Service, professionalism, integrity and excellence are the hallmarks of the Knights of Columbus Insurance program. Agents who qualify for the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) exemplify these qualities, as well as a high level of personal commitment and hard work.

This year, a record 89 professional Knights of Columbus field agents from 39 K of C agencies in the United States and Canada qualified for membership in the Round Table, the leading international association of life insurance and financial professionals.

MDRT membership is open to representatives of fraternal benefit societies, such as the Knights of Columbus, as well as commercial agents, and allows agents access to a wide variety of professional resources and admission to the MDRT’s annual meeting at which the industry’s most successful professionals share ideas and receive inspiration. (The name Million Dollar Round Table represents the ideal of high achievement and does not mean an agent has sold or earned a million dollars.)

Leading the Order’s field agents were Ben Baca of the Gould Agency in California, who qualified for the MDRT for the eighth year, and Dan Dean of the Bouchard Agency in Alberta, a six-time qualifier. Both also are members of the Court of the Table, for agents who achieve three times the annual commission requirement.

Field Agent Neil Pfeifer of the Kevin Pfeifer Agency in Nebraska qualified for the MDRT for the fifth year. He has learned that successful agents put their clients first, not themselves.

“When I went to my first MDRT convention, I thought it would be all about people making money, doing it for themselves,” he said. “It was just the opposite of what I expected.

The professionals who make it to this level do so because they are concerned about others. They are caring, involved in their communities, and committed to protecting families and their futures through the financial products they offer.”

Pfeifer, 43, joined the Knights when he was 18 years old and has been a field agent for 12 years. “I am a Knight first, serving my brother Knights,” he said. “I’m not in it for the fast sale, then out the door. I’m interested in a relationship that will last for the long term.”

First-time MDRT winner Doug Kelly, a field agent for three years with the Pfeifer Agency, worked as director of admissions for Boys Town in Nebraska before becoming an insurance professional. His family was named Nebraska Family of the Year a few years ago.

Kelly. 53, said that the vision of the Order’s founder, Father Michael J. McGivney, serves as his motivation. “I have a great devotion to Father McGivney and feel a responsibility to protect all the families of the Knights, just as he envisioned,” he said.