Our Leadership Team

Tom joined PGIA in May 2019 to start up the Northeast Branch for PGIA writing both Primary and Excess Casualty Business with a large base of loyal wholesale brokers that Tom had developed over the previous 18 years in the business. The Shelton, CT office quickly became the second largest producing office within PGIA and produced immediate strong financial returns. Tom was promoted to President of PGIA in January of 2021. 

Prior to joining PGIA, Tom Farrell served as Director of Commercial Excess & Umbrella at Hudson Insurance Company from 2016 to 2019. He built the Excess Division from the ground up. Tom also created all the underwriting guidelines and forms/endorsements for the Excess Division and worked closely with the IT department to develop a fast and efficient paperless rating/quoting system. Tom was responsible for developing a client base from scratch using his strong prior wholesale broker relationships. Tom also served as the Excess Referral Underwriter for the Primary Auto division at Hudson Insurance Company. Prior to Hudson Insurance Company, Tom served as East Coast Regional Vice President for Admiral Insurance Company’s Excess Division from 2006 to 2016. Tom built up and cultivated a profitable $30M book of Excess Casualty business which consisted of GL and Auto driven business throughout the East Coast. Tom also served as the referral underwriter for certain Auto lines of business at Admiral Excess. From 2005 to 2006, he was a Casualty Specialist at Chubb Custom Market in NYC working on Primary and Excess Middle Market Casualty Business. Tom started his insurance career at General Star Insurance Company in NYC in 2001 and was promoted to Senior Underwriter within 3 years. Tom holds a Juris Doctor from St. John’s University School of Law (2000) and a BA in Political Science from Villanova University (1995).

Julie Rappoldt attended San Diego State University and began her career in insurance in 1992, at First State Insurance Services (a subsidiary of Hartford Insurance Company).

Julie joined Sterling West Insurance Services in 2000 and learned the brokerage side of excess and surplus lines business. In October 2001, Julie returned to her underwriting roots and joined Partners General Insurance Agency. (The first official employee!). For over 20 years, Julie has handled all aspects of underwriting for PGIA. In 2015, Julie became Regional Vice President for the West Coast, and oversaw all aspects of the Simi office –managing both the underwriting staff and the assistants to ensure all aspects of the operation ran smoothly. Julie has been instrumental in training many successful underwriters within PGIA, and has overseen all processing for the assistant team in Simi Valley, CA. In 2022, Julie was promoted to Chief Underwriting Officer and now oversees the underwriting operations for all offices. Julie is a liaison between all of our carrier partners, and ensures we are maintaining our high underwriting standards, as well as making sure we have a consistent approach countrywide for all underwriting operations. In addition, Julie is part of regular meetings with each of our carrier partners, keeping open communication with each carrier and making sure PGIA is positioned to be able to respond quickly to market changes.

Prior to PGIA, Hope Sherman most recently served as Controller for a group of related businesses which included general contracting, plumbing, real estate holdings and a retail insurance agency. Hope graduated from the University of Connecticut in 1989 with a BS in Accounting and started her career as an auditor with Deloitte. After obtaining her CPA, she moved on into a senior accounting position with Calvert Insurance, a small specialty property & casualty carrier based in New Jersey. During her tenure, Hope was involved with STAT and GAAP accounting and had the opportunity to assist Calvert’s parent company, Gryphon Holdings, with SEC reporting as well. From there, Hope took an accounting manager position with Ernst & Young working within the internal accounting center for the LLP. In this role, Hope developed and managed the accounting operations for all start up subsidiary entities. After E&Y, Hope spent several years as a consultant to small businesses assisting with accounting setup and operations. Based on her diverse industry exposure and broad accounting background, Hope brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to this position.

Lauren is a 2002 graduate of Hofstra University with a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree. Lauren began her 20+ year claims career at Liberty Mutual in 2002 and while there, and in 2006 earned her Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) degree with a concentration in Finance. Lauren has worked at four major Property & Casualty commercial lines carriers, handling automobile and general liability claims for large corporate commercial customers, in a variety of roles; responsibilities included working directly with policyholders, risk managers and brokers, overseeing and managing high exposure litigated claims throughout the country and reviewing and providing coverage analysis. Lauren has handled a multitude of lines of business, in both the primary and excess fields, including auto and general liability, New York Labor Law, negligent security, dram shop, construction defect and trucking/transportation. Lauren most recently completed an 8-year tenure at Sompo International Insurance (f/k/a Endurance), where she left holding the title of AVP, Claims Specialist. Lauren managed a complex excess casualty caseload at Sompo with a specialty focus on high value trucking and transportation claims. Lauren joined PGIA in March of 2023 as the Chief Claims Officer and brings a wealth of knowledge and significant experience to this position. Lauren holds SCLA and CPCU Designations.

