Please tell us about your family, interests, and hobbies.

I have been married for 7 years and have a very energetic 5 year old son. We also have 2 dogs, a pug named Roscoe, and a dachshund named Nino. My favorite hobby would be taking in sporting events of my favorite teams, including the Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles, Manchester City Football Club, and any sport related to the University of Virginia. 

What is your professional background and how it has led you to working in environmental insurance?

After college, I began my professional career by working as an intensive in-home counselor providing therapeutic services to at risk youths. I have since managed school-based day treatment behavioral programs as well as an adolescent residential facility for males with mental health disorders. After approximately 8 years in the mental health field, I decided I needed to make a career change. Luckily for me, I have several friends that work in the insurance industry and I was able to speak with them and gained insight into the E&S market and environmental coverage. I was hired as an environmental underwriter at an E&S carrier, and my insurance career began. As an environmental underwriter, I was able to write some accounts with Beacon Hill, and eventually, Bill recruited me over to the brokerage side.   

What is the most important lesson you have learned in your career?

I was told a bit of advice from an old football coach many years ago that can apply to pretty much anything: “Control what YOU can control.”  That’s really all you can do as a professional and in life.  What can I control? My attitude, my work ethic, my communication. If you have a positive attitude, give your absolute best effort, and communicate well with others, chances are you will be successful in life.  If you fall short in reaching a goal, it won’t be because of anything that was within your control.

If you had to choose one phrase to describe the most important motivator to being a leader in your career, what would it be and why?  What are you doing specifically at Beacon Hill to help you achieve this? 

Teamwork.  I’m sure most people at Beacon Hill have heard me say, “Teamwork makes the dream work.”  I truly do believe that. It may take me an entire week to accomplish a task by myself, but a TEAM could complete the same task in a matter of hours. I think working as a team is always beneficial because you can gain a different perspective or get a different idea from something a teammate says.  Beacon Hill really is a close-knit group of people who work well together as a team and we all depend on each other and push one another to be their absolute best.