The 2019 Nonprofit Power Brokers
Brandon Cole, National Director, Gallagher
Community Arts Resources (CARS), has a niche business which produces large-scale cultural events, including the 100th anniversary celebration of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
The event required two venues — the Disney Concert Hall and Hollywood Bowl — and eight miles of closed streets to accommodate 1,800 different performances and more than 100,000 attendees, said Tamara O’Connor, vice president.
“It was the most complicated event to insure, but Brandon was able to arrange a meeting with the underwriters to explain it, and we were able to insure all parties involved — solving a major dilemma for us,” O’Connor said.
Hollywood Property Owners Alliance also has a fairly unique organization: managing the business improvement district in Hollywood, California, said Lorin Lappin, finance manager.
“We developed a walking tour that had some issues with the carriers, but Brandon took the time to understand what it was all about and was able to get us the insurance program we needed,” Lappin said.
Laura Nelson, CFO of 211 LA County, said that Cole has a broad base of knowledge and she’s confident that he would never give her team an insurance quote on a policy without thoroughly investigating the market.
“Brandon has a very comprehensive understanding of the market — he knows what each entity is looking for, the hot buttons they are sensitive to, how to approach them and how to get the best coverage,” Nelson said.
Tim DePriest, Managing Director, Gallagher
The Children’s Bureau of Southern California’s workers’ compensation insurance premium had doubled over a four-year period before the organization decided to move its business to Gallagher.
In the new client’s renewal, Tim DePriest and his team were able to deliver a 19 percent decrease in premium, despite the bureau’s total payroll increasing by 55 percent compared to the prior policy term.
This represented a 48 percent reduction in the overall net rate, or over $400,000 in annual premium — savings that can be used to provide services to an additional 1,000-plus children and families.
“Tim knows the market so well,” said Gayle Whittemore, the bureau’s CFO. “He not only saved us an incredible amount of money, he and his team have also significantly helped us to manage claims and improve prevention efforts through increased workplace safety.”
Another client, Dan Braun, said that, “when it comes down to it, it’s really an issue of integrity and trust, which Tim has demonstrated over the many years I have worked with him.”
Braun is CFO at Hillsides, which provides residential treatment and other services to at-risk children and their families.
“I know that he is focused like a laser on Hillsides’ best interests, so I’m confident that he’s representing us well,” he said. “I think he is a model of integrity – I don’t have to wonder about his motives.”
Kevin Dougher; Vice President; Johnson, Kendall & Johnson Inc.
In 2018, Kevin Dougher and his team successfully completed a five-year journey to move Legacy Treatment Services’ workers’ compensation insurance program from the New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Insurance Plan to a private plan, albeit with a large deductible. Then this year, the plan transitioned to a stable, guaranteed-cost workers’ comp product.
The client is also now working with Johnson, Kendall & Johnson’s proprietary risk management platform, which helps eliminate losses or successfully manage losses to a favorable outcome when they do occur.
Legacy Treatment Services is now positioned to have control over its cost of insurance without stressing its balance sheet.
“Kevin is a phenomenal resource for our organization,” said Roy Leitstein, CEO at Legacy Treatment Services. “Over the last several years he’s helped implement successful strategies for us to be both proactive in terms of risk management and more effective at being reactive to scenarios that we face.”
Qindi Shi, CFO at Oaks Integrated Care, said that she’s considered to be “one of those people who are very difficult to work with — I want to know exactly what I’m buying, exactly what’s covered, and I want to be able to compare prices.”
“Kevin does exactly that,” Shi said. “He goes out to bid every year on his own and he negotiates to get us the best deal.”
Wesley Keating, Producer, IMA Select
One of Wesley Keating’s clients, SOS Outreach, is a nonprofit that provides mentorship and outdoor activities to help at-risk youth “gear up for life.” Previously, each of the organization’s extreme sports activities was covered by a separate company with extensive limiting exclusions.
Keating and his team worked with Philadelphia Insurance to consolidate all lines to one company, while enhancing the client’s coverages.
The team increased the client’s sexual abuse and molestation limits, added cyber liability, increased workers’ compensation limits to $1 million, added an umbrella, added business income, and extended the accident policy to volunteers.
“Wesley has been a huge help to us this past year,” said Marty Tarantino, operations coordinator at SOS Outreach. “Better options, cheaper prices, more coverage — he has been able to assist us on all of those fronts.”
Keating’s dedication to providing stellar customer service is evident, said another client, Elizabeth Prevatte, director of finance at Attention Homes. “He takes the time to get to know the background and intricacies of the organization, and tailors his insurance recommendations to what fits best with the needs — and budget — of the organization.”
Keating has also provided exemplary service to Judaism Your Way, said executive director Wendy Aronson. “We have been able to update our policies in a way that the board and I both feel confident that should a situation arise, we are protected,” Aronson said.
Mark Munroe, Area Assistant Vice President, Gallagher
One of Mark Munroe’s clients, a hospice, was dissatisfied with the service it was receiving from both its joint powers authority and its former broker.
Munroe and his team successfully won the hospice’s business, and then placed the client in the same nonprofit self-insured group as another client, a center for children with behavioral health challenges. That saved the hospice about 3 percent on its annual premiums.
However, taking into account additional service that the broker team provided, the client’s overall savings was 40 percent — considering that the next closest quote from the standard insurance market came in approximately $200,000 higher than the nonprofit self-insured group.
“Mark has been great to work with,” said the contracts manager at the hospice.
Munroe’s approach to client service is to try and learn what the client or prospect is trying to accomplish. He then adjusts his approach to meet and hopefully exceed their goals and expectations. Munroe also tries to educate the client about components within their risk management program that they should be thinking about or haven’t considered in the past.
“We’ve worked with Mark Munroe and his team for over two years now, and they have been very responsive and provide excellent service,” said client Gerald Jose, director of finance of La Scuola International School.
Bruce Tindal, EVP, Chief Operating Officer, Gallagher
Bruce Tindal and his team took a social service agency client away from standard “first-dollar” insurance policies — and a total cost of risk of $7 million — and placed the agency in Gallagher’s alternative risk transfer program, where the client’s cost for excess of retention insurance is now $3.5 million.
Tindal and his team then set up a loss fund of $3 million, and their efforts saved the client $500,000. Ten months into the program, the client has paid out some $350,000 in losses and is earning interest on the loss fund.
Throughout his career, Tindal was mentored by two brokers who specialized in servicing the needs of nonprofits, particularly social service agencies.
Along with teaching him about the coverage issues facing this sector, Tindal’s mentors also taught him about the importance of personally volunteering at these agencies, participating in their fundraising events, and donating both time and money to help them achieve their missions.
“We have gotten excellent guidance and service over the past year,” said Rondel Boodram, vice president, finance, with Women in Need Inc., which provides safe housing, critical services and other programs to help New York City’s homeless women and their children.
“Bruce is always attentive, looking out for our best interest and available as a resource,” Boodram said.
The complete list of 2019 Power Broker® winners can be found here.
Finalists: