance Co.  

Marrissa Winkelman believes that successful businesses have a responsibility to positively impact the people and communities around them. 

Joining Webbcorp just a few years after the agency opened in 2012, she brought a vision for sustainable growth that changed the agency’s trajectory and helped grow the team from three people to nearly a dozen. As managing partner since 2023, she led a full rebrand of the agency while reinventing the agency’s culture to focus more on employee wellbeing.  

Winkelman is committed to building a workplace where women – especially working mothers – can thrive. She developed a maternity program to help new moms continue to grow their careers as they take on their new parenting role. The agency saw the impact of the program firsthand when one of their lead sales members returned from maternity leave and quickly hit her goals while embracing motherhood with confidence.  

Beyond the agency walls, Winkelman led efforts to build strong partnerships with local schools, partnering with the agency’s commercial clients to host monthly luncheons to celebrate teachers and school staff. She also implemented quarterly team outings that bring the team closer together while supporting client businesses.   

Winkelman has also worked to streamline agency technology, introducing new automation and renewal systems to increase productivity and strengthen retention. Looking ahead, she aims to continue to adopt new technology tools and also expand the team by at least one new member each year, building out an in-house retention department to provide better client experiences. The first steps are already in motion, with a full rework of training for new hires.  

Emerging Leader: Charles McDade, McDade Insurance Brokerage Group, LLC  

After 14 years in the industry, Charles McDade believes that insurance done right can change lives and legacies. This belief fuels his commitment to his clients, his community and future leaders in the insurance industry.  

As a minority agency owner, McDade has turned the weight of representation into a mission to expand opportunities for young professionals and show that success is possible without sacrificing authenticity. He has represented the independent agent channel on national stages, from NAAIA’s agent ownership panel to Insurance Soup Live, mentoring peers on growth strategies. In the past year serving on the board of NAAIA Houston, he led the social team in growing the chapter’s LinkedIn from 42 followers to 1,117. Inside his agency, he’s developing leaders and empowering his team through mentorship, professional training and involvement in organizations like NAAIA Houston and the Independent Insurance Agents of Houston.  

McDade views every interaction as an opportunity to educate, empower and build long-term loyalty. He sees technology as a multiplier for building relationships and trust, using data-driven automation in HubSpot, EZLynx, Canopy Connect and The Insurance Agent App to provide faster, clearer comparisons and ongoing education without losing the personal touch. His agency is investing in cross-sell campaigns and targeting second-time homebuyers and households that value risk management over cheap rates. This has led to growth, with McDade Insurance recognized as a top 30 growth and profit loss agency partner out of more than 500 agencies at Premier Group Insurance.  

By combing technology, community impact and client partnership, McDade is creating a legacy of service that is built to last.  

Congratulations to all the 2025 Agent for the Future Award winners!

Agency awards:

  • Outstanding Agency Overall: Valor Insurance
  • Outstanding Large Agency: RIGHTSURE, INC
  • Outstanding Small Agency: BluePrint Risk
  • Digital Innovator(s): Rate Insurance and McClain Insurance Services

Individual awards:

  • Outstanding Female Agency Principal: Marrissa Winkelman, Webb + Winkelman Insurance Co.
  • Emerging Leader: Charles McDade, McDade Insurance Brokerage Group