Speakers

With nearly three decades of insurance experience, Ngozi brings the perspective of an underwriter, broker, producer, corporate leader, educator, and agency owner to the work. Her career has been shaped by one consistent belief: insurance is more than a policy. It is a tool for protecting assets, building businesses, transferring wealth, and strengthening communities.

Ngozi is the Principal of AKO Brokerage Services, LLC, an independent commercial insurance agency she founded in 2017 after a 20-year corporate insurance career. AKO helps minority-owned businesses and entrepreneurs understand risk, strengthen their coverage strategies, and protect the assets they are building—positioning insurance as part of a larger business-growth and wealth strategy, not simply a transaction. The work keeps Ngozi grounded in the day-to-day realities of agency ownership, including carrier relationships, complex placements, efficient operations, and consultative client service. In Igbo, her family's native language in Nigeria, ako means wisdom. That meaning defines the agency's approach: pair experience with insight, make the coverage make sense, and help clients be insured wisely.

THE BLACK FRIDAY NETWORKThe first and only Black-owned multidisciplinary aggregation network built specifically for Black-owned independent insurance agencies.

Ngozi is also the Founder of The Black Friday Network (TBFN), a national network created to increase access to the resources Black agency owners need to scale. Launched in 2023 and built from the Black Friday agency-development events she began in 2022, TBFN brings Black-owned independent agencies together around three essential levers: capacity, capital, and consultative resources. The network helps members pursue carrier appointments, specialized products, technology, training, lead-generation opportunities, strategic partnerships, and operational support that can be difficult for smaller agencies to secure on their own.

Today, TBFN includes nearly 30 member agencies across the country, collectively generating more than $8 million in revenue. Its multidisciplinary model connects Property & Casualty, Life, Health, and Employee Benefits capabilities—giving members a stronger platform to collaborate, cross-sell, enter new markets, and serve an increasingly diverse consumer base. TBFN is not simply a membership organization; it is an ownership strategy designed to help independent agencies strengthen their operations, build transferable value, and remain independent in an industry experiencing rapid consolidation.

CONNECTED WORKFLOW FOR INDEPENDENT AGENCIES

Ngozi is also leading the development of BlkStk, an agency workflow-unification platform designed to connect the insurance sales journey from prospect to bind. BlkStk brings lead intake, follow-up, process visibility, pipeline management, and performance insights into one connected workflow—helping independent agencies reduce friction, improve accountability, and grow with greater intention.

The platform is informed by the real operational needs identified through TBFN and its Member Agencies, but it is being built for independent agencies across the insurance industry. BlkStk gives agency leaders clearer visibility into business health—from speed to first touch and lead aging to process bottlenecks, pipeline movement, bind cycles, and closing performance. For Ngozi, technology is not the destination. It is infrastructure that should make the agency stronger, the client experience better, and ownership more valuable.

Before launching AKO, Ngozi served as Northeast Healthcare Zone Leader for CNA, overseeing the profitability and growth of the company's healthcare business across seven states. She also held leadership roles at Willis, now WTW, where she led placement services for the Hartford Healthcare Practice. She began her career as an underwriter with The St. Paul Companies and has worked across underwriting, business development, customer experience, production, and distribution.

Ngozi earned a Master of Science in Risk Management and Insurance from Florida State University and graduated cum laude from Florida A&M University with a Bachelor of Science in Actuarial Science. She is licensed as a Property & Casualty and Life & Health insurance producer in 20 states.

Her commitment to the industry's talent pipeline also extends into the classroom. Ngozi is an Adjunct Professor at Clark Atlanta University, where she is helping rebuild the university's Risk Management and Insurance program. She created Agent Alliance to license HBCU students in Property & Casualty, Life & Health, and Claims Adjusting as part of their collegiate experience, while helping students see insurance not only as a career path, but also as a path to ownership.

Ngozi's broader industry leadership includes founding the Black Women of the Insurance Industry Initiative and its annual Sisterhood Conference, as well as service with the National African American Insurance Association. Her work has centered on increasing Black representation throughout insurance distribution, expanding access to carrier capacity, developing talent, and creating stronger pathways to agency ownership.

Her honors include the 2026 InsurTech America Making Waves Award as a Most Innovative Entrepreneur; Insurance Business America's Global 100, Hot 100, and multiple Elite Women recognitions; the ACORD Women in Insurance Advancement Award; the State of Connecticut Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Commission Leadership Award; and the Alonzo Herndon Award. She has also been appointed to public and nonprofit leadership roles focused on insurance affordability, economic opportunity, health equity, and community development.

BUILD TRUST. BUILD VALUE. BUILD SOLIDARITY.