Michael Edward Stolowski 1-9-2026.txt English (US) 00:00:05.080 — 00:00:13.359 Well, I know I'll get it close. All right. Go ahead. Your full name and spell it in your title. Michael Edwards, the 00:00:14.600 — 00:00:32.800 last name is. S t o l o w sky. Um. Title. You want current, former or current? I am currently an agent for Catholic Life. Former chairman of the board. Board member. Branch officer. 00:00:34.840 — 00:00:36.440 Current bylaws committee. 00:00:37.600 — 00:00:39.040 All of the above. HR. 00:00:40.600 — 00:00:41.160 No. 00:00:43.800 — 00:00:45.280 Okay. Um. 00:00:46.360 — 00:01:17.570 How many years here? Total with Catholic life? Well, I served eight years on the board. I've been a branch officer for about 25 years, and I've been an agent for two years. A little over two years, so we'll go with 25 as being how long you've been affiliated with what kind of go back. When were you a member setting a member? Well, funny story, the way I became a member was I was born. I was actually born into the organization. I, um, 00:01:18.930 — 00:01:49.130 my policy was issued in the first six weeks I was born. Um, backstory. My grandfather retired from Catholic life. It was an officer here. Um, my dad's a former chairman of the board. I'm a former chairman. So as you're going to find out, when you talk to some of the other individuals in this group, um, there's there's some family legacy going on in this organization. Um, it's been in a lot of our families for as far as I can remember my whole life. 00:01:50.530 — 00:02:00.630 I grew up in San Antonio, and I live right now. I live just east of San Antonio and East Bexar County, a little, um, Polish community called Saint Hedwig. 00:02:02.670 — 00:02:09.030 I used to live in Seguin. Know exactly where that's at. And during these 20. 00:02:10.350 — 00:04:12.810 The amount of change that that has occurred over that 20 plus year span, you've been affiliated, even though you joined when you were born. Mhm. What tell me is has there been a lot of change. Has there been resistance to change kind of. How has the past 25 years been steady or tumultuous? Or can you describe how that last 20 years was? I think it's like any organization. You know, every day you're going to change, the organization is going to change as the times dictated. Sometimes as the state dictates it. Um, I within the organization, I think we have a group of people that have been Very acceptable to change. But then we'll meet the pockets of people that were a little resistant, maybe scared of change. Um, but I think the one thing that has not changed over the last 25 years is, is the people, whether it's the Home office, um, the employees that work here are members. It's still at the end of the day, it's still the people. So for those people that maybe had a little resistance to the change, I think over the years talking to the various groups, um, you know, we've been able to convince them that, you know, some of the changes are for the good. Um, we have some people that have been very resistant to the change and probably will always be. And we know there's not anything we can really do except just try to explain the best that we can why the changes were made and why they were necessary. But, um, overall, I, I'm proud of Catholic life. I think the changes that have been made. Personally speaking, I think they've been for the common good of all of our membership. And at the end of the day, that's, you know, why we're here? To make sure that we're taking care of our members. 00:04:13.930 — 00:05:36.059 What do you sense is coming down the pike for the for the next year or two, several years? Is is change going to accelerate? Are things really going to change? I think it will. It will accelerate like any organization in the United States right now. To me, it doesn't matter if it's investor owned, if it's public. I've worked local government. We we can't control the change. We can accept it and be on board with it or we can resist it. I think we're going to continue to see change coming into this organization. But it's I would say it's regulated to where, you know, it's it's controlled and, you know, it's been discussed. It's been vetted through various groups. Um, I came downstairs to talk to you all today from a meeting where we were discussing changes that are going to impact the organization as we move forward. So, um, like I said, we're going to continue to see the change. It's just, you know, can we promote it in a way that our members are all comfortable with it? Can you? Because I'm not familiar with the industry at all. Can you tell me which direction, what what directions the change is taking you? Are you going more to ultimately 00:05:37.300 — 00:05:49.340 less humans involved and more technology? Are you changing your packages? You know, the products that you sell? What directions are these changes headed? 