WOODRUFF SAWYER - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- Regional Growth Leader, Northern California
With more than 15 years of experience in insurance and risk management, Alex is a trusted advisor and proven leader. Alex specializes in building innovative business strategies, cultivating market growth through strategic partnerships, and streamlining process. His dedication extends to both internal teams and clients, mirroring a vision that places people at the forefront, emphasizing human-centric approaches across all facets of our operations.
Alex has been recognized by Business Insurance as a Break Out Award Winner for his leadership in the risk management and insurance field. He earned his bachelor's degree in economics from the University of California at San Diego.
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Chairman
- Member of the Board of Directors
As Chairman & CEO, Andy's commitment to our people, our clients, and our culture define his leadership. His priorities include developing our people, delivering outstanding services and solutions for our clients, and growing the firm across our national platform in ways that support and evolve our culture. Andy is passionate about helping our people and our clients, and believes we do this best when providing outstanding counsel, advocacy, and service with the integrity, collaboration, and constant improvement that define who we are.
Andy joined Woodruff Sawyer in 1996 and has served in a variety of leadership positions, both on our senior management team and in multiple business units. He led Woodruff Sawyer's Technology Practice and later our Life Science Practice, which has become one of the largest practices of its kind in the US. Having spent over twenty years advising clients with complex and diverse risk needs, Andy believes that our commitment to the constant improvement of our people and our service offerings makes Woodruff Sawyer the premier risk management advisory firm-not just for our clients but for our team as well.
Andy earned his bachelor's degree from Wesleyan University in Connecticut. He has served on Woodruff Sawyer's Board of Directors since 2008, became CEO in 2016, and was named Chairman in 2020.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Senior Vice President, Construction
Bret joined Woodruff Sawyer in 2004 and develops insurance programs and provides risk management consulting for both large and middle market contractors throughout the West Coast. Bret also leads our team of talented Account Executives in the Construction practice and serves on Woodruff Sawyer's Board of Directors. He handles complex client issues and concerns, supports the development of Account Executives and other account support staff, and ensures the overall success of client relationships.
He is actively involved in industry associations such as United Contractors (served as a board member), American Subcontractors Association (served as a board member), Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA) and Associated General Contractors of America (AGC). Bret earned his bachelor's degree in finance from Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo, and his MBA from San Francisco State University. He holds the CPCU, CRIS, and ARM designations.
Job Titles:
- Lead Product Counsel, Cyber
Bridget works with clients to find creative solutions for complex cyber and privacy challenges. With a deep understanding of incident response, privacy law, and insurance policies and claims, she provides coverage solutions and technical services for clients.
She has worked in claims, legal, and cyber risk management for various companies, deriving a strong understanding of incident response and claims management.
Bridget is admitted to the New York State Bar as well as the United States District Courts for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York.
Job Titles:
- Brexit Blues: Keep Calm, Your Insurance Continues on
- Invasion of Ukraine: the Impact on Insurance
- President, Commercial Lines
- Property Policies, Business Interruption, and Coronavirus - Are You Covered
- Q1 2025 Commercial Insurance Snapshot: Property Market Continues Downward Trend
Carolyn leads Property, Casualty, Middle Markets, Management Liability, Cyber and Private Client Group teams in developing and delivering solutions that protect our clients' people and assets.
Carolyn joined Woodruff Sawyer in 2006 and previously led the firm's Management Liability practice. In this role, she advised clients and Woodruff Sawyer brokers and consultants on matters relating to the full suite of corporate and executive protection insurance policies. This includes directors & officers liability, employment practices, and fiduciary liability insurance.
A respected industry expert, Carolyn was named as a 2018 Woman to Watch by Business Insurance. Carolyn has been a featured panelist for the nationally prominent Professional Liability Underwriting Society, among others. She has a bachelor's degree in business administration/finance from Rider University and an MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Senior Vice President, Casualty
Chris has been working with complex domestic and global clients as a casualty broker since 2000. At Woodruff Sawyer, he engages with our largest and most complex clients to help them address their casualty risks. Chris is accountable to his clients for providing strategic casualty advice, efficient insurance and risk financing program options, analytics to support insurance purchasing decisions, and direct advocacy in the marketplace. He is a strategic and analytical thinker who collaborates with clients to creatively solve their risk issues.