Jackie joined PGIA in January 2024.  Jackie started her career over 25 years ago at Penn-America Insurance Group. She spent 13 years there rising through the ranks from Policy Technician to Assistant Underwriter to Underwriter and then Senior Underwriter.  She then joined Burlington Insurance Group/First Financial in 2010 to help start the King of Prussia, PA office as the lead underwriter for the Northeast and New England territories. In 2013, Jackie joined Hudson Insurance Group at the creation of their new Binding Authority as Program Manager and Underwriting Supervisor. She was responsible for form creation and management, internal procedures and processes, claims liaison, overseeing audits of the contracted Managing General Agents, creation of new niche programs and classes and content of the underwriting guide as well as directly managing the staff of four Assistant Underwriters. Jackie holds an AU and ASLI designation.

Morgan Chima joined Partners General Insurance Agency in 2014 as a Junior Underwriter. Morgan’s career progressed from Junior Underwriter to Senior Underwriter during her time at Partners General, and in 2022 she was promoted to Regional Vice President for the West Coast in which she manages the Simi Valley office’s assistants and underwriters. Morgan underwrites General Liability and Excess Liability for Partners General focusing on Casualty lines of business. Morgan is a graduate of University of California Santa Barbara with a Biology Degree (2012) and California Lutheran University with an MBA degree (2021). Morgan has taken various industry classes and attended NAPSLO E&S School.

Michael has sixteen years of experience in profitably underwriting Commercial General Liability and Excess Liability risks.  He began his insurance career in 2006 working for Network E&S Insurance Brokers in Fresno, CA, where he underwrote for their in-house programs and assisted as a wholesale surplus lines broker.  He joined Partners General in 2008 and has developed expertise in writing practice policies for contractors in Construction Defect states, writing project-specific policies for General Contractors and Project Owners, and also in managing NY Labor Law exposures for contractors and premises owners.

Dave Waldron graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2002 with a Degree in Psychology and a Minor in Business Administration. He began working in the insurance industry in 2007 starting as an UW Assistant at Atlantic Specialty Lines in 2007.  Dave was promoted to Producer in 2010.  He stayed a broker until 2014 and then moved to the company side and was hired by Colony as a Senior UW.  At Colony, he underwrote General Liability and Excess. Dave then made the jump to Rockhill/PGIA in 2017 where he was hired as a Senior UW working General Liability and Excess.  Dave was recently promoted as of January 1, 2020 to Regional Vice President. Dave holds the ASLI and AU Designations.

Matt Schwartz is a graduate from Muhlenberg College with a degree in Psychology and Philosophy. Matt began his career at Navigators Insurance Company in 2014, working in the General and Excess Liability Underwriting Operations Department. He joined Hudson Insurance Company’s Excess Division in 2016. Matt worked on every aspect of the Newly Formed Excess Division’s startup from forms and endorsement creation to rating/quoting system implementation to marketing and client development. He was responsible for training incoming staff and was the referral person for all back-office processing items. Matt was promoted to Junior Underwriter in 2017 and was put in charge of the Excess Division’s $12M renewal book of business. He was also responsible for the overseeing of two underwriting assistants and a team of 7 overseas consultants working on the back-office business for the Excess Division at Hudson. Matt joined Partners General in 2019 as an Underwriter in the Connecticut Office. Matt was promoted to a Senior Underwriter in 2021, before being named Regional Vice President in January of 2022. Matt currently oversees our 21 overseas consultants working on the back-office business for PGIA as well as a team of 4 Underwriters.

Angel underwrites a stand-alone lead Excess Liability Program for risks located across the United States within PGIA. Angel joined PGIA from San Francisco, CA-based Presto Insurance Services, where she served as Founder and Chief Executive Officer since 2013. Prior to Presto, Angel held senior underwriting roles at Century Surety Company and First Capital. She joined Partners Insurance Agency in 2023 as Vice President. Angel brings strong distribution and brokerage connections and deep underwriting expertise, particularly in the Excess Liability segment. Angel earned her BS degree in Mathematics and Economics from the University of Pittsburgh.

John joined PGIA in July of 2023 with the mission of starting a Large Accounts unit for commercial liability. Tapping into 30 years of large accounts E&S experience while maximizing wholesale brokerage partnerships has created a much-needed niche for PGIA to grow profitably. Based in Scottsdale, Az., John will work with wholesale brokers on a national scale.

Prior to John joining the PGIA team, John was Executive Vice President at Sompo International heading up E&S casualty lines. Overseeing a book of primary and excess casualty, as well as transportation, John was a part of a team that generated over $545m in gross written premium. The national operation worked exclusively with the wholesale distribution outlets. Before Sompo, John was a founder of the startup insurance company Ategrity Specialty Insurance Company, where he served as Chief Underwriting Officer for all of Brokerage. John, along with three other founders, created an insurance company from ground up. Entertaining large and national accounts as well as programs, the Ategrity brokerage department grew from zero to $145m in four years. Again, working exclusively through the wholesale distribution chain. John has also been a part of leadership teams at Scottsdale Insurance, XL insurance, and WR Berkley. John also has international experience having worked in London for five years on the reinsurance side.