MarshBerry's principals and consultants hold degrees from a variety of colleges
and universities, with most having an orientation toward finance, accounting or
economics, and many have a variety of experience in the insurance industry.
Megan Bosma
Vice President
Megan Bosma joined MarshBerry in 1998 as a Financial Analyst. She was promoted
to Consultant in 2000 and played a major role in preparing valuation reports,
perpetuation plans and general consulting projects. Her promotion to Senior
Consultant in 2002 coincided with increased experience and responsibility in
merger and acquisition work for various clients.
In December of 2005, she was promoted to Vice President and became a shareholder
of the firm. Her current consulting activities involve merger and acquisition
services, business planning, financial management consulting, valuation services
and ownership perpetuation. Megan has been involved with MarshBerry’s Agency Peak
Performance EXchange (“APPEX”) association since inception, serving as a facilitator
and presenter at the conference and working closely with a number of APPEX members.
In addition, Megan shares responsibility for training and developing financial
analysts and consultants for MarshBerry.
Prior to joining MarshBerry, Megan worked for NCR in marketing and sales and managed
their compensation/sales tracking activities. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in
Finance from the University of Dayton.
Megan is a frequent contributor of insurance-related articles to The MarshBerry
Letter and other industry publications.
Chris Darst
Vice President
Chris Darst joined MarshBerry in 1998 as a Financial Analyst responsible for the statistical
compilation and interpretation of financial information for clients. He was promoted to
Consultant in 2000 and played a major role in preparing valuation reports, perpetuation plans
and general consulting projects. In 2001, he moved to California to help the company start up
a branch office in Dana Point. His promotion to Senior Consultant in 2002 coincided with
increased experience and responsibility in merger and acquisition work for various clients.
In December of 2005, he was promoted to Vice President. His current consulting activities
involve merger and acquisition services, business planning, financial management consulting,
valuation services, compensation consulting and ownership perpetuation.
Chris is a public speaker about the insurance industry and also writes articles for insurance
publications such as Rough Notes. He is also a contributor of insurance-related articles to
The MarshBerry Letter.
Chris holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications from the University of Colorado and a
Master’s Degree in Business Administration/Finance from the University of Akron.
Val DeMell
Executive Vice President
Valerie DeMell joined MarshBerry in 1987 as a financial analyst working on agency
valuations, perpetuation plans and assisting with mergers and acquisitions. During
her first ten years with the company, she advanced through the organization and was
responsible for managing, hiring and developing the company’s consulting staff members.
Promotions to Vice President in 1997 and Senior Vice President in 2000 coincided with
increased responsibility in areas of management consulting, merger and acquisitions
and corporate administration.
In 2004, Valerie was promoted to Executive Vice President overseeing MarshBerry’s
consulting and merger & acquisition practice. During her tenure with the firm, she has
developed significant expertise in areas such as fair market valuations, ownership
perpetuation planning, financial management consulting and merger and acquisition
services. Valerie is a vital resource in the preparation of divestiture and merger
documents, return on investment analysis, contract and deal negotiation and due diligence.
Valerie became a shareholder of MarshBerry in 1997 and is a member of the executive
management team.
Prior to joining MarshBerry, she served as a financial analyst for a subsidiary of W.R.
Grace Company. Valerie holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management from Kent State
University.
Rob Hamilton
Senior Consultant
Rob Hamilton joined MarshBerry in 2002 as a consultant responsible for preparing
valuation reports, operational reviews, due diligence and general consulting projects.
His promotion to Senior Consultant in 2006 coincided with increased responsibilities
in merger and acquisition work for a number of clients. As a member of MarshBerry’s
Michigan-based team, he has been involved in several bank and insurance acquisitions
and is frequently called on to perform due diligence reviews for other company teams.
His current consulting activities involve acquisitions and mergers, business planning,
financial management consulting, valuation services and owner perpetuation.
