Meet Our Team

Steve was born in Sydney, Australia. He grew up in the community of El Monte, California. Steve attended undergraduate studies at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, majoring in Chemistry. In 2001, after deciding to go back to school, Steve received his Juris Doctorate Degree from California Southern Law School.

For over 16 years, Steve served as a Police Officer involved in various assignments. Steve medically retired as a Sergeant from the East Los Angeles area. Steve started his career with the New York Life Insurance Company in December of 1998 as an ARD of Chairman’s Council Agent Robert C. Dye. Steve became an Agent at the Inland Empire General Office in San Bernardino, California. After qualifying for Executive Council 2 years consecutively and as an MDRT Aspirant^, he was promoted to the position of Partner in January of 2002. During his tenure as a Partner, Steve won several national recruiting awards.

In 2005, Steve was again promoted and became a Corporate Vice President in charge of Recruiting and Retention for the Pacific Zone at the Corporate Offices in the San Francisco area. After serving in this rotational position, Steve took over operations at the El Paso General Office in 2008, and then moved to the Nebraska office in 2020. The Office continues to grow at a rapid pace with a proven culture of success. Steve has been married for more than 35 years to his beautiful wife Debra. They have one son, Stephen, and a granddaughter, Noelle Aunika Nagy.

Mark Powell is a Partner in the Nebraska General Office and his Professional Career with New York Life began 8 years ago after having retired as Police Chief with several decades of service.  He also served 7 years in the United States Army prior to his position in Law Enforcement.

After several years as a successful Agent, and with his decades of Management experience, Mark entered the Associate Partner program and quickly promoted to Partner.  He continues to grow a dynamic team of Agents who also believe that seeing life through the client’s lens, and listening to what matters to them, is what matters most.

Mark and his wife Michelle have 7 children and after world-wide Military service and travel, they knew they wanted to come back home to Nebraska and raise their children.  "We have travelled the world and, to coin a phrase, we truly found that there really is no place like Nebraska".

It has been said that Education is power. It is applied education that is the true power. Curt Christensen’s implementation of the NYLIC University Training Program in the Nebraska General Office is focused on putting knowledge to work to help the agent achieve the success he or she is working to accomplish. “Giving You the Power to be Your Best” is the philosophy of the Training Department and all systems are dedicated to achieving that end. The success of the program is determined by the success of our agents.

Curt joined New York Life in May 2007. He was promoted to Development Manager in July 2008. Previous to New York Life, he was with Principal Financial Group as a Development Director. He brings many years of insurance and financial knowledge to the Nebraska General Office.

Scott is originally from Norfolk, Nebraska. He is married to Laurie and has four children: Blake, Austin, Tanner, and Madelyn. He attended Wayne State College earning his college degree focusing on Finance and Economics. Scott is your Standards and Compliance resource within the Nebraska General Office assisting our Agents/Registered Representatives in understanding the issues our industry is facing in today’s regulatory environment. He has his Life and Health Insurance License and Series 7, 66, & 24 securities licenses.

• 08/2004 — Present: Agency Standards Consultant (ASC) for NYL
• 2000 — 2004: Partner with Lutheran Brotherhood/Thrivent (agent joint field work, recruiting, training, & compliance office reviews)
• 1996 — 2000: Norwest/Wells Fargo Investment Services - Registered Representative in the Norfolk, NE office
• 1992 — 1996: Norwest Bank - Teller, Customer Service Rep., Personal Banker, & Small Business Banker

Angela has a proven track record of success in her 27-year financial services career. Prior to Joining New York Life as a Long-Term Care Product Consultant, Angela was a Regional Director with Pacific Life. In the territory that Angela oversaw, the territory experienced exponential sales growth year over year with her receiving the Pacific Life Summit Award in 2018 for exceptional growth in Long Term Care sales.

Angela is a graduate of Winona State University and holds her degree in Business Administration and Marketing. She currently resides in Woodbury Minnesota. Angela's extensive sales experience, sales process, and commitment to success establishes her as a valuable member for our team, agents, and managers.

