After a slow start to the year, Minneapolis-based Sons of Norway has seen a spike in sales of life insurance products amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chris Pinkerton, the fraternal benefit organization’s new CEO, says the timing isn’t coincidental.

“Life insurance is not something that the typical consumer is just rushing out to buy,” Pinkerton said. “But when there is an occurrence that makes you think about your own mortality and the impact that it will have on your family, people will take action.”

Sons of Norway, which has 300 lodges and provides life insurance and annuity products, holds more than $365 million in assets in 38 states. From January through July, the company sold 1,469 life insurance policies, up more than twofold from the same period in 2019.

Pinkerton assumed his new role as CEO in March, just before the state went into lockdown. Previously, he was chief operating officer of Sons of Norway, which recently opened a new headquarters in Minneapolis’ Uptown Neighborhood as part of a mixed-use development.

In the following interview, Pinkerton talks about starting his new job just before the state lockdown, the impact of COVID-19 on life insurance sales and more.