Prior to joining MarshBerry, Rob was the controller of a $20,000,000 West Michigan
bank-owned insurance agency. In addition to his financial responsibilities, he was also
involved in reviewing, implementing and integrating more than 13 agency acquisitions
and was instrumental in the transition of other bank/insurance transactions.
Rob holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Administration from Grand Valley State University.
He speaks before agent associations and insurance carriers and has presented at several
national insurance automation conferences. He has also been published in insurance trade
publications, including American Agent & Broker and writes insurance-related articles
for The MarshBerry Letter.
Jeff Jenkins
Vice President, Sales Management and Recruiting
Jeff Jenkins joined MarshBerry in 2003, working exclusively in the areas of sales
management and sales training. He conducts training sessions for agency owners and
producers, teaching them how to improve efficiencies, close more deals, maximize
profits and increase agency value. Jeff's also helps agencies grow through the use
of innovative recruiting approaches, developing position profiles and compensation
plans, conducting searches, and facilitating both technical and sales training.
Prior to joining MarshBerry, Jeff started and managed a Texas regional operation
for Jacobson Associates, the nation's largest insurance search firm. He was also
sales and marketing manager for a $10 million intermediary and chief operating
officer for a 100 year old intermediary in Houston.
He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Distribution from the University of Houston and is
also a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and past president of the
Dallas Chapter of the Society of CPCU.
Mike Kish
Senior Consultant
Mike Kish joined MarshBerry in 2000 as a financial analyst responsible for the
statistical compilation and interpretation of financial data for clients. He was
promoted to Consultant in 2003 and played a major role in the preparation of
appraisal reports, perpetuation plans and general consulting projects. His promotion
to Senior Consultant in 2005 coincided with increased responsibilities in merger
and acquisition work for various clients. His current consulting activities involve
agency valuations, acquisitions and mergers, business planning, financial and
organizational development, compensation strategies and ownership perpetuation.
During his eight years with the company, Mike has performed nearly 200 agency
valuations and has been involved in numerous merger and acquisition transactions.
He also works closely with a number of agencies that are members of MarshBerry’s
Agency Peak Performance Exchange (“APPEX”) and the Bank Agency NetworK (“BANK”).
Mike holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Ohio University.
He also holds a P&C insurance license in the State of Ohio and is currently
pursuing his CPCU designation.
Mike has spoken before agent associations and insurance carriers and also writes
articles about agency management and valuation for insurance publications such as
Rough Notes. He is also a frequent contributor of insurance-related articles to
The MarshBerry Letter.
Tom Linn
Senior Vice President
Tom Linn joined Marsh Berry in 1999 as a consultant responsible for the preparation of
appraisal reports, perpetuation plans, financial planning and general consulting projects.
Promotions to Senior Consultant and Vice President over the next few years coincided with
increased responsibilities in merger and acquisition work for various clients. In 2001,
Tom established MarshBerry's California office, which has grown under his management to
5 full time employees.
He currently serves the company as Senior Vice President. His consulting activities involve
agency valuations, acquisitions and mergers, ownership perpetuation and strategic business
planning. During the past four years, he has acted as the intermediary and advisor on
insurance agency transactions totaling more than $500,000,000. He also provides consulting
services to financial institutions seeking to expand into the insurance arena. Tom regularly
serves as an advisor to CEO's and Boards of several large agencies in the western states
advising on a wide range of financial, managerial and operational issues.
Prior to joining MarshBerry, Tom was the Executive Vice President/CFO at The Cal-Surance
Companies. He also held the CFO position for two mid-sized companies earlier in his career.
Tom holds a Bachelor's Degree in English and Accounting from Claremont McKenna College. He
is also a Certified Public Accountant and a Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter.
He is a public speaker on insurance-related issues and has been published in trade
publications such as Insurance Journal Bank Director, and Rough Notes.
