Meeting Information

Chris Pesce is the current TMPAA President and serves as National Director for One80 Intermediaries. Chris was a principle shareholder and board of director for Gowrie Holdings, Inc. which owned two entities; Maritime Program Group, a national Program Administrator and Gowrie Group, a regional retail insurance brokerage. Chris served as Executive Vice President and Secretary of Gowrie Group and is President of Maritime Program Group. The combined entities employ approximately 180 staff headquartered in Westbrook, CT.

Chris had been at the helm of Maritime Program Group since completing an internship there in 1995 while studying for his Bachelor degree at Saint Joseph’s College in NY. Maritime Program Group (MPG) is a Program Administrator providing a full range of recreational, ocean and inland marine insurance as well as high-net worth personal insurance products through its broker network throughout the Unites States. Under Chris’ leadership he oversaw the growth of MPG’s underwritten premiums from less than $4,000,000 to in excess of $134,000,000 prior to selling the operations to One80 Intermediaries in 2019. In 2003 Chris led the founding of a growing direct bill services company called Bill it Now. Bill it Now provides direct bill services primarily for Program Administrators and Insurance Carriers that trade in the program space. Nearing a billion in premiums being administered through its platform, Bill It Now is leading the way for outsourced direct bill administration for carriers and program administrators.

Andrea Keenan is EVP and Chief Strategy Officer, responsible for AM Best Rating Services’ strategy and commercial teams globally, coordinating with those teams to develop markets, communicate with stakeholders, liaise with the media and coordinate events. Andrea started at AM Best in 2000 as AM Best’s first country risk analyst, overseeing the launch of AM Best’s current country risk methodology. She served multiple roles at AM Best, including building and managing economic and industry research and analytical training. From 2013-2015, Andrea moved from analysis to the commercial side of the business and served as managing director of AM Best América Latina, based in Mexico City, where she initiated and expanded AM Best’s first Latin American presence.

Prior to joining AM Best, Andrea was the U.S. economist at Toyota Motor North America in New York City, and analyst at International Technology and Trade Associates in Washington, D.C. Currently, Andrea serves on the Board of Directors of the Microinsurance Network as deputy chair and is a member of the Inclusive Insurance Working group of the Insurance Development Forum (IDF). She is also adjunct professor of economics at Temple University in Philadelphia. Andrea holds a master’s degree from Temple University in economics, a master’s degree from American University in international affairs and a bachelor's degree from York College in international studies.

Greg Williams is a senior director in the ratings division at AM Best. Greg oversees a team of analysts who are responsible for monitoring and evaluating a myriad of companies that operate in the personal lines, commercial lines and life/annuity segments in the United States and Canada.

Prior to joining AM Best in 2006, Greg was a senior finance manager at Allstate Insurance Company, where he led a team of financial analysts. Previously, Greg held various positions in the finance and claims departments of Allstate in New Jersey and Northbrook, Ill. Greg holds a B.A. from the College of New Jersey and a MBA in finance from Monmouth University.

Jeremy Hitzig is co-founder of Starfish Specialty Programs. He formed Starfish Specialty Programs in 2021. The company focuses on specialty property & casualty programs underwritten by leading insurance companies and uses cutting edge analytics and a highly agile and configurable technology platform. Initial products are set to debut in the second half of 2021.

Jeremy began his insurance career in 1995 as a principal at Capital Risk Strategies where he focused on emerging risk transfer tools including catastrophe bonds and other blended capital markets/insurance products. In 1997 he joined Distinguished LLC and held a number of executive positions before being named Chief Executive Officer in 2006, serving in that role until the end of 2018. Among other divisions, Distinguished comprised Distinguished Programs, a leading national program administrator and TMPAA Best Practices designee and ReSource Pro, a fast growing business process outsourcing company focused on the insurance industry. He is a graduate of McGill University and received his MBA from Columbia Business School in New York. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst and Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter designations. He has been a member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) since 2006. He is also a past-President and current board member of the Target Markets Program Administrators Association.

Carol Frey is Divisional Vice President with Great American Alternative Markets. She joined Great American Insurance Company in 2011. She is responsible for divisional marketing and new business development for programs, in addition to agency, association and/or group captives and serves as a subject matter expert for captive opportunities that cross into other divisional underwriting charters at Great American. Ms. Frey is a 30+ year veteran in the Property & Casualty industry where she has held a variety of financial, underwriting, managerial and captive leadership positions. Prior to Great American, Ms. Frey’s experience focused primarily on the large Fortune 500 US risk management accounts. For 9 years, Ms. Frey managed a global portfolio that included complex foreign casualty programs, including captives, for Fortune 250 U.S. multinational clients.