Chris's expertise resides in various product lines including workers' compensation, general/products liability, auto liability, umbrella/excess liability, professional liability, captives, self-insurance, collateral mitigation strategies, and other risk financing approaches. Prior to joining our firm served in senior roles at another multinational brokerage firm.
Three times in his career, Chris has been recognized as a "Power Broker" and "Top 40 Under 40" by Risk & Insurance magazine. Chris received his MBA (with honors) from New York University Stern School of Business with a focus in finance and management. Chris graduated cum laude from Duke University. He is a member of Woodruff Sawyer's Board of Directors.
Job Titles:
- Building Defenses Against Cyber Risk in the Construction Sector
- Cyber and Privacy Risks for Real Estate Enterprises
- Does Cyber Insurance Pay Out
- Navigating Insurance for Artificial Intelligence and Life Science Products
- the Toughest Cyber Challenges Facing the Construction Industry
- Vice President, Cyber Liability
David focuses on complex cyber, privacy, technology, and professional liability issues and is a dedicated and fierce advocate for his clients. He has extensive experience in risk assessment, risk management, and pre-breach network security risk discovery, as well as hands-on post-incident client support and claims advocacy. David is committed to helping his clients navigate a complex and ever-changing cyber and professional liability insurance marketplace to ensure they achieve market-leading coverage terms and conditions at the best possible premium.
Before joining Woodruff Sawyer, David was a partner at McGill and Partners. Prior to that, he served as head of major accounts for Lockton.
David graduated from Arizona State University with a bachelor's degree in management. He holds a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP) designation.
Job Titles:
- AI in the Healthcare Industry: Balancing Risk and Reward
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Construction
Jamin partners with clients to navigate complex global commercial property and casualty insurance challenges, with a focus on construction risks. He works with clients in all arenas and geographies with an emphasis on construction, professional services, energy and real estate to develop risk management solutions. His experiences include the design and implementation of numerous placements to address operational, transactional, and project specific liabilities both domestically and internationally.
Jamin serves the Southern California region while bringing his construction expertise to Woodruff Sawyer's national practice.
With nearly two decades in the insurance industry, he has extensive experience in P&C insurance design and program management for global commercial clients. Prior to joining Woodruff Sawyer, Jamin held various positions with global and regional brokerages. He also was an underwriter for a leading international insurance carrier responsible for production and evaluating environmental risks. Prior to entering the insurance industry, Jamin was an environmental consultant. His responsibilities acting as a sub-portfolio manager included environmental liability reduction, prevention, and risk evaluation for several international petroleum clients.
Jamin earned a bachelor's degree in environmental engineering technology from Lake Superior State University in Michigan.
Job Titles:
- AI and Insurance: Bridging Innovation and Risk
- Cloud Computing Risk and Cyber Liability Insurance
- Senior Vice President, Management Liability and Cyber Liability
With a background in underwriting executive liability products and more than 20 years' experience in the insurance brokerage and risk management industry, Lauri has the technical experience to identify and solve complex insurance problems. She is a widely respected expert for her knowledge of directors & officers liability and cyber liability.
Lauri has extensive experience placing D&O programs for public companies of all sizes, including a number of NASDAQ 100 and Fortune 500 companies. As Cyber Liability exposures become paramount for her clients, Lauri has expanded her practice area to focus on this complex and evolving area of coverage. She has developed industry-leading Cyber Liability solutions for companies providing cloud-based services to customers, and has experience working through complex privacy breach claims. Lauri was recognized with the Risk and Insurance 2023 Power Broker award for role in the development of a Side A D&O "Laser DIC" policy.
Lauri is a graduate of Washington State University with a degree in risk management and insurance.
Job Titles:
- Independent Director
- Member of the Board of Directors
Mary has an extensive background in financial services and technology, law, and public policy and has worked with early-stage startups to publicly traded global enterprises.
Mary is the former CEO of Green Dot Bank and a former director of Green Dot Corp., a direct-to-consumer financial services company and the technology and banking partner for Apple's Apple Pay Cash, Uber's GoBank account, Intuit's Turbo card, and Walmart's MoneyCard, among others. During Mary's tenure, Green Dot Corp. quadrupled its share price, grew annual revenues to over $1 billion, and increased its market cap to over $4 billion. Prior to Green Dot, Mary was an executive with Silicon Valley Bank/SVB Financial Group, a publicly traded financial services company.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, Regional Growth Leader, Pacific Northwest
Melissa has over 25 years of experience leading sales and service functions on both the brokerage and carrier sides of the business. As Regional Growth Leader for Woodruff Sawyer's Pacific Northwest Region, Melissa leads regional sales activities to achieve growth and revenue targets. Her responsibilities include developing and executing growth plans, supporting and coaching sales staff, client retention, and fostering strategic partnerships.
