The annual meeting of the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) brought over 9,000 participants from 74 countries to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre from June 8 to 11. Wade Baldwin, of Baldwin & Associates Financial Services of Calgary and lifetime member of the MDRT, carried the Canadian flag during the flag ceremony on June 9.

The MDRT has 38,000 members, representing the top life insurance and financial services salespeople in the world. The 930 Canadian MDRT members had to earn C$114,800 in 2013 commissions to qualify.

The United States, where the Association was founded in 1927, boasts 10,329 members. The Republic of Korea ranks second, with 4,769 members, followed by Japan, with 4196, and India, with 3,644. The Association is named for its 32 founding members – each of them had sold at least US$1 million in life insurance coverage in a single year.

It was only in 2005-2006 that MDRT appointed its first female president, Adelia Chung. Since then, Jennifer Borislow and Michelle Hoesley followed in her footsteps. Caroline Banks, of the UK, will take the tradition further afield when she becomes the first non-North American female president on Sept. 1.

Read more about this event in the September issue of The Insurance and Investment Journal.