Chau Nguyen serves as National Vietnamese Market Manager for Agency. As part of her role, Chau is responsible for the planning and implementation of the company’s strategy in the Vietnamese community which is geared to drive incremental growth in Life sales, agent recruiting & retention, manpower, as well as management and leadership growth in the market.

Chau began her career in the U.S. as a Research Scientist. Chau spent 10+ years working in Pharmaceutical Research and Development laboratory. She received an interview call from local New York Life General Office one day, Chau asked Recruiter at the time: "Is there an opportunity to go in management at New York Life?" She took his answer and resigned as Sr Scientist to join New York Life. "Going from guaranteed paycheck to 100% commission - it's no easy". Chau said. "one step back, two steps forward!", she continued.

Chau joined New York Life as an agent in 2006 in the Constitution General Office. where she achieved Executive Council^* consecutively for the next three years and was a top Life Case writer. In 2009 Chau was promoted to Partner where she also excelled and was a Gathering of Eagles qualifier. In April of 2015 Chau assumed the position of Vietnamese Market Manager in the Home Office.

Chau received her Bachelor Science at Temple University. Her MBA came from St Joseph's University. She completed her Charter Leadership Fellow (CLF) from The American College. Chau and her daughter, Stephanie resided outside of Philadelphia, PA.

Wykeeta Peel is the Corporate Vice President and Market Manager of the Women’s Market responsible for recruiting, developing and retaining women agents and managers in partnership with the General Offices across the country.

She began her career with New York Life Insurance Company as the Marketing Development Consultant in 2011 in the Baltimore General Office. In 2013, she was promoted to Corporate Vice President in Home Office with the Eagle Strategies Wealth Management team focusing on Practice Management. In 2015, she joined the Women's Market.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Health Science and Policy from University of Maryland Baltimore County, a Master of Arts degree in Organizational Management from University of Phoenix and a Certificate of Marketing Strategy from Cornell University. She also holds the CPEC (Certified Professional and Executive Coach) certification.

In her free time, she enjoys traveling, reading and volunteering for various non-profit organizations.

Glenn Plotkin is a Corporate Vice President and Advanced Planning Consultant with New York Life Insurance Company, supporting agents as a member of the innovative Virtual Team.

Glenn came to New York Life with substantial experience in life insurance, financial services, taxation, trusts, and estate and business planning. In addition to running a successful law firm for over 30 years, Glenn gained his expertise in these matters through his work with a financial consulting company, two major insurance companies, and a prominent national trust company. In these roles, Glenn gained a significant acumen for developing outstanding client relationships and designing sophisticated plans for high-net-worth estates and businesses utilizing life insurance. This experience provides Glenn with an acute understanding of how to assist New York Life agents in identifying, cultivating, and closing large life cases.

Glenn obtained his J.D. from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. He received his M.S. in Business and his B.A. in Economics and Political Science, with honors, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is admitted to the State Bar of Kansas. Glenn has also earned the Chartered Life Underwriter^®, Chartered Financial Consultant^®, Certified Financial Planner^®, and the Certified Trust and Financial Advisor^® designations.

In 2014, Terence Sims joined the New York Life Family as an Agent in the Nassau GO. Six months after joining New York Life he made Executive Council, mostly accredited to his success with working with NYPD and young families. His primary focus was to change the perception of what it means to have Life Insurance with his clients.

Terence’s career moved him to the Life Sales Desk in 2015. His goal was to create and maintain great professional relationships and motivate agents with proven sales concepts and ideas to enhance their book of business and take their practice to the next level.

Terence worked as an Internal Life Product Consultant using his sales skills and product knowledge to design creative solutions for the clients of New York Life’s top Council agents. Consistently reviewing existing books of business to uncover sales opportunities, while paring client’s needs with the correct sales concepts for most effective results. Using creativity and accountability, working closely with NYL agents to make sure their goals and the goals of their clients are achieved.

In 2019 Terence joined the African American Market Unit (AAMU) as a Corporate Vice President and Field Director. As a Field Director his primary focus is to assist Partners with the recruitment, and development of newly hired African American Agents and Advisors, as well as the training and development of all African American Financial Professionals in sales concepts to fit their client’s needs. Ultimately, his mission is to bring the knowledge and skills that he has acquired through his time in various roles within New York Life and to share that knowledge with the African American Agency Field Force, to better develop their sales skills through proven sales concepts and strategies.