Patrick Linnert
Executive Vice President, Corporate Development
Patrick Linnert joined MarshBerry in 2000 as a Consultant responsible for the execution of
valuations, succession plans, mergers & acquisitions and other equity enhancing consulting
projects. In 2004, he spearheaded the development of MarshBerry’s Corporate Development
department where he assumed additional responsibilities related to corporate strategy,
research and business development activities. His promotions to Vice President and Senior
Vice President over the next few years coincided with expanding departmental functions and
leadership of the Total Agency Sales Culture (TASC) Network.
Patrick provides vision for MarshBerry’s corporate direction and spearheads corporate
initiatives relating to branding, products and services, relationship development and
database information while continuing to execute consulting engagements with the nation’s
leading independent agencies, public brokers, banks, carriers, associations and vendors.
He is a frequent speaker at insurance conferences, including Chubb-Wharton Executive
Leadership Conference, AMS, IIABA, BISA. He also speaks frequently at carrier, state and
trade association functions. He has also authored several insurance related articles for
such publications as Rough Notes, Insurance Journal, American Banker, Bank Director
Magazine, and Bank Insurance & Securities marketing magazine.
Before joining MarshBerry, Patrick worked as a consultant for KPMG LLP and as a credit
officer and analyst for National City Bank. Patrick holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business
Administration from the University of Notre Dame and a Master’s Degree in Business
Administration/Finance from Case Western Reserve University.
Albert Lloyd
Executive Vice President
Albert Lloyd joined MarshBerry in 1994 as a financial analyst and was responsible
for the statistical compilation and interpretation of financial information for
clients. In 1996, he was promoted to consultant, preparing appraisal reports and
perpetuation plans and also structuring mergers and acquisitions. In 1997, he was
promoted to Senior Consultant. Promotions to Vice President and Senior Vice
President over the next few years coincided with increased responsibilities relating
to managing member services for APPEX and BANK and MarshBerry’s Agency Improvement
Manager program.
His strong background in finance and information systems enabled him to play a major
role in the development of the Perspectives for High Performance (“PHP”) agency
management system. PHP analyzes the performance of hundreds of agencies and agency
groups using a wide range of criteria. This unique insurance industry database provides
the statistical data for the development of The Benchmark Calculator published by ACORD.
Albert currently serves as Executive Vice President and oversees the Information and
Exchange Services division of the company. In that capacity, he also serves as Executive
Director of both the Agency Peak Performance EXchange (APPEX) and the Bank Agency
NetworK (BANK).
In addition to being a guest speaker at conferences and meetings, he has conducted a
variety of informational and training sessions for carriers and agencies. Albert has
written articles featured in industry trade journals such as SNL Financial, and he is
a contributor to The MarshBerry Letter.
Prior to joining MarshBerry, Albert held managerial and information systems positions
at United Parcel Service. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and
Finance from the University of Akron and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration
from Kent State University.
Larry Marsh
Vice Chairman
Larry Marsh formed Marsh, Berry & Company, Inc. in 1981 and currently serves as Vice
Chairman. MarshBerry is now the largest insurance agency consulting firm in the world
and includes among its clientele nearly one-third of all independent insurance agency
organizations in the United States. He is a nationally recognized authority on
insurance agency valuation, ownership perpetuation, mergers and acquisitions, incentive
compensation, financial management and strategic planning. Larry is a well-known
industry speaker and author as well as the source of numerous agency benchmarking
studies and online performance measurement tools. He and his organization founded
Agency Peak Performance EXchange (APPEX) and Bank Agency NetworK (BANK), the members of
which generate over $16 Billion in insurance premium.
Larry has worked in the insurance industry for 38 years. He has functioned as a
principal in various insurance industry consulting firms and has held senior management
and executive positions with major insurance carriers. MarshBerry has offices throughout
the US and is headquartered in Concord, Ohio. For the past several years the company has
been honored as one of the 100 fastest growing firms in northeast Ohio.
Larry earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business and an MBA from Western Michigan
University and has completed post-graduate work in insurance, finance and management
science at Michigan State University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is
a guest speaker at various programs and events for insurance agents at the Wharton School
of Business. MarshBerry is currently enjoying its 26th year in business.
