Gibson

133 days. That’s how many days it’s been since January 1st, 2026. In 133 days, a lot has happened. Professionally, we’ve hired 14 new staff members. We’ve expanded into two new marketplaces. I now have 11 direct reports. We’ve shifted roles, grown our footprint across four states in the West, brought on more than 14 new clients, and I’ve spent 16 weeks on the road. And honestly? It’s been amazing. It’s also been hard. Really hard and I needed to reflect. There’s been a real grind to it all. I’ve missed my family, like alot. I haven’t spent as much time with clients as I normally love to, and anyone who knows me knows that being in the room with people is my professional love language. Building relationships, sitting across the table, talking strategy, helping organizations grow, that’s the part that fills my cup. But through all of this, I keep thinking about the bigger picture. Since April 1st, 2022, when Gibson and I started this journey together, it all felt a little crazy. We were trying to build something different. Something rooted in great relationships, strong community advocacy, and high-level insurance and planning strategy all at the same time. That’s not easy to do. Most organizations eventually sacrifice one for the other. Growth over culture. Strategy over relationships. Scale over people. We’ve fought hard not to do that. So today, more than anything, I just want to say thank you. To my amazing wife and best friend, Helen Rodriguez , thank you for always reminding me to pause. You’ve been the biggest Gibson cheerleader and the biggest Alex cheerleader from day one. Genuinely, I can't do this without you. To my business partner and my guy, Josh LeBaron, CPCU , thank you for always being there through every crazy moment. To the person who started this professional journey with me, Krissy Moreno , thank you for believing in the vision early. And to the two leaders who took an idea and a knucklehead from Tucson and gave him the opportunity to live out this dream, Tim Leman and Taylor Covey thank you for trusting me. And to the rest of the team, clients, partners, and friends who have been part of this ride, you know who you are. None of this happens alone. 133 days in… I’m excited to see what the next 133 bring. Here we go!!! Mike Petefish Kurstin Bartholomew, REBC® , Lori Brodzinski Cici Martin Kourtnie Martin Nate Jack Brent Larson Nate McFall Margaret Tripp Sevan M. Kevin Olsen Nick Hansen Debby Kallinikos Brent Larson Calvin Ruiz - CRPS® Roger A. Gonzales Isaac Sandoval Christian H León Brian Severin, MBA Chris Conway, ChFC Jack Bustamante, PHR Ben Rodriguez Jason Young

My nephew asked if he could interview me for his Econ class. Meanwhile I’m over here digging through old business cards thinking, kid, you have no idea what you just unlocked. Thanks for the trip down memory lane, Carson Terrell ! ———————— 1. What did your career path look like before becoming CEO? Honestly, it was a lot of hustle and a little luck. Senior year at Indiana State University , I didn’t wait for opportunity to find me. I wrote 25 cold letters to the top insurance brokers in Indianapolis. Only two responded with any interest. Most told me to come back when I had experience. I leveraged that opening into a broker role with Aon in Indianapolis right out of college, and I never looked back. From there I moved to WTW in Phoenix, then David Gibson recruited me back to Indiana in 2005. I became a Gibson shareholder in 2007, faster than anyone in company history. CEO came after that. Every stop taught me something I couldn’t have learned any other way. 2. What is the most challenging part about being CEO? Decisions. Specifically, the ones where there’s no clearly right answer and people you care about are affected by the outcome. The technical stuff gets easier over time. What never fully gets easier is knowing that the call you make on a Tuesday afternoon can change someone’s career trajectory or the direction of an entire team. I’ve made real mistakes. The challenge isn’t avoiding them entirely. It’s catching them fast, owning them fully, and correcting course before they compound. 3. What skills do you think are most important for what you do? Listening, galvanizing people around a direction or a cause, and staying relentlessly curious. If your team isn’t genuinely bought in, the best strategy in the world goes nowhere. And curiosity is what keeps you sharp. I’m always reading, always listening to podcasts, always looking for the next idea worth stealing. The leaders I respect most never stopped learning, and they were never the smartest person in the room by accident. 4. If you were to start your career over, where would you start? Same place, same way. I’ve always been relationship-oriented, and I’d lean into that even harder from day one. A mentor named Jim Spuller taught me early to pay it forward to the next person who needs a break, and that principle has shaped everything about how I lead. The bigger lesson I’d carry in from the start is this: take agency over your own path. Nobody is coming to hand you the career you want. Go build it.

