We’re just getting started, but our experience is long-lived.

Founded during a pandemic, our fully-virtual team believes in the tremendous opportunity to transform commercial insurance. We’re excited to build and improve upon our prior experience.

October
2020

14 team members came together to begin building Joyn’s user interface to support the entire underwriting process

January
2021

Joyn Insurance unveils its brand, objective and market entry timing

March
2021

Strategic partnerships announced with Betterview, Convr and Solartis

hearts

April
2021

Joyn increases the team 30% by welcoming 4 new team members

May
2021

Distribution team doubles as Joyn prepares for market entry

hearts

July
2021

Strategic insurance partnership and investment from SiriusPoint Ltd is announced. Joyn opens for business with E&S Property in 21 states and 6 industry verticals

September
2021

General Liability is added to the product offering and Uwe Schoberth joins the team as Chief Distribution Officer

hearts

December
2021

Excess is added to the product offering and our underwriting team expands to four members

January
2022

Coverage expansion to Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee

hearts

April
2022

Class offering expands to include Auto Repair, Restaurants, Gas Stations and Convenience Stores bringing its total eligible class list to over 700 NAICS codes; Equipment Breakdown coverage becomes available

May
2022

Joyn now accepts submissions in 32 States and Washington, D.C. with coverage expanding to Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington

hearts

What brings you joy? For us, it’s asking why.

It’s finding new ways to solve old problems. It’s creating products that deliver to our customers. It’s using data and technology to make better decisions. Every day, we’re working to make the insurance experience more authentic, efficient and trustworthy — and to do something surprising — bring a bit of joy to insurance.

Why does it take weeks after sending in a submission to hear back (or sometimes never)? Why can’t all policies be issued at binding? Why isn’t it standard practice to share data?

Data.
Technology.
Expertise.

Efficient and transparent processes
We maximize every touchpoint to create the most impact
Consistent decision-making
Though our technology breaks the mold, our underwriting makes us predictable, reliable partners
Trusted relationships
The relationships we create and sustain make us quality partners for the long haul
Creative problem-solving
Thinking broadly, not sticking to the status-quo, helps everyone grow
Shared data and collaboration
Data is a two-way street. Sharing data allows everyone to become stronger and more resilient

Let’s join forces.

It’s time to transform insurance into a joyful experience.
The demands of today’s businesses grow each day. You’re looking for partners with services, data and insights to provide a deeper and more holistic offering. Your clients are looking for insurance products that make them stronger and more resilient.

We know insurance. And all of its inefficiencies. We’re delivering a new standard.

Why us? Our team is composed of insurance professionals, data scientists, technologists and product experts. We know that innovative problem-solving comes from diverse thought, culture and experience. We are solving serious, tough problems — and also understand the importance of a world-class team that supports one another.
Seraina Macia