New York Life Insurance Company/NYLIFE Distributors LLC

• Internal Life Product Consultant, 2015-present
• Agent, New York Life, 2014-2015

Awards and Recognition

• Premier Executive Council Agent, 2015
• 4x Rookie of the Month-Nassau GO, 2014
• Career Life Producer, 2014
• Career Life Success, 2014

• Zone Senior Internal Life Product Consultant of Pacific Zone, August 2018- February 2019
• Corporate Vice President Field Director, February 2019-present

Willie began his career with New York Life in the El Paso General Office as an Agent in February of 2002. During his time as an Agent he achieved no lower than Executive Council status every year from 2003 to 2012. He also qualified for the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) in years 2008-2012. He successfully Mentored 4 Agents to MDRT status through the MDRT Aspirant program. He earned all the Life Series Awards for case rate and has qualified as a Life Centurion and All Star for much of his Agent career. He also qualified as an Annuity Champion and Annuity Elite Circle multiple years. He was the El Paso General Office New Agent of the Year in 2003 and Junior Agent of the Year in 2004. In 2004 he earned and was recognized Nationally having been awarded with the Senior Vice Presidents Challenge Award for Cultural Markets.

In 2012 he transitioned to the Development Manager position of the El Paso General Office. As a Development Manager he had the opportunity to help not only the local agents but agents across the country. He served as a faculty member and has facilitated Career Development Conference for younger agents and Grad Path Courses and Workshops for our experienced agents. He often assisted younger Development Managers in the West Central Zone. He had the opportunity to present nationally among his Development Manager peers.

In 2016 he accepted his current position as the West Central Zone Sales Development and Retention Manager for the Latino Market. In his role he has assisted Agents throughout the country achieve success. He has also been instrumental in the development Latino Market “Juntos” campaign and various other incentives for the Latino Market Agent participants.

He is the proud husband of Veronica and has been married 24 years, the Blessed father of Diego a current “Red Raider” and Adrianna.

Roy is a Life Product Consultant with over three decades experience in both personal production, and as a product consultant with other large mutual life insurers prior to joining New York Life.

He has a proven track record of fostering long term advisor relationships to help grow sales of life insurance and other protection based products.

Roy utilizes his experience, advanced planning knowledge, sales skills, and in depth product expertise to create unique solutions and meet diverse client objectives.

By identifying client opportunities and helping deliver results for the financial professionals he serves, Roy aims to be a coach that develops top performance to maximize capabilities.

Justin Hankinson has been in the insurance and financial services industry for over 10 years. Prior to joining New York Life in 2020, he spent 7 years as an external wholesaler with MetLife driving annuities sales (variable, fixed and indexed). For the last 3 years, Justin worked at JPMorgan Asset Management providing timely market updates and outlooks while driving mutual fund sales to independent broker dealers in Chicago where he currently resides. Justin earned his Bachelor’s Degree in finance from Auburn University and holds FINRA Series 6, 63 and Series 7 securities licenses.

Enid Alicea-Wyre joined New York Life in 2007 as a Senior Marketing Consultant in Agency Sales & Marketing Support, where she managed lead generation mailing campaigns and the NYL Visa Program. In 2008, she joined Agency Communications, focusing on developing and implementing plans to effectively communicate business unit priorities to the field distribution organization.

She joined the Agency – Quarterly Strategies in 2011, where she worked closely with Agency Communications and Agency Life Sales to create and manage the What’s Important Now! (WIN) Portal microsite.She was also responsible for managing the team’s day to day communications. In 2017, she joined the Multi-Markets team comprised of the Women’s Market, LGBTQ+ and Young Professionals Markets, focusing on developing and advancing agents and managers in these markets, expanding our market reach and continuing to set an elite standard for the industry position.

Enid holds a Bachelors of Business in Marketing from Baruch College and is fluent in Spanish.

In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, exercising, travelling and volunteer work."I am a strategic project manager who achieves high-quality results by forming strong working relationships with cross-functional teams."