Brother Knights,
Here is an email from our new General Agent, Derek Brown. Our Field Agent, James Ginter (his father is Jim; he is James), plans to attend our November Council/Business meeting. There are some links to the state agents at the bottom of this post.
To all Knights of Columbus Members,
The letter from the Home Office to all members seems to have caused some confusion. I want to ensure that all members know there has not been a change in field agents or advisors over the past few months.
I am resending the email below for you to look at. It was initially sent out in early September on Thursday, September 12th. Can I ask a big favor? Please make sure that all members receive this email.
I am sorry for any confusion about servicing agents and my role.
Thank you,
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
To my fellow State Officers and Delegates, District Deputies, Grand Knights, Past Delegates, and members of all involvement,
My name is Derek Brown, and I am honored to have been chosen to lead the Virtus Agency for the Knights of Columbus of Virginia and West Virginia. I am deeply grateful for your past, current, and future contributions as State Officers, Delegates, District Deputies, Grand Knights, Past Delegates, and members. Your roles are crucial to our mission, and I am deeply grateful for this opportunity to work with your councils and parishes. I eagerly anticipate the chance to meet you in person soon.
To introduce myself, I began as a Field Agent in 2017 and worked my way up to an Assistant General Agent for the Marsico Agency in southern New Jersey and the state of Delaware. I’ve been blessed to be allowed to continue my career as a General Agent for your area. As I establish the Virtus Agency, I frequently commute between NJ and VA until I can move my wife and our six beautiful children here.
I look forward to meeting you and your councils so that together, we can serve the families of the local parishes and continue Fr. McGivney’s vision. My plan includes meeting with every council as soon as possible, but this will take some time. I want to host benefit nights, do events that get us involved in the community, host spiritual talks and conferences, and host a monthly rosary prayer group. In addition, I would like to get more involved in the colleges teaching young professionals and with pre-canna classes teaching our hopefully married couple about financial skills, retirement savings/planning, and the importance of moral investing. Your participation in these initiatives is crucial, and I look forward to working with you.
Although some agents have left, the Knights of Columbus are still here to serve you and your family’s needs. I will send out a new agency list, listing which agent is responsible for each council and which advisor is responsible for which client. These men will be active in your councils with membership recruitments, fraternal benefit events, and more. Once this list is finalized, each agent will call upon all new members he is serving, and we will send out emails and postcard announcements. I am also looking for well-qualified agents and advisors to join our team. If you know anyone interested and would be a good fit, please send them my way. I am also coordinating a marketing campaign with the home office to advertise on social media and print the open positions that we currently have. Should anyone not an agent or advisor with our agency wish to speak at a council meeting on insurance or investments, please do not allow them to do so and notify me immediately.
I am in the process of opening my first location in the Richmond area. This location will be the agency’s center, and three advisors will work from there. This location has just been fitted with a phone. The Richmond office phone number is 804-547-2373. There will be on-site administrators at this office to handle any phone calls coming in and to help those who are in person. Should a phone call come in and not immediately answered, there will be a dial-by-name option for each agent to leave a voicemail, which will be routed to the correct person. The other office locations, i.e., Fairfax, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, Manassas, and Roanoke, are open and operational. I am also in the process of setting up our new agency’s website. This website will list our agents and advisors, coming events, Knights news, and critical contact information. There will also be an online way to request future donations, advertising, and community involvement. We, the Virtus Agency, want to get involved in ways that are fulfilling to our communities.
I’d like you to please accept this email as my informal introduction to our agency and how we are here to serve you. I’d enjoy getting to know each other better once we meet. Should you have any immediate needs, please let me know.
Please pray for me, our success, and our growth (both in the agency and in our spiritual lives). I will also pray for all your families.
Thank you, and God bless,
-Derek
Also, while this email list is extensive, I may not have included some individuals. Please help me distribute this message to all members.