00:05:50.740 — 00:06:37.280 I don't see the people equation being altered very much. Um, we're always going to be it's always continuous improvement. Look at the products that we have today. Are they suited for tomorrow or next year? Um, we're always going to have the people element. I, I don't imagine a Catholic life to where you could take the people out of that. So I don't see change as far as the interactions with the people I see maybe more, um, more technology being involved, whether it's our applications, um, you know, the systems that house all of our information. I see more reliance on technology, but yet you're still going to have to have people managing those systems. 00:06:38.840 — 00:07:59.100 Tell me what the relationship is like between since you've had the the benefit of being an agent, but also on the board, what is the relationship between Catholic life and the agents selling the product? I think it's a very good relationship. There's as you would expect, there's always going to be dialog because we're in communication with the Home Office. They're in communication with us. I think maybe for me it might be a little bit different being on the board previously. I have relationships that I've established over the last 10 or 15 years to where maybe the average agent, you know, they've had to build those relationships over the years. So maybe I came in with somewhat of an advantage over them. But I think it's a healthy relationship. Um, they rely on us to, you know, take care of our customers and bring the business into the organization. And that's the only way we're going to grow is, you know, if we continue to bring in new business, is there change on the horizon with age? I mean, that's kind of agent specific that you're going to need agents to change in a certain way to to align properly with the change the Catholic life's going through or 00:08:00.340 — 00:08:45.620 reading that right? Yeah, I don't know. Making a simple solution. Complex. No, I don't see changes that the agents are going to have to go through based on decisions that are made by the organization, but the agents usually are the first point of contact for a lot of our clients. So I think it's also helpful for them as we move down the road to be familiar with what's going on at the Home Office and be aware of upcoming changes. So if a member asked that agent, like I said, where are the people they see the most? So, um, I like I said, I don't really see any changes other than just keeping up with what's going on in the organization as it's relayed to me. 00:08:48.580 — 00:08:53.900 I said, wait a m. Okay, okay. Um, I have a couple questions for you. Um, 00:08:55.900 — 00:10:36.810 being a board member, having a different kind of Insight, a multifaceted insight. Do you think fraternal still have a place in the industry? Yes, I can answer that. Can you state that question for me? Yes. Do I think that fraternal still have a place? Yes. Um, you know, every everybody's personal situation, their family situations are different. Um, I've dealt with fraternal being involved with the fraternal. My whole life I've dealt with, you know, investor owned entities, too. And I just feel for a lot of people, a lot of our membership, my family included. You know, this is a family setting. Um, we know one another. We've gone the convention. A lot of us have gone to the conventions our whole life. So, you know, I've. I've met people that told me I knew you when you were in diapers. And so that's kind of carried on and, Um, you know, it's. It's a family. It's a family feel. And for some people, that's a major decision. Do they want to work with a company where they feel like they're part of it, or are they just another number? And I don't think anybody will ever accuse Catholic wife of just, you know, treating their customers as another number. I know a lot of members. I know that. And there's got to be a story that really touched you. Like, that's why we're here. That's that's what Catholic Life Insurance does and gives to their members the security or something. Is there a story that you might want to share that really impacted you really 00:10:37.890 — 00:11:05.060 well? And maybe in a way not that most people would look at, um, a very personal story. Um, my best friend's nephew, who was like our nephew, um, he passed away two years ago of cancer. Um, he had some stomach issues that ended up developing into colon cancer and its spread. But the reason I say that is he was not able to get life insurance. And 00:11:06.420 — 00:11:38.659 when he was, he was an attorney when it got to the point where he couldn't be employed anymore. He had to go on Social Security disability. And by doing that, the firm had to sever him as a full time employee, which meant he lost the only life insurance he had. Um, his mom, who's like my little sister when he had turned 18 before he went off to college, had bought a $50,000 policy here in his name. And when he passed away, he had a wife and three kids and 00:11:40.020 — 00:11:41.300 paid for the funeral. 