Steve Kerr said it. "I still love coaching, but I get it. These jobs all have an expiration date. There is a run that happens, and when the run ends, sometimes it's time for new blood and new ideas." Twelve seasons. Four championships. He’s had one of the greatest coaching runs in NBA history. And in the closing seconds of what was likely his final game with the Golden State Warriors , he pulled Steph and Draymond close and said: "I don't know what's going to happen next, but I love you guys to death. Thank you." A mentor told me years ago that there's a shelf life to your coaching tenure. Not a failure. Not a falling off. Just a season. Knowing when to go, and especially not overstaying, was always on his mind. I've been living this in real time. I was in Arizona recently with our Gibson team. Client dinners. CEO meetings. Recruiting conversations. From the outside, it probably looked the same as it always has. But I wasn't running them. The team was. I was assisting. Here's the thing about Phoenix: it's where I built my career before Gibson called me back to Indiana twenty years ago. And it's where we planted our first flag outside the Midwest. Coming back now and playing a supporting role -- to Alex , Kurstin , Mike , Josh , and the team -- felt quietly significant in a whole new way. A YPO friend of mine says he's evolving into the team mascot for his company. Not gone, still out on the court, but no longer pulling all the levers. I think that might be where I'm at, too. Truth is, that's the thing I'm naturally wired best for in this season. I've given all my best halftime speeches -- well, almost. And I suppose my teams have heard them enough by now, they're ready for new material (or a new coach)! That's okay. This is -- or at least should be -- the natural progression of things. I couldn't be more proud of that. And them. Different coaches for different seasons. Done right, that's the whole point. Are you building something that can grow beyond you? #BuildLegacy #FindYourEdge #TakeAgency #WingsUp #TheMascot

Session 4 of the Leadership Roundtable Series is Wednesday, April 22nd. The topic: Failure, Decisions & the Weight of Leadership. This is the one nobody talks about publicly. We're going to get into: - The decisions you had to make with no clear right answer - The failure that changed how you lead - What it actually feels like to carry the weight when the consequences affect others - How you come back after a setback Joining me: Dee McDonald PhD | President, Bethel University Jeremy Lugbill | CEO, Career Academy Network of Public Schools Jon Morningstar | CEO, MapleTronics No slides. No polish. Wednesday, April 22nd | 12–1pm ET. Thank you to Session 4's sponsors: Gibson United Beverage Company of South Bend Link in the comments 👇 #Leadership #PathLessTraveled #LeadershipRoundtable

If you’re not developing talent… you’re falling behind. Jason Lippert . Shaun Phy . Dr. Marco J. Clark . They don’t just lead. They build leaders. Want the real playbook? No fluff. Just what works. Today. 12PM ET. Show up. Link: https://lnkd.in/gddNHpu3 Thank you to our sponsors: Gibson Performance Plus

A#MidairMusings ✈️ Two weeks in Arizona. 1) Spring Break with Grace . Watched her explore Arizona State University . Taking your youngest to look at colleges is one of the fastest ways to feel old. 2) I wrote an 18 chapter draft of something I’ve been carrying around for a while. Putting it on paper brought back a lot of emotions and reflection from the past few years. Might have the makings of my first WSJ non-best seller since #rEvolution ! 3) Kimra bought some sweet electric scooters. I made it my business to try them out, riding up to the Adobe Grille at the Biltmore and had dinner a couple evenings. Top purchase of the past year. Kimra for the win, again. 4) Speaking of Mrs. Leman, she left Sunday with Grace and accidentally sent the weekly Whole Foods Market order to our Phoenix place instead of Edwardsburg. Cindy and Mike Petefish are eating well this week. Employee #1 at Gibson West deserves it. 5) Jack and Kameryn started in Phoenix this week. I told them I always make it to everyone’s first day. They seemed impressed. The truth is nothing ever lines up like this. Awesome. 6) Got an hour with Kurstin before I left. We got to talking about what brought this talented group together. I guess you could say I manifested this thing in fall of 2021. Mike Petefish joined. Douglas transferred from Michigan. My ol’ WTW colleague Cici joined. Then Alex . Then some hiccups. Then Josh . Couple more hiccups. Then Kurstin. And “bam!” look what it’s become! So cool to be clapping from the front row. My experience with #startups is that they’re fragile until they’re not. PS - KB is the all-time #JillOfAllTrades ! Didn’t check every box. Didn’t have to. #MidairMusings #WingsUp #FindYourEdge #FrontRowFan #GibsonMascot #WorkLifeBlend #AmWriting