Prior to her current role, Melissa held other leadership positions including Practice Director for the Pacific Northwest, where she informed the region's overall strategy and structure, managed service teams and insurer relationships, and led finance and budget responsibilities for the region. As Client Relationship Director for Woodruff Sawyer's Middle Markets Practice, Melissa managed account executives who serve as lead consultants to clients and supported practice leadership with client retention and profitability initiatives.
Melissa's background includes various key positions at Chubb Limited, where she started as an underwriter trainee and received several promotions, which included: underwriter, underwriting officer, practice leader,assistant vice president, and vice president. She managed both management liability and P&C underwriting operations and results, provided customized approaches to client solutions, and guided staff to ensure account teams met client needs. These roles provided her with a solid foundation of knowledge and experience in this industry.
Melissa earned her bachelor's degree from Fairfield University, while playing Division I Varsity Softball for 4 years. She serves on the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation. Her extracurricular activities have included coaching and serving on the Board for the Beaumont Softball Little League in Portland, Oregon.
Job Titles:
- Leader
- Regional Growth Leader, Southwest Region
With 18 years of industry experience, Mic is proven leader who has spearheaded the distribution of insurance products and services across distribution channels, organizational structures, and market segments. Mic has a passion for design thinking, strategic insight, and organizational efficiency and leverages his extensive experience in the brokerage and carrier sides of the business-which included founding his own agency-to design and build new growth initiatives.
In addition to his leadership role at Woodruff Sawyer, Mic is organizer and leader of the Silicon Valley Leadership Forum, comprised of over 900 members. He has a bachelor's degree in religious studies from University of California at Santa Barbara, and a master's degree in applied industrial and organizational psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. He's a certified Construction Risk and Insurance Specialist.
Nikki started her insurance career in 1989. That experience has provided a solid basis for delivering risk management solutions, loss prevention recommendations, and claims advocacy for her partner clients.
Nikki participates in various trade and community organizations. Involvement in these associations enables her to stay current with industry trends and other issues that affect clients and gives her insight to structure risk management programs to meet her clients' needs.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- D & O Insurance for Foreign IPOs: a 2025 Step - by - Step Guide
- Derivative Suit Exposure: More Art Than Science
- Expert in D & O
- Guide to Private Company D & O Insurance, 2025
- Member of the Advisory Board of the Stanford University Rock Center for Corporate Governance
- Private Company Litigation: Yes, It Can Happen to You
- Senior Vice President, Management Liability
Priya Cherian Huskins is a recognized expert in D&O liability risk and its mitigation. In addition to consulting on D&O insurance matters, she counsels clients on corporate governance, including ways to reduce their exposure to shareholder lawsuits and regulatory investigations.
Priya is a frequent speaker on D&O issues and a regular guest lecturer at Stanford's Directors' College. She has appeared on CNBC and been quoted in publications ranging from the Wall Street Journal to the Financial Times. She is also the editor of the D&O Notebook, a blog that analyzes and summarizes issues as they arise in the areas of D&O liability, insurance and corporate governance.
Priya serves on the board of directors of Realty Income Corporation (NYSE: O) and NMI Holdings, Inc.(Nasdaq: NMIH). She also serves on the board of the Long Term Stock Exchange and previously served as the Presiding Director of Woodruff Sawyer until its acquisition by Gallagher.
Priya is a member of the advisory board of the Stanford University Rock Center for Corporate Governance. In 2024, Priya was named a Directorship 100 honoree by the National Association of Corporate Directors.
Prior to joining Woodruff Sawyer (a Gallagher Company), Priya practiced corporate and securities law at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Priya has worked with both public and private technology companies through all stages of their development. Priya was awarded her juris doctorate with honors from the Law School at the University of Chicago. She earned her undergraduate degree with high honors from Harvard University.