00:11:44.020 — 00:11:45.060 Thank you for sharing that. 00:11:46.140 — 00:12:12.510 Sorry. I probably wouldn't have done that. Yeah. Um, tell me about. Is there is there what what was your first recollection of being a member? I'm sure it was probably when you were a kid. What was your first like? What was your first memory of what it was like to be part of. My first memory of Catholic life. Believe it or not, I was probably a couple years old. It was a convention in San Angelo, Texas, and 00:12:13.870 — 00:12:14.310 I 00:12:16.230 — 00:12:49.549 met people that, of course, I don't remember today, but I've had like I said, I've had some come up and tell me they remember me. They had one lady come up and tell me I changed your dirty diaper at a convention. And I'm like, okay, I'm sorry, but, um, I guess for some of us, I grew up in a world where I thought everybody belonged to Catholic life. And so, um, except for when I was in college, I really didn't miss any conventions because after I came back from school and started working, I was, you know, asked to be a branch officer. So I've 00:12:50.870 — 00:14:33.780 only missed maybe 2 or 3 conventions in my life. So my recollection started when I was just, you know little I, I have those images. I remember, um. Houston, Texas. I'm sure you'll hear from some of the other people. We had a convention in Houston and the hotel we were staying at, the Cincinnati Reds were staying there, which my grandmother was a big fan, and we got to meet several of them. We all went to an Astros game, still have a baseball bat from the game. And, um, it was it was really good memories. And like I said, I just assumed that everybody was a member of Catholic Life. So as an agent, when you talk to somebody, there's something that you can tell people, you know, life insurance is not something you want to talk about, right? It's, you know, a lot of people are like, I'm never going to die, so I'm not going to think about it. Taboo. Yeah. What would you tell people? What would you want people to know about life insurance and why it's so important as an agent? And how would you articulate that? What I normally tell people is like, how important is it to you to know that if something were to happen to you today or tomorrow that your family's not going to have to struggle. They will be able to take care of what they need to take care of as far as being gone, and they can continue to have the quality of life that they maybe have right now, where there are so many people that do not have any coverage. And when something happens, unfortunately they're left, you know, in a bad position. So I'm just honest with my clients and just let them know the importance. And you know, you know, it puts you in a better place as far as knowing that, you know, your loved ones are going to be taken care of. 00:14:35.300 — 00:14:46.100 Um, is there a is there a line, a mantra or a quote or something that you you've held on to your life that's kind of been a guiding principle for you or anything like that, that you'd want to share. 00:14:47.420 — 00:15:01.070 Just something that was instilled with me a long time ago was just be honest and, you know, do the best that you can. And so I kind of take that now. I try to do the best that I can for my clients. 00:15:03.870 — 00:15:37.190 I'd like to get a little bit since you grew up in San Antonio Urban, but you live in San Edwards now? Uh, there seems to be quite a bit of a rural aspect of Catholic life, and it seems to me that many of the clients, I mean, there is a real rural component to this, and the city's, in many cases, benefit from Catholic life. I love you just talk about that a little bit. The idea that smaller towns are 00:15:39.070 — 00:16:09.200 are benefiting from Catholic life, where they might not benefit from Prudential or something like that. Yeah, because I think if you go back to the roots of our organization, that's where it started. It was rural. Um, it was, you know, started by a priest for people that could not get coverage. And we've always had our roots established in these rural communities. You can go throughout the state of Texas and you can see, you know, kind of where we started, you know, and put it all back together. 