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John Hunt Jr.
Executive Chairman (Co-Founder)
Mr. Hunt has over 40 years of insurance industry experience and most recently served as Chairman of Hunt Insurance Group, LLC (HIG), overseeing the management and daily operations of the Group. HIG specializes in providing specialized self insurance fund administration for law enforcement in Florida in the areas of professional liability, auto fleet, workers compensation and group health care. Mr. Hunt retired as Executive Chairman of HIG in August 2008 to become Executive Chairman of Star & Shield. He is a licensed insurance agent for property and casualty, miscellaneous lines, life and health, and has been a Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) since 1976.
Mr. Hunt is a graduate of Miami-Dade Community College and attended the University of Miami. Mr. Hunt has previously served as the President of the Independent Insurance Agents of Tallahassee, Charter President of Sunrise Rotary Club, Chairman and nine-year member of the Insurance Advisory Committee for the City of Tallahassee, and has served as Agent Representative for the Agent's Councils for both Safeco and Continental Insurance Companies, as well as Director and Officer of Tallahassee Jaycees. Mr. Hunt has also served on the local Board of Directors/Advisors for First Florida Bank, Barnett Bank of Tallahassee and Nations Bank.
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Allen Durham
President and Chief Executive Officer (Co-Founder)
Mr. Durham has 14 years of insurance industry experience. The majority of his career prior to Star & Shield was as a reinsurance broker, working with numerous insurance companies across the United States. This experience included placing the reinsurance for two large law enforcement self insurance funds in Florida for many years. During his involvement with these funds, Mr. Durham developed the idea of forming a member-owned auto and home insurance company dedicated to the law enforcement, corrections and fire rescue communities and their families.
He approached Mr. John Hunt, at the time Chairman of Hunt Insurance Group (HIG), with the idea. HIG is an industry leader in the administration of self insurance funds for public safety entities. Mr. Durham’s proposal was in response to requests Mr. Hunt had received over the years to provide a specialized home and auto program for public safety personnel. Rather than just provide a specialized insurance program, Mr. Durham proposed building an insurance company that would be dedicated to this well deserving group and owned by its members (policyholders). Mr. Durham joined HIG briefly as an Executive Vice President in 2007 to finalize the business plan that has become Star & Shield. In July of 2008 Mr. Durham left HIG to assume his role as President/CEO and build the operational infrastructure, raise the initial capital, hire the management team and proceed with the legal and regulatory approvals for Star & Shield.
Prior to joining Hunt Insurance Group in September 2007, Mr. Durham was a Senior Vice President of Benfield, Inc. (now Aon Benfield), the largest insurance and reinsurance broker in the world. Mr. Durham was a branch manager of Benfield’s Dallas, Texas office and held leadership positions on several of Benfield’s largest accounts. He was also a member of Benfield’s Senior Broker Forum, a Benfield Top Gun class graduate and an instructor in Benfield’s renowned education program. A great deal of Mr. Durham’s experience and expertise relates to personal lines homeowners business in Florida in addition to other lines of business including: professional liability, workers compensation, personal auto, commercial property and commercial general liability.
In addition to his experience with Benfield, Mr. Durham has also held positions with Willis Re, E.W. Blanch Co., Transamerica and worked as an independent consultant. Mr. Durham holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Memphis School of Law and a Bachelor of Science in Risk Management and Insurance from the Florida State University College of Business. In addition, he also holds the Associate in Reinsurance (ARe) and Associate in Risk Management (ARM) designations from the Insurance Institute of America. Mr. Durham holds a Florida General Lines Property & Casualty 220 license.
He currently serves on Board of Directors and Executive Committee for the Florida State University National Alumni Association, the Board of Governors for the Florida State University College of Business, and the Advisory Council for the Florida Catastrophic Storm Risk Management Center. He has been honored with the prestigious Circle of Gold Award by Florida State University and has been a guest lecturer numerous times for Florida State University’s Risk Management and Insurance major. Mr. Durham is also a past member of the Board of Directors for the Southwestern Insurance Information Service.
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Jai Heerah
Chief Underwriting Officer
Mr. Heerah has extensive experience in overseeing the operations of underwriting and pricing. He previously served as Vice President of Underwriting for Avatar Property and Casualty Insurance Company where he developed a residential homeowners program, including complete rates and rules form filings.
From 2005-2006, Mr. Heerah was the Director of Underwriting for First Fidelity Insurance, during which time he researched rate trends, historical data, all major company filings and developed rates and rules for a new residential homeowners product.
Prior to First Fidelity Insurance, Mr. Heerah was an underwriting manager for Mercury Insurance Company, responsible for a division of private passenger auto and residential homeowners’ products in Florida and Virginia. He was part of the Mercury Florida management team from 1998 to 2005 that grew operations from start up to over $500M of volume within seven years and expanded Mercury into several east coast states.
Mr. Heerah has the following professional degrees: MBA - University of South Florida; MS Construction Management - University of the West Indies; BS Civil Engineering - University of the West Indies. He also holds a General Lines Property & Casualty 220 license and a Life, Health & Variable Annuity 215 license.
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Richard Wachter
Vice President and Director of Operations
Mr. Wachter brings 32 years of insurance industry experience to Star & Shield. His significant industry accomplishments include 5 years as Vice President of Administration for Tower Hill Insurance Group; a Gainesville, Florida based insurance operation which controls roughly $500 million of premium in Florida, and 27 years at Foremost Insurance Company where he held the position of Vice President in Sales, Marketing and Operations capacities.
In addition to his insurance industry accomplishments, Mr. Wachter also worked for 5 years as the Business Manager for Holy Family Catholic Church in Caledonia, MI.
Mr. Wachter received his undergraduate and MBA degrees from Grand Valley State University.
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