Podcasts

I was in a fog following my son’s suicide — and my employees saved my business. Here’s why that realization changed everything for me as an adviser.

Large banks are facing an increasingly difficult challenge on environmental and social issues: balancing the demands of progressive activists and their own employees with those of Republican state officials. One analyst calls it the “goldilocks dynamic.”

Adam is an associate financial planning nerd for Kitces.com. He previously worked at a fee-only financial planning firm in the Washington, D.C., area and was a financial journalist earlier in his career. He has a master's degree from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia. In his spare time, Adam can be found playing tennis, volunteering and sharing his love of puns.

Robert Petrarca, co-founder and CEO of Maxine’s Heavenly, explains why a diverse executive team is essential to a company’s success.

According to a recent Deloitte survey, nearly 70% of C-suite respondents are seriously considering quitting their current jobs.

Mike Foy is the senior director and head of wealth intelligence at J.D. Power. He has over 20 years of experience in wealth management working with industry executives on how to improve the experience and drive loyalty and advocacy among both clients and financial advisors.

Jim Blachek is the CEO of Dynamic Benefit Solutions.

Tracey is the director for small commercial underwriting at Verisk. She is responsible for the strategy and execution of small commercial and casualty underwriting products, focused on powering automated underwriting and digital transformation in the industry.

Deb Smallwood, Senior Partner at Strategy Meets Action, a ReSource Pro Company, is widely recognized as an industry thought leader who is known for her “big strategic thinking with pragmatic approaches to transformation.” Deb challenges the status quo of insurance and influences the industry to reimage the business of insurance for the digital connected world.

Deb’s passion is to advise carriers and MGA’s to create transformation strategies and plans by bringing clarity to the possibilities of change and innovation. For over 30 years, Deb has helped hundreds of clients transform their businesses driving high business value and success. Deb’s deep expertise is commercial lines underwriting transformation and how best to leverage customer experience, digital enablement and transformational technologies and data.

Prior to launching Strategy Meets Action, Deb held a variety of leadership roles including VP of the insurance practice at Tower Group, Chief Transformation Officer (CIO) at Insurance Company of the West (ICW), Partner at KPMG LLP, and Head of Commercial Lines Application Development & Maintenance at Liberty Mutual.

Deb is often asked to contribute to major insurance publications and is also a frequent keynote speaker at leading industry conferences.

Edward Webb currently serves as BPM’s advisory partner, offering over 35 years of experience in consulting and financial management, including specific experience in transaction advisory services for both healthy and stressed companies. A published author and speaker, he currently leads the Corporate Finance Consulting Group at BPM and sits on the firm's Management Committee. He holds a doctorate in business administration with an emphasis in ownership transition from Temple University, as well as an MBA with a focus on finance from Indiana University. He was born and raised in suburban Philadelphia before moving his family to California. He may be reached at ewebb@bpmcpa.com.