00:16:10.480 — 00:17:20.220 We do have a lot of membership that live in major cities. But like in a lot of cases, what I've seen over the years, especially now doing what I'm doing, is a lot of the people that live in the cities, their families started in these rural areas. And then maybe due to location, um, you know, different dynamics. They moved into San Antonio, but yet their roots are established in some of these rural cities where we still have strong memberships. So I've seen kind of a blend, and then I've come across several people that grew up. They were born and raised, you know, in the major city and, you know, through their parish. They found out about Catholic life and they've been members and their kids and their grandkids are members. So I've kind of seen a blend of, um, you know, the rural and the urban populations. But, um, like I said, I kind of a question that you asked me a while ago, why Catholic live, like I said, because I think a lot of people are drawn to Catholic life and our fraternal model because of the people that we have. 00:17:22.540 — 00:17:24.939 I have a question. Yeah. Um, 00:17:26.939 — 00:17:36.500 do you have to be Catholic? And I'm asking this. I know the answer, but I need you to answer. No, you do not have to be Catholic to acquire one of our products. We accept 00:17:37.580 — 00:17:40.180 anybody's application does not matter. 00:17:42.380 — 00:18:04.190 Let me ask you, if you if you had to say because you said you just came from a meeting where you were discussing some changes in the organization, if you had to put your finger on one thing that must change, it might not be the thing that everybody agrees on must be changed. But for you personally, Mike, what do you think needs to change about the organization? 00:18:06.430 — 00:18:12.350 That's a tough question because I think where we're at today, currently, 00:18:13.510 — 00:18:59.240 I don't see a major change that basically says, okay, hey, this is make or break for Catholic life. Um, the changes that have been made over the years. We actually went through a summary of our changes, I think dated back from the 90s and to now as these committees have convened. And, you know, I can't put my finger on, okay, this has to change today, or else it's going to be doom and gloom for the organization. I know we're on the right path, you know, and now it's just fine tuning, you know, some of the changes that, you know, we've looked at and some of the changes we're going to have to make in the future, but there's nothing pressing in my mind that says we have to do this today or else. 00:19:00.920 — 00:19:14.680 One last question. As a branch officer, what is one of the, um, community involvements that you've done as a branch that you feel was proud of? Can you just give us a little bit of ideas? I just yeah, a flavor of what? So, 00:19:15.800 — 00:20:44.610 you know, we're Catholic life insurance. Keyword is Catholic. Um, our branch started a program several years ago that I'm actually very proud of, where we purchase, um, items, and we put together goodie bags for the, um, seminarians at Assumption Seminary here in San Antonio, our future priest. Um, because anybody that's affiliated, um, with and know the process, it's a long, drawn out process. They do not have a lot of time. Um, we we put snacks, um, socks, gift cards to the local, um, theaters, All kinds of things and the smiles on their faces because some of them are coming from, you know, circumstances where there's no there's no money for them to have any enjoyment. So it's just like just the fact that they can go see a movie and then socks. Who would have ever thought that socks would make, you know, a grown man that happy? But just I think that they're being thought of, um, it's a good feeling when we go and deliver the bags and see the reactions from, you know, our future priest and quick side story, um, our current priest and our parish. I met through Catholic life at the seminary when he was still a seminarian about 6 or 7 years ago. So another personal connection to Catholic life. 00:20:45.730 — 00:20:54.450 I'm curious what parish Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Saint Hedwig is that? Um, um, Father Jordan, 00:20:55.470 — 00:20:59.430 Father, Jordan Milligan. I'm I'm sure, assumption Seminary. 00:21:00.710 — 00:21:12.630 I had no idea you guys were doing that. Yeah, I met Father Jordan. We had a board mass and dinner there. Yeah, he's been in my house. Yeah, yeah, he was at my house yesterday. He's such a great. Isn't he a great priest? 00:21:13.710 — 00:21:25.230 We're very. Yes, we're very close. Yeah, that was a good. That was a good story. Thank you. Mike. You got anything? No. Just other than what do you love most about this company? I could tell that 00:21:26.710 — 00:21:54.590 the thing that I love the most about this company. I think I stated it while ago, but it's the people. Um, we have an amazing group of people. Um, our executive team, our members, um, the agents. Um, like I said, everybody from the top down. Um, it's a fantastic organization. So. And that's always going to be the case. It's going to be the people that drive this organization to be successful.