Job Titles:
- Independent Director
- Member of the Board of Directors
Renu is a seasoned executive and board director with over 25 years of experience in growing companies and transforming business models. She is on the board of Luther Burbank Corporation (NASDAQ: LBC) and a member of their Audit & Risk, and Nominating & Governance Committees. She also serves on the board of Allvue Systems, a privately held investment software solutions provider. Renu spent 13 years at Wells Fargo, leading and setting strategies for multiple divisions. Prior to that, she was Chief Operating Officer for both ValleyCrest Companies and Quisic Corporation. Renu started her career as a scientist at Polaroid and was at McKinsey for several years.
Roger leads Woodruff Sawyer's business development, marketing, and sales operations strategy and execution, helping drive corporate growth.
Before joining Woodruff Sawyer in 2018, Roger spent more than 15 years in enterprise sales and leadership in both early-stage VC-backed and post-IPO companies--bringing a breadth of operator's perspective to the brokerage business.
Roger studied psychology at Norwich University and is a fundraising volunteer for the Navy SEAL Foundation.
Job Titles:
- President, Employee Benefits
With oversight of our Employee Benefits operations and strategic execution of services, Ryan focuses on making clients' lives easier through better analytics tools, automation, and meeting the needs of our clients and their employees.
Ryan has more than 17 years of experience in the Employee Benefits industry, having held leadership positions on both the brokerage and carrier sides of the business. His specialties include complex analytics and data mining with areas of expertise in underwriting, financial analysis, and ad-hoc analytics. Ryan has bachelor's and master's degrees in health care administration from California State University, Long Beach.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Senior Vice President, Management Liability
Sean is an expert in executive liability and risk management, specifically D&O liability and M&A insurance. He has authored several articles on D&O liability and M&A-related products and has structured financial risk solutions for hundreds of companies.
Sean currently serves a multitude of pre-IPO and public clients spanning various industries, with a particular focus on high tech, life science and health care. Sean's success representing clients as an insurance broker is the result of his ability to maximize his relationships and utilize his problem-solving skills established during his many years practicing as an attorney, most recently at Testa Hurwitz. While at Testa, Sean practiced as both a litigation and corporate attorney.
Sean has served as a lieutenant in the Judge Advocate General Corps (J.A.G.) of the United States Navy. Sean graduated magna cum laude from Providence College and earned his juris doctorate with honors from the University of Connecticut where he served on the Law Review and Moot Court Board.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Senior Vice President, Management Liability
Susan is one of the world's foremost experts on executive liability and risk management, including Directors & Officers Liability Insurance. She joined Woodruff Sawyer in 2009 and has 20 years of experience counseling clients of all sizes and complexity, from Fortune 500 corporations to start-ups. Susan is routinely referred to companies experiencing profoundly difficult D&O renewals, as she is known for constructing creative solutions in complicated situations. Her clients span multiple industries-including high-tech, life science, healthcare, retail and energy-in the US and throughout the world.
With a master's degree from Cal Tech and a breadth of professional experience, Susan brings a uniquely analytical and sophisticated approach to executive liability and risk management. She is results-driven and tenacious, focused on obtaining customized solutions for her clients.
Susan is a frequent speaker on executive liability topics. She has regularly joined the faculty of the Stanford Directors' College, and has spoken at numerous symposia.
Job Titles:
- the 2025 Guide to D & O Insurance for SPAC IPOs
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer
- Claims 101: Carrier, We Have a Problem ( Part 1 )
- Considerations in Employee Auto Accidents
- Pre - Work Can Help You More Efficiently Manage Your Claims
- Preventing Social Engineering Losses
As Chief Operating Officer, Zac leads our Claims, IT, Legal, and Internal Risk operations, which includes a specific focus on our technology strategy and use of technology in our business. He also oversees our operations in the Pacific Northwest, Southern California, Colorado/Mountain region, and New England.
In 2019, he was named in Business America's "Hot 100," which lists top professionals whose contributions have helped shape the insurance industry. As a longstanding instructor and author on the topics of insurance claims and risk management, Zac has co-authored insurance education textbooks and has been published in a variety of industry journals such as the Risk Management Magazine, CPCU Journal, and Risk Management Quarterly.
Zac earned his MBA from Golden Gate University in San Francisco and bachelor's degree in economics from Sonoma State University. He holds the CPCU, RPLU, ARM, CPDM, MLIS, and RIMS Fellow designations.