May 10, 2023
Saying Goodbye to our Chief Member Advocate
Dan Shinnick joined BetterLife on August 27, 2017. Dan was the 9th president of on of our former companies, National Mutual Benefit. The first 26 years of Dan’s career were in the fraternal world, and he was excited to join the fraternal world again in 2017. Not only did joining BetterLife bring him back to the fraternal world, but it also brought him back to Wisconsin and his home area of Madison.
Dan’s professional experience includes numerous leadership experiences in marketing, actuarial, fraternal, strategic, and business development functions. At BetterLife, Dan has transformed our organization into a dynamic, growing company.
Here are just a few of his accomplishments:
- Successfully led the merger of National Mutual Benefit and Western Fraternal into BetterLife on January 1, 2021
- Developed a collaborative, curious, and fun culture
- First Chief Member Advocate of BetterLife
- Created a Member Experience department
- Increased business efficiencies
- Improved employee morale
- And so much more!
What will we miss about Dan at BetterLife?
Dan’s direct team will miss him as a passionate coach, a goal-driven, dynamic steward, a driving force, and an innovative and engaging leader who is not afraid to ask hard questions and get his hands dirty.
We will all miss the fun and dry sense of humor he brings. He has a “love” of cats and was even willing to adopt one for us to encourage participation in an event. Dan loves to share his “bad dad jokes” and has become a YouTube sensation at BetterLife. We will miss the time Dan went out of his way to walk around the building and get to know all of the staff.
What does retirement hold?
On a personal note, retirement will bring him more time with his family, especially Stephanie, his wife of 42 years. Dan and Stephanie are active with their church and are on several committees. Another passion of theirs is serving on the Vulnerable Children’s Foundation board, which educates hundreds of at-risk children in Lusaka, Zambia. Dan will also pick up from his first career endeavor, teaching. He will be teaching business classes part-time at Wisconsin Lutheran College.
We hope he has plenty of time to travel and be with his family. He does have an excursion planned for this coming August. Dan will be traveling solo on a multi-day gorilla trekking trip in Africa.
Dan and Stephanie, enjoy traveling and spending time with your family. Dan, we hope you continue to be able to watch Wisconsin’s sports no matter where your travels take you.