Our Team – First Generation Life

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Our Executive Team

Eric & Linda Howard, Founders & CEOs

ABOUT

Eric Howard has been in the life insurance industry helping families and communities for over 2 decades. He has always had a special place in his heart for educating churches and communities. Reaching out to hundreds of churches teaching about proper preparation.

In 2008, Eric started focusing on building a large insurance agency to be able to teach and educate thousands of people per year. It was at this stage in his career, Eric met his wife Linda Howard. With the assistance of his wife and other leaders in his agency, he was able to increase to over 200 agents, becoming one of the top 10 agencies in the country. He has mentored thousands of life insurance agents to become better and to achieve financial success.

With God’s gift and anointing, he has created a system for agents called the 7STEPS. This system has inspired agents to help over 10K people a year receive the proper life insurance coverage needed. Eric alongside his wife, founded First Generation Life, focusing solely on “Breaking Cycles” in their business and their personal life. In their business, First Generation Life focuses on breaking the cycle of poverty being left to the next GENERATION.

Eric, a devoted husband and father of 4, feels driven to break the cycles and leave a lasting legacy to his next generation.In personal, Eric and Linda are breaking the cycle of living an unhealthy lifestyle and creating a healthier environment for
their family.

At First Generation Life, Eric and Linda created a mission statement of “Being the FIRST GENERATION to build and leave a lasting legacy to our next GENERATION.”

Rich Burchill, CPA

ABOUT

ABV, CEPA, CFF, ChSNC ® , CVA, MBA, PFS
Rich is the managing principal of Richard Burchill, CPA who specializes in complex individual income tax compliance, trust and estate administration, IRS examinations, and developing advanced financial, estate and income tax analyses for wealth management and transfer. As an active member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), he is accredited in business valuation (ABV), certified in financial forensics (CFF), and a personal financial specialist (PFS). Rich is also a certified exit planning advisor (CEPA) through the Exit Planning Institute in Cleveland, Ohio, helping business owners make informed business succession decisions. To help families that have loved ones with special needs plan for their futures, Rich became a Chartered Special Needs Consultant ChSNC ® through The American College of Financial Services in Bryn Mahr, Pennsylvania.
Rich received his bachelor’s degree in accounting from St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York and his Master of Business
Administration in Financial Planning from Cal Lutheran University in
Thousand Oaks, California.

Rich and his wife, Monica, reside in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Robert Shigley, Vice President of Wealth Management Division

ABOUT

Bob has served in the financial services industry since 1986. A Nebraska native, Bob received a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Nebraska in 1977. He entered the United States Navy upon graduation where he served as a United States Naval Officer. Bob earned his Chartered Life Underwriters and Chartered Financial Consultant professional designations from the American College and is a registered fiduciary with the State of North Carolina.
He also serves as the VP of Wealth Management for FGL and focuses on attracting new clients to the firm in addition to his personal financial planning practice. Guided by formal training and over 30 years of financial services experience, Bob specializes in designing wealth strategies to help his clients achieve their financial goals and most importantly – their financial
dreams. His expertise includes the areas of Business Planning, Wealth Accumulation and Personal
Financial Planning.

Bob is married to his wife Rebecca who is the Chief Operating Officer of the Independent Insurance Agents Association of North Carolina. They reside in Hampstead, NC and enjoy weekends traveling in their motorhome and spending time on the water with friends and family.