Rickey Smithberg's Profile and Contact Information
Profile
I have been in the insurance business for over 41 years and have vast experience in primarily the Benefits Market, but also I have been re-licensed in Property & Casualty for the past 8 years. My experience ranges from being a Carrier Representative (Hartford, CNA, Aetna, and Sierra Health Services) to a Brokerage General Agent (Empire Benefits) as well as a producer for multi-line agencies (Livermore & Associates, Morgan & Franz, Lovitt & Touche and AmeriSent), I have owned and run my own Independent Agency and Brokerage General Agency and am now the President at Insurance Tigers (a Independent Multi-Line Agency) in Las Vegas, Nevada with primary duties in selling Property & Casualty and Group Medical and Ancillary products, in addition to agency management.
As I said above, I have been a Carrier Representative for approximately 1/2 of my carrier and with those companies I was also a Manager with Hartford, Aetna and Sierra Health Services. I have extensive experience in the Self Funded Market as well as Health Reimbursement Plans, with massive experience in the Group and Ancillary products market. My Property & Casualty experience started in California in 1978 and continued there until I left the state in 1993. It resumed in 2009 as I returned to a producer position in an independent agency.
As rewarding as my career is (I wake up every morning looking forward to going to work) my foundation is with my wife, Justin, of over 34 years. Having a loving, intimate relationship with your best friend is as good as it can get. With her we enjoy our 2 pets, Maggie, a 12 lb. Mini-Min Pin, and Noodle, a finicky, but lovable long-tail cat. I had to give up golf, but am an avid coin collector and dealer of ancient Greek and Roman coins and artifacts. I also have found a great deal of fun and excitement in gold panning with my wife. It is so calming to drift the sand and small rocks out of your pan and occasionally finding the glimmer gold in the catches.
Experience
– Present (1 year 5 months)
My Partner, Steve Janovitch, and I choose to start our own Multi-Line, Independent Agency because we wanted to provide provide excellent person service, large access to quality Personal Lines, Commercial and Surety carriers as well as to continue with the Group Medical and Ancillary Lines in which both of us have a great deal of experience. We first contracted with Southwest Insurance Agents Alliance (SIAA) which is a consortium of 5,200 agencies which last year sold $6.2B in premium. They have provided superior training and support to our agency goals and growth.
The combination of all lines of insurance coverage being offered, presented, sold and serviced provides us the ability to service our clients on a very personal and professional basis. Having the ability to review and analyze all of their insurance risks, and then to be able to offer an integrated solution just seems the best method to verify that our valued clients (and prospects) are achieving the best use and value of all of their insurance dollars spent.
My position within the Agency is to coordinate with all of the various carriers, contract with the appropriate ones to have the ability to have great, solid carriers to offer protection to our clients. I am also in charge of creating our customized presentation proposals which summarizes, in laymen's terms, the major points of coverage of any line of coverage to better explain and augment the carrier quotes which tend to be confusing to most clients.
Steve is our agency Technical Wizard and is charge of all tech in our agency ranging from our website (www.InsuranceTigers.com) to our Agency Management Program, Rating Programs, Prospecting Technology, Client interaction methods and, like me, sales.
We both invite you to visit our website, and contact us if you feel our approach to providing and servicing all lines of insurance would work for you or some you know.
– (6 years 9 months)Las Vegas, Nevada
Vice President, Benefits Department and P&C Producer
I acted as the Sales Strategist to our current and new clients for their needs with Medical, Dental, Vision, Group Life, and Short and Long Term Disability Income. We also offered Payroll Deducted Work-site products. I complement the above with sales of personal Life Insurance, Disability and Business Life and Disability coverage. I actively cross-sold Property & Casualty coverage to our accounts to satisfy those needs and round out their relationship with myself and the agency.
- (Open)1 recommendation
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– (2 years)
As the Account Manager my duties were to coordinate with the senior management of our clients to review, analyze and construct the entire Benefits Plan for their employees to meet or exceed the expectations of management so as to increase the productivity of their recruiting, retention and increased employee morale and understanding how and what they could do to maximize the value (to them) of the Benefit Plan.
I accomplished this by working with all of the carriers management and representatives to understand the intricacies of the various products and how they operated and melded this knowledge with the clients needs and desires.
My team then worked with Human Resources with the new plan designs and/or products to implement a smooth and informative enrollment through face to face employee enrollment meetings, online enrollment, and video enrollments to capture all employees, where ever they were located.
We continued to monitor and work with the HR staff, management and the carriers to ensure a smooth transition and to also work with them through dedicated follow-up meetings to discuss the inter-workings of the plans and to make any adjustments necessary by either the carriers, or the clients management techniques.
– (7 years 8 months)Las Vegas, Nevada Area
I moved over to the Commercial Sales side to expand the prospect base that I could work with. My position here had me working directly with my pool of Brokers to identify, strategize, pursue and sell targeted accounts. Once again I worked closely with the Underwriters and Senior Management to negotiate favorable plans and rates for approximately 55 new clients that generated 48,000 new members and $65 million in premium.
– (4 years 8 months)
Ran all Sales efforts for a carrier based self funded product including Reinsurance, PPO Network, Pharmacy Benefit Manager, TPA Services and all supporting plan services (medical management, wellness, nurse advice line, etc.) as well as full integration with underwriting to customize Specific and Aggregate coverages. We worked on a team concept with the Claims Manager and the plan' Executive Director to ensure all aspects of our service to our current and new clients was coordinated to their specific needs. In the four and one half years in this position we added approximately 65 new clients with 62,000 members for over $38 million in premium and fees.
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