Ms. Frey received both her B.A. in Psychology/Business and her M.B.A. from the University of Delaware and earned her CPL with TMPAA. She is the author of a wide variety of articles related to programs, captive and alternative risk and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences. She has been actively involved with the Vermont Captive Insurance Association (VCIA) and Captive Insurance Companies Association (CICA) since 1990 in the alternative market sector and recently served on the CICA Board as recently as 2017-2020 and was named an Elite Woman by Insurance Business America in 2020.

Bob Gagliardi is Senior Vice President and Head of Captive Management at AIG. He is responsible for developing innovative, customized captive solutions for clients. This includes captive formations, feasibility studies, and the development of AIG’s sponsored captives. In addition to serving existing clients, he manages the marketing and formation of new captives and has formed captives in numerous domiciles. Bob serves on the Board of over 15 captives and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences. Several times Bob has been named to Captive Review Magazine’s “Power 50”, a list of the captive industry’s most influential and innovative figures.

Bob is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and he has obtained the Associate in Reinsurance (ARe) designation from the Insurance Institute of America. Additionally, Bob currently serves on the Advisory Board of the World Captive Forum.

Larry Chasin is CEO of PAK Programs, a provider of customized insurance programs for wineries, breweries and other risks within the craft beverage industry. Chasin has more than 25 years of experience meeting the insurance needs of those within this niche.

John Colis is the President and CEO of Euclid Insurance Services, Inc. Euclid operates as a program administrator for specialty property casualty insurance programs as well as a general agency involved in the sales of various employee benefit products. In all cases, Euclid receives its business from insurance agencies and wholesale brokers. The firm does business in all fifty states and has 90 employees. Euclid was founded by Peter G. Colis in 1952 as a retail insurance agency. John joined his father after working in the reinsurance and program insurance business. Prior to joining Euclid, he spent time in London as a broker at Lloyds, at General Reinsurance Corporation and at Aon Risk Services. John is a two time graduate of Northwestern University having received his Bachelors of Arts Degree in 1979 and his MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management in 1983. 

Chris Leisz has served as President of RPS Signature Programs Division since 2018 where he leads all operational activities of the division including strategic planning, business and corporate development, P&L, M&A, market relationships and execution of business plans for programs within the division. Prior to RPS, Chris held positions as Senior Vice President and Chief Underwriting Officer of Specialty at CNA Insurance and Senior Vice President at Hiscox where he was responsible for the creation of their US Management Liability Practice. In addition, Chris served as director of Hiscox Insurance Company, Inc., Hiscox’ admitted carrier in the US. Chris began his insurance career at AIG and his professional career as an Associate for the law firm of Winget, Spadafora & Schwartzberg, LLP.

Chris was recognized as an Insurance Executive to Watch by Risk & Insurance Magazine in 2005. He is active member of various insurance associations. Chris holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science & Government and a juris doctorate degree from St. John’s University.

Kevin Johnson is President of Insurance Programs for Munich Re Specialty Insurance (MRSI), a commercial insurance unit of Munich Reinsurance America, Inc. (Munich Re US) in North America. In this role, he is responsible for the profitability and growth of the Program Business underwriting portfolio. During his 10+ years with Munich Re, Kevin has held roles in underwriting overseeing in-force program business, and has also led sourcing and onboarding activities for new program opportunities. He also served as Chief of Staff to the CEO, with responsibilities that included leading and participating in strategy projects on behalf of the Office of the CEO, as well as facilitating the development, monitoring and implementation of initiatives from the CEO and the company’s strategic roadmap. Kevin began his career as part of the company’s underwriting trainee program in 2009.

Kevin graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s in Business Administration from Temple University where he majored in Risk Management and Insurance, as well as Finance. He also has an MBA from Saint Joseph’s University and has completed the CPCU, ARM and ARe designations.

Pete Chandler joined BMS in May 2019 and currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of BMS Re. With over 30 years of insurance/reinsurance broking and underwriting experience, Pete has worked across multiple facets of the industry’s distribution platform. Prior to joining BMS, Pete was Deputy CEO of JLT Re North America and was responsible for leading their new business Origination Team, and was a member of their North American Executive Committee. Pete had joined JLT Re in 2016. Prior to which, he had been employed by the Marsh McLennan Group, first as COO of Guy Carpenter’s North American Broking Operations, and then as Managing Director, Western Regional Leader of Marsh’s retail broking business. Prior to that, Pete held leadership positions in the reinsurance broking community with AonBenfield, Benfield and E.W. Blanch. Pete began his career as a primary lines underwriter with CIGNA P&C in 1988, and also held underwriting positions with General Re and Constitution Re prior to joining E.W. Blanch’s San Francisco office in 2000.

Pete earned his MBA in International Marketing from Loyola Marymount University in 1995 and graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with a B.S. degree in Business Management in 1987.

MGA Systems, Inc.
(formerly NetRate)

Great American
Insurance Group

AM RE Syndicate, Inc.