Dan Skowronski
Senior Vice President
Dan Skowronski joined MarshBerry in 1994 as a Financial Analyst. He was promoted
to Consultant in 1996 and played a major role in the preparation of appraisal
reports, perpetuation plans and general consulting projects. In 2002, he teamed
up with MarshBerry’s information services department to create the web-based
Value Estimator, a hands-on tool that enables insurance agencies to gain a better
understanding of their value or to judge the merits of acquiring another agency.
Promotions to Senior Consultant and Vice President over the next few years
coincided with increased responsibilities in merger and acquisition work for
various clients.
In December of 2005, Dan was promoted to Senior Vice President. His current
consulting activities involve agency valuations, acquisitions and mergers,
compensation consulting and ownership perpetuation. He shares responsibility for
training and developing financial analysts and consultants, as well as producing
and delivering a wide variety of MarshBerry services.
Prior to joining MarshBerry, Dan worked for the Ohio Legislature and as Assistant
State Director for the National Federation of Independent Business. He holds a
Bachelor’s Degree from Hiram College and a Master’s Degree in Business
Administration from Kent State University.
Dan is frequently called on to provide consulting advice in a wide variety of
areas and has been published in a number of insurance publications, including
Rough Notes and Independent Agent. He is also a frequent contributor of
insurance-related articles to The MarshBerry Letter.
Doug Terrill
Senior Vice President
Doug Terrill joined MarshBerry in 1993 as a consultant responsible for preparing appraisal reports
and assisting agencies with strategic business planning and operational issues improvement. In 1995,
he developed and implemented Marshberry's premier benchmark service, Perspectives for High Performance
(PHP).
In 1998, he was promoted to Senior Consultant and was primarily responsible for establishing the
company's web presence. In 2000, he expanded that service to include an on-line subscription service.
His promotions to Vice President in 2001 and Senior Vice President in 2003 coincided with increased
experience, responsibility and leadership with regard to agency information systems management.
Doug's extensive knowledge of agencies and information systems provides the foundation for MarshBerry's
ability to compile and analyze financial and operational statistics for the purpose of establishing
standards for the insurance industry. His project management skills and analytical capabilities have
resulted in numerous new products for MarshBerry as well as research studies for insurance companies.
His current responsibilities include managing the company's website, MarshBerry.com, directing the PHP
program, planning and implementation of carrier service programs and publishing The MarshBerry Letter.
Prior to joining MarshBerry, Doug worked for a national carrier and was responsible for training,
implementation of information systems and strategic business planning.
Doug holds a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Akron. He speaks frequently before carriers and
agencies and writes insurance-related articles for national publications such as Agent News Line and
Westfield News. He also contributes articles to The MarshBerry Letter.
Wayne Walkotten
Senior Vice President
Wayne Walkotten joined MarshBerry in 2001 as Vice President/Senior Consultant in charge of
the company’s Michigan office. In addition to merger and acquisition services, agency
valuations and financial management planning, he performed due diligence and assisted a
number of banks with their entry into the insurance arena.
In July of 2001 when the FASB promulgated rules for intangible asset valuations, Wayne
became the company’s practice leader in that area. His promotion to Senior Vice President
and shareholder in 2005 coincided with increased experience and responsibility in consulting,
valuations and merger and acquisition work for a number of clients.
In addition to managing the company’s Michigan office, he is also a vital resource in the
areas of mergers and acquisitions, strategic solutions, business planning and financial
management. With the assistance of a senior consultant and two financial analysts, Wayne
performs agency valuations and provides consulting services in the areas of agency improvement,
perpetuation planning and mergers and acquisitions.
Prior to joining MarshBerry, Wayne was Chief Operating Officer of Grand Rapids Holland
Insurance and was instrumental in the company’s purchase by Old Kent Financial Corporation.
