CEO & Owner
Simon Arias was born in Youngstown, Ohio. He played football at Youngstown-Ursuline where he led his team to a state championship as team captain his senior year. Simon received a scholarship to play football at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania where he was again voted team captain. Simon took the leadership skills he developed over the years on the football field and was hired by the Surace-Smith Agencies of American Income Life in Ohio after obtaining his Bachelor’s Degree. Simon excelled and very quickly moved to a top level management position in the organization- becoming a Regional Manager within his first year.
Growing up in a tough neighbourhood for much of his life, Simon knew what it meant to have good role models like his mother, Chrissy, who serves as the operations manager for his agency. He has taken it upon himself to seek out and find young people to mentor and impact- especially at-risk youth. In his spare time Simon enjoys travelling, visiting with family, working out, and is a student of jiu jitsu and mixed martial arts.
Simon has made a constant effort to grow as a person, mentally, physically, and spiritually. He takes pride in being a mentor to people both in and outside of the business. His financial success has allowed him to provide a great lifestyle and financial security for his family. Most importantly, Simon loves what he does. “Financial independence and absolutely loving what I do makes me feel like I don’t work a day in my life. I genuinely love what I do and the people I have the privilege to lead and work with.”
Today Simon Arias is the State General Agent for Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, & Florida, and has a State General Agent Partnership in Tennessee with fellow SGA, Cameron Cimino. Simon came to American Income Life Insurance Company by chance upon receiving a phone call from his first company mentor in Ohio, State General Agent, Marcus Smith.
Simon recalls, “He was so successful, professional, and caring at such a young age, I wanted to be just like him..” Upon coming to AIL, Simon quickly excelled into a management position and made over six figures in his first year with the company. When asked how he did this at such a rapid pace, Simon’s response was, “I didn’t really give Jim Surace (State General Agent) and Marcus Smith (Regional Director) a choice. I basically bothered them into helping me. I listened and ran with their advice. I learned from their experience, what they had already done.”
After Simon’s first year in the business, everything seemed to click. It was at this point he knew that American Income Life was where he belonged. “I fell in love with the opportunity here after getting into management. It was then that I realized that your success at AIL is based off of how many people you can help. As a sales rep, you’re helping working Americans protect their families, and as a leader, you’re helping the people on your team achieve the success that they desire,” he says, “I can’t really imagine a better way to achieve your career and financial success, than to genuinely help others.”
Simon’s financial success has allowed him to give back to the communities he serves, and to establish community programs in his hometown of Youngstown, OH. Simon helped bring the youth program, Inspiring Minds, to Youngstown, and he has partnered with Maurice Clarrett to open The Red Zone, a company whose mission is to help at-risk youth and their families. Aside from these programs in Simon's hometown, The Arias Agency regularly supports a variety of charitable efforts, believing that giving back is a key component to success.”
As of 2015, Simon has partnered with the charitable group Inspiring Minds and has opened a location in his hometown of Youngstown, OH. He serves as board chair for the Youngstown location. For more information on Inspiring Minds, please visit inspiringmindsyouth.org.