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Executive
Management
John A. Logan
- Founder, CEO and Chairman of
SafeGuard Guaranty Corporation, Mr. Logan is an experienced,
multi-industry serial entrepreneur and new product developer.
Starting his first venture in 1982 at age 25, he has been a founder,
partner or major contributor in five successful startups in the
business brokerage, entertainment, publishing, HR software and
insurance industries.
One of the first civilian recipients of the
"Hammer" award during the Clinton administration, for a joint
project between the US government and the Yellow Pages publishing
industry,
Mr. Logan also spent 11 years with Ameritech and SBC (now part of
AT&T) as Senior Director of New Product Development. During that
time Mr. Logan also served as Chairman of the Direct Delivery
Network, a consortium of all the major Yellow Pages publishers
across the United States.
At Ameritech, Mr. Logan was accountable for
more than $83 million in
revenue and was responsible for consecutive years of record growth
in the White Pages division.
At Peopleclick, recruited personally by
then CEO, Curt Witte to direct the development of the now world
leading HR software organization's sales infrastructure, Mr. Logan
was part of the executive team that led the fledgling startup's
revenue growth from $1 million in 1999 to $42 million in recurring
revenue in 2001, capturing 52 of the Fortune 100 as clients along
the way.
Prior to incorporating SafeGuard Guaranty
Corporation, as
President of Business Benefits Solutions Network (formerly the
Macedoin Consulting Group - an employee benefits/insurance
development and research firm and brokerage agency), Mr. Logan spent four years thoroughly
researching the insurance industry from the inside out at the
executive level. Representing
industry giants like Aflac, Assurant (formerly Fortis), Mutual of Omaha
and many others, he was able to identify processes and business
models that the conglomerate insurance companies use to ensure
success of new product offerings. As one of the top 50 (of 4200)
Aflac broker/agents in North Carolina in 2004, Mr. Logan’s innovative ideas
on Health Savings Account based products and large account targeting
strategies granted him ready access to C-level decision makers at Aflac, and
provided him with an insider’s view of the strategic analysis and
product development processes at one of the most successful niche
market insurance companies.
A
published author and accomplished artist as well as an innovative
entrepreneur, Mr. Logan focused his creative talent and exacting
analytical skills to develop an insurance based product that provides
both wealth creation and much needed financial protection for
married couples worldwide.
Applying life insurance actuary statistical data to the
Marriage Assurancesm market, Mr. Logan was able to create
SafeGuard’s contrarian business model. The same business acumen and
online marketing techniques that helped grow Peopleclick from a
struggling start-up to a world leader will be applied to SafeGuard’s
business strategies.
Matthew M. Sutton
– Chief Technology Officer, Mr. Sutton has been an innovative and
successful Systems Engineer for 9 years. Mr. Sutton has assisted
multiple companies from the startup phase to success including
positions as CTO of the Macedoin Consulting Group and Operations
Engineer with world leading HR Software ASP Peopleclick, Inc. in
tandem with Mr. Logan. As former co-owner of Adrenix Computers in
Clayton, NC, Mr. Sutton appeared in the June 7th, 2004 subscription
edition of Forbes Magazine in his IT Consultant position for Capital
Resource Solutions, LLC. Mr. Sutton is a graduate of North Carolina
Central University.
Thomas B. Mayo III
– Chief Financial Officer.
Financial services management in the banking and insurance
industries for over 30 years. As President and Co-Founder of Swift
Insurance Brokers in Chicago, IL (1998-2009) and CEO/CFO of CMA
Holdings, Chicago, IL (1996-1998) a $10 million holding company of a
property casualty insurer. Prior to 1996, Mr. Mayo’s experience in
various Vice Presidential roles at First Chicago NBD/First National
Bank of Chicago (1979-1996 - acquired by JPMorgan Chase) included an
international stint in Paris, France and have demonstrated his
unique capability for entrepreneurial thinking within the highly
regulated financial services industry. Mr. Mayo received an MBA in
Finance from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business,
Chicago, IL and his Bachelor of Arts from the University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC.
Kenneth M. Fries
– EVP of
Distribution & Strategic Alliances, Mr. Fries has a solid track
record of exceptional performance in the insurance industry dating
back to 1983. As Assistant Vice President, Office of Project
Management & Efficiencies, Annuity Division for MassMutual Financial
Group in Hartford, CT, and various positions within The Hartford
Financial Services Group, Hartford, CT including Vice President,
Agency Strategy, eBusiness & Technology and Assistant Vice
President, Client Consultative Services, eBusiness & Technology, Mr.
Fries’ extensive carrier and agency experience in the insurance and
financial services industry has demonstrated success in creating
distinctive strategies and translating them into sales through a
distribution approach combined with technology. Mr. Fries managed
his own independent insurance agency from 1990-1997 and began his
insurance career with Aetna Life & Casualty, Hartford, CT. Mr. Fries
has a Bachelor of Science, Accounting (awarded in 3 years) from the
University of Hartford.
Board of Directors
John A. Logan (Chairman)
–
See above.
Benjamin L. McSwiney
- Mr. McSwiney served as President and CEO of Bell & Howell
Worldwide Mail Handling Systems, Duplex Products and Whitestar
Graphics. He also served as Vice President and General Manager of
Williamhouse in Scottsdale, PA, a subsidiary of
Williamhouse-Regency, a manufacturer and printer of specialty paper
products. Mr. McSwiney held the position of Executive in Residence
at North Carolina State University in Raleigh (1998-99), giving
instruction in strategic planning and implementation at both the
graduate and undergraduate levels.
