The story of Promark involves the untimely death of a great man, a choice by the wife he left behind, and a plan to change the world for good.
Len Aoyama was the great man. Great in that he created Promark Financial over 20 years ago with a desire to help everyday people get life insurance and figure out their retirement. In those 20 years, Promark helped thousands and thousands of people protect their families and secure their savings. “We’re about people…” is Promark’s motto, but it came directly from Len’s heart and spirit.
All of us at Promark were devastated when we lost Len in December of ’08 to a rare lung disease. It was unexpected and unimaginable, because Len was larger than life and seemed invincible. And then the company and the people Len loved so much were left in the care of his wife, Kim. That’s me.
I had a big, hairy choice to make at the roughest and most raw time in my life. Do I keep Promark? Sell it? Dismantle it and auction off the parts? Someone suggested that I step in at Promark and run it. Me? I didn’t know anything about insurance or retirement planning. But the people at Promark began telling me that if I’d run it, they’d back me 100%.
Here’s where Len’s commitment to “walk his talk” came in. He had planned well, had great life insurance, and left me with enough to live comfortably. It gave me the freedom to say yes to running Promark and choosing the kind of company that Promark would become in the future.
Building a huge empire was never an aspiration of mine. Doing huge things to change the world for better always has been. Thus, from the day I decided to run Promark, I knew that I wanted to give the profits of the company to charity. I thought it would be simple. Just give it away. (Turns out it’s not quite that easy.)
Fast forward to February of ’09, just a few short months after Len passed. I was on a beach in Cancun, rocking in a hammock, thinking about Promark and its possibilities for doing good in the world when it came to me. Through my efforts at Promark, I’m supposed to give away $20 million dollars over the next five years.
For those of you who believe that God speaks to people, I’ll say that God told me. If you don’t believe in a God or that He speaks to people, I’ll say that I felt very, very impressed. All I know is that the clock started ticking in February of ’09, and I have this crazy, unexplainable passion that I’m supposed to give away $20 million. I have no idea whether it can be accomplished and I certainly don’t think that accomplishing it will be anything short of a miracle, but I know what I heard and I’m going for it.
So, the story of Promark is that we’re a different kind of company, giving all of our profits (which is revenue minus operating costs for us non-accounting types) to charities that support women and children, locally and globally.
This blog is an accounting of the Promark story as it unfolds. We’re building a bridge as we walk across it, so to speak. We’d love to have you follow us on our journey, or better yet, be a part of it.