He served as its Chief Financial Officer and was a MarshBerry client until he joined the
company in 2001.
Wayne is a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Valuation Analyst. He holds a
Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Grand Valley State University and a
Master’s Degree in Management from Aquinas College. He is a member of the AICPA, MACPA
and the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts.
Wayne is frequently asked to speak at bank and insurance conferences and before agent
associations and insurance carriers. He has been published in a number of insurance
publications, including Rough Notes, American Agent and Independent Agent. He is also a
frequent contributor of insurance-related articles to The MarshBerry Letter.
John Wepler
President
John Wepler joined MarshBerry in 1991 as a financial analyst responsible for the
statistical compilation and interpretation of financial information for clients.
John’s initial work centered on insurance agency valuations, ownership perpetuation
planning and compensation plan development. He led the research team and editorial
review process that created the guide to agency compensation published by ACORD in
1993. John became a senior shareholder during 1997 shortly after establishing the
Financial Institutions practice for the firm.
In August of 2005, John was promoted to President of MarshBerry. In this role, John
manages the investment banking, management consulting and sales management divisions
of the firm. He is a vital resource in the areas of organic growth management, valuation
enhancement solutions, mergers and acquisitions, business planning, ownership perpetuation
and financial management. John is nationally recognized as one of the industry’s leaders
in insurance investment banking and has closed over 109 transactions since joining the firm.
John is a frequent key note speaker at national conferences, including Bank Director
Magazine symposiums, SNL Financial conferences, Chubb-Wharton Executive Leadership,
CIAB conferences, agent association meetings, insurance carrier elite meetings and
executive leadership forums. He is a prolific author of articles for leading insurance
publications, including SNL Securities, Best’s Review, American Agent and Broker, National
Underwriter and M&A Scoreboard Magazine. John is also recognized nationally as an expert
in the bank/insurance arena and assists the nation's leading banks in refining and executing
acquire, integrate and leverage insurance strategies. He currently serves on the Board of
Directors for the American Bankers Insurance Association.
John holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from Ohio University and a Master’s Degree in
Business Administration from Kent State University.
Brian Witherspoon
Senior Vice President, Partner Services
Brian Witherspoon joined MarshBerry in 2005 as Vice President, Partner Services and is
responsible for managing member services of APPEX and BANK, our peer-to-peer exchange
groups. His duties include financial planning, program development, member retention and
recruitment. He is also responsible for implementation of the Partner Services business
plan and MarshBerry’s Agency Improvement Manager program. He plays a major role in the
development of new member benefit services, oversees the member incentive program and
coordinates marketing activities.
Prior to joining MarshBerry, Brian worked for Proudfoot Consulting as a management and
strategic consultant to international business clients. His experience coaching executive
level management and creating and implementing business programs and plans adds knowledge
and depth to the MarshBerry team.
Doug Yoh
Chief Executive Officer
Doug Yoh joined MarshBerry in 1984 as a consultant responsible for agency valuations,
acquisitions and mergers, compensation consulting and ownership perpetuation plans.
Promotions to Senior Consultant and Vice President over the next few years coincided
with increased responsibilities in merger and acquisition work for various clients. A
forward thinker and effective implementer, Doug soon became heavily involved in management
activities and was subsequently promoted to President. In 2005, he was promoted to Chairman
and CEO.
In addition to managing the company’s daily operations, he is also a vital resource in the
areas of mergers and acquisitions, strategic solutions, business planning and financial
management. He has been instrumental in developing and enhancing MarshBerry’s valuation,
acquisition, compensation and financial management products.
With 25 years of experience in the insurance industry, Doug is recognized nationally as an
expert in agency operations, growth strategies, strategic initiatives and mergers and
acquisitions. He is frequently asked to speak before agent associations and insurance
carriers and also writes articles about agency management and valuation.
Prior to joining MarshBerry, Doug held senior management positions for a national broker
and a public accounting firm. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and
Accounting from Bowling Green State University.
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