Mr. McSwiney is the co-founder of the “Cure
for Parkinson’s Foundation”. He has served as a board member for
Points West Corporation and Galaxy Motorsports. Mr. McSwiney was
also formerly the owner of Stellarcon, Inc. and co-owner of
Pointswest Inc. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of
Active Data Services, Inc., a business process outsourcing firm.
Adryenn Ashley
– Ms. Ashley is a
member of the Institute for Certified Divorce Financial Analysts,
the International Association of Divorce Financial Planners, and the
Financial Divorce Association. Ms. Ashley is the author of several
books, numerous divorce-related articles, and speaks at seminars and
to regional groups addressing the financial elements of divorce. She
is also a Licensed California Real Estate Mortgage Broker.
Ms. Ashley is a passionate marriage and family support activist
and lobbyist. She is a successful independent film producer with
many credits through her company 21st Century Pictures Group,
including the documentary “Anarchy Ahead – The Harvesting of
American Families” which investigates the human and financial costs
caused by profiteering in the family law industry. Her first feature
“Metal”, won much critical acclaim including the Jury Prize at the
Pan African Film Festival and Best Picture at the Seattle
Underground Film Festival.
Ms. Ashley’s most recent book
"Every Single Girl's Guide
to Her Future Husband's Last Divorce," is a sassy financial
guide that brings humor and attitude to an otherwise touchy,
challenging subject and a must read for any girl marrying a divorced
guy.
She is a veteran online marketing expert with multiple active
websites, including
WowIsMe.net which teaches the “shameless art of
self-promotion” across print, broadcast and interactive (web) media.
Ms. Ashley holds a Masters Degree from Sonoma State University, a
Bachelors Degree from Dominican College of San Rafael, and has over
100 hours of training in Mediation. She is also certified in
Negotiation and Conflict Management. Ms. Ashley is also a member of
the American Bar Association's Family Law section.
Richard M. Hecker
- Mr. Hecker is a founding partner at
BootStrapper.com,
a Startup consulting and incubation group.
Mr. Hecker has been a serial entrepreneur since High School in 1998
when he started his first business, Review Master, aggregating and
selling test notes and reviews for exams & NYS regents. He then went
on to found a successful stock analysis website while still a
teenager. This led him to merge his site with that of another young
entrepreneur and the two partners then developed a multi-million
dollar interactive ad agency and email house, ClickZen Worldwide in
2000. In 2003, Mr. Hecker created a separate lead generation
division, ZenFinancial, a large call center outsourcing firm
specializing in outbound telemarketing of financial services.
ZenFinancial was spun off into a separate company that he led for 2
years and then sold in 2005. Since then, he has founded
SeedingIT.com, The Global
Seed Capital Network and the BootStrapper Group, and has been
consulting for various startups in marketing strategy & finance and
has invested in and co-founded a number of small startups.
Mr. Hecker is currently working on building a next generation ad
exchange and number of innovative projects including
TakesAllTypes.org, a non profit he co-founded, which received
critical acclaim from the NY Times & Techcrunch for being the first
“useful” and “meaningful” facebook application. Mr. Hecker received
a Bachelors Degree in Finance from Binghamton University.
Laura Bennett
-
Ms.
Bennett is the Chief Embracer and Co-Founder of
Embrace Pet Insurance,
a direct-to-consumer provider of pet health insurance based in
Cleveland, Ohio. Embrace Pet Insurance’s next-generation health
insurance products for cats and dogs remove the need for pet owners
to face the choice of necessary, but costly, medical care against
the life of their pet.
Ms.
Bennett has over 17 years of insurance industry experience,
including her 5 years working at Embrace. Previously, she worked for
The Canada Life Assurance Company in Toronto, Canada for 12 years,
in a number of different leadership roles in asset-liability
management, strategic planning, and business development, and 4
years in the Dublin, Ireland office. Just prior to Embrace, she was
the CFO of the Canadian Life Assurance Company's individual life and
health businesses, developing the role through the company’s
demutualization.
Ms. Bennett and Alex Krooglik, Embrace Pet Insurance Company's
founders, met in 2001 at The Wharton School of Business in
Philadelphia while doing their MBAs. After a classmate's cat got
sick and cost several thousand dollars to get well again, they began
to investigate the pet insurance market in the US and discovered how
underserved the market was. They then wrote a pet insurance business
plan in their second year of business school and eventually won the
2002-03 Wharton Business Plan Competition with the idea. Ms. Bennett
received her MBA from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton
School, where she graduated as a Palmer Scholar and Siebel Scholar
in 2003. Embrace Pet Insurance was founded a short time later. She
was also awarded by her peers The Class of 2001 Leadership Award,
presented to the student in the graduating MBA class who most
exemplifies the spirit of Wharton in terms of leadership, teamwork,
scholarship, and service. She majored in Strategic and
Entrepreneurship Management.
As Chief Executive Officer of Embrace, Ms. Bennett is responsible
for the day-to-day operations of the company, as well as the
company’s strategic direction. She also fills the financial and
insurance roles in the company, including the accounting, actuarial,
underwriting and fund-raising activities, as well as the HR and
Communication functions. Ms. Bennett also sits on the Embrace Pet
Insurance Company’s Board of Directors.
Ms. Bennett
also holds an honors mathematics degree from the University of
Western Ontario (Canada), is an actuary (FSA,), and holds the
chartered financial analyst designation (CFA). |