The chief executive of the oldest and largest life insurance company serving African-Americans in the United States spoke at the Poole College of Management’s Wells Fargo Executive Lecture Series on Wednesday.

James Speed, president and CEO of the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, spoke in Nelson Hall for an hour about the importance of change in a competitive business setting. He used his accomplishments with N.C. Mutual as an example of the benefits of change and innovation. 

 “Everyone wants to get better but no one wants to change,” Speed said. “Change is inevitable. Embrace it, because it’s something that you are going to need to get used to.” 

N.C. Mutual, which is 115 years old, provides insurance to influential African-American groups, such as members of the NAACP and the National Baptist Convention.

Through networking with these organizations as well as other influential groups, Speed has helped N.C. Mutual represent more than 13 million African-American families. 

He also stressed the importance of creating partnerships using unique strengths when trying to grow a business. According to Speed, the once small N.C. Mutual has now partnered with several national insurance companies because of the specific market that they influence.

 “We are the only insurance company in America that can connect those bigger companies to those 13 million families,” Speed said. 

Speed also spent time discussing how placing emphasis on fairness and human needs can help grow a business. 

“We’ve also tried hard to cater to women,” Speed said. “For a long time we only had men on our board. If you cater to women, let me tell you, they know how to get it done.” 

N.C. Mutual has increased efficiency while providing service to the community by creating pre-paid debit cards for low-income customers without bank accounts. Speed said that that it helped the company because those without bank accounts no longer had to send in checks or money orders to pay bills, which took a long time to process. 

During the Q&A session, Speed talked about his experiences as a student and what he would have done differently. 

“One of the things that happened to me that was probably the biggest blessings was the very first job I ever had, I almost got fired,” Speed said. “I didn’t put as much effort in school as I should have, so when I went to my very first job, I didn’t do well.”

Speed said his attitude changed when he started to attend graduate school.

“I may not have been the smartest person in the room, but I could outwork anybody,” Speed said.

Henry Hardy, the capital projects and program manager at N.C. State, said that he enjoyed hearing Speed encourage students to seek out more diverse educational opportunities.

“I think the most valuable thing he talked about is when he was a student he said he wished he would have maximized the opportunity he had to have with his professors, in terms of the one-on-one time,” Hardy said.

Sharice Wells, a sophomore in management, said she valued the lecture topic as well as the experience to hear from a prominent African-American business leader.

“I thought it was a great opportunity to hear a little more outside of the class that’s actually a bit in the business world and to hear from the perspective of an executive of a business,” Wells said

North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall was also in attendance.