Seraina Macia

Chief Executive Officer
and Co-Founder

Eduard (Ed P) Pulkstenis​

Eduard (Ed P) Pulkstenis

Chief Underwriting Officer
and Co-Founder

Callie Thomas

Callie Thomas

Chief Administrative Officer
and Co-Founder

Edward (Ed M) McGough​

Edward (Ed M) McGough

Chief Technology Officer
and Co-Founder

Stephan Braig​

Stephan Braig

Chief Innovation Officer
and Co-Founder

Wagner_K

Keith Wagner

Chief Claims Officer and
General Counsel

Uwe Schoberth

Uwe Schoberth

Chief Distribution Officer

Chris Parrillo​

Chris Parrillo

Digital Underwriting
and Loss Control Lead

Fabiana Zambrano​

Fabiana Zambrano

Head of Product and Delivery

Dalton Jorgensen​

Dalton Jorgensen

Service Lead

Caroline Ettinger​

Caroline Ettinger

Technology Operations Lead

Bill Fahrner ​

Bill Fahrner

Head of Insurance Product

Lindsey-Fisher

Lindsey Fisher

Service Specialist

Devasis Bassu ​

Devasis Bassu

R&D Lead

Gabriel Fox​

Gabriel Fox

Head of Insurance Underwriting

Jeff Helzner ​

Jeff Helzner

Decision Scientist

Susan-Lee

Susan Lee

Senior Product Manager

Dan-Roman

Dan Roman

Underwriting Insurance Product Lead

Pete-Delaney

Pete Delaney

Broker Relationship Leader

Dawn Argue

Dawn Argue

Senior Underwriter

Alex-Bontz

Alex Bontz

Service Specialist

Andrew Carmilani

Andrew Carmilani

Senior Underwriter

Dorian West

Dorian West

Senior Underwriter

Amy Pham

Amy Pham

Product Designer

Russel Newman

Russel Newman

Broker Relationship Leader

Sharna Hines

Sharna' Hines

Service Specialist

Oguz Akgungor

Oguz Akgungor

Lead Software Engineer

John Young

John Young

Senior Data Analyst

JOIN OUR TEAM

Powered by our people. Defined by our culture.

Joyn’s values are the promises we make to our trusted brokers and customers – and each other. They are the main pillar of how we’re delivering a transparent and trusted commercial insurance experience. While technology and data make it possible, our people and values are the foundation of our company and the core of how we do business.

Build Impactful Experiences

We build our technology, products, and teams to be powerful, innovative, and results orientated.

Exceed Expectations

We constantly think about the needs of our brokers and customers, solving for tomorrow’s problems, establishing strong relationships, and creating future opportunity.

Break the Mold

We believe that thinking boldly and rejecting the status quo helps everyone grow.

Do the Right Thing

Brokers and customers can always expect us to do the right thing, from how we build and grow our teams to how we give back to our community.

Find Joy

We love what we do and who we do it with. We find joy in learning, listening, teaching, and innovating, working together to create a joyful insurance experience.
FOLLOW US

Joyn Insurance Services Inc. (“Joyn Insurance”) is a Managing General Agency (“MGA”) that underwrites commercial insurance in the Small and Middle Markets. We’re powered by technology, data and expertise to deliver a transparent, trusted and truly one-of-a-kind insurance experience to our valued brokers and customers. When we join up, we’re smarter, better, faster and protected. Together.

General Information

[email protected] | 877-711-5696

Submissions

[email protected]

Service

[email protected]

Claims

[email protected] | 866-648-4931

Media

[email protected]
Seraina Macia

Seraina Macia

Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder

Seraina Macia, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Joyn Insurance. Seraina has a long career in the insurance industry across Europe, the U.S. and Australia. From 2013 to most recently, she held various roles as EVP at AIG including CEO of Blackboard Insurance, CEO of Country Management & Operations and CEO of EMEA based in London. From 2010 to 2013, she was CEO of XL North America.

Seraina joined Zurich Insurance in Switzerland in 2002 where she held a number of senior leadership positions in Switzerland and New York, which included the roles of President of Zurich North America Specialties and Head of Investor Relations & Rating Agencies. She spent her initial 10 years of her career with Swiss Re where she held a number of senior roles based in Australia and Switzerland.

Seraina has served as a member of the Board of Directors of Credit Suisse since 2015 and is currently on the Audit Committee. She is also the Chairwoman of Food Bank for New York City and the Chairwoman of BanQu, a for profit with purpose blockchain company that is focused on lifting 100 million people out of poverty. Recently, Seraina joined the advisory board of WORLD.MINDS.

She holds an MBA from Monash Mt. Eliza Business School and is a Chartered Financial Analyst. Seraina is a citizen of Switzerland, Australia and the United States.

Eduard (Ed P) Pulkstenis​

Eduard (Ed P) Pulkstenis

Chief Underwriting Officer and Co-Founder

Eduard (Ed P) Pulkstenis, Chief Underwriting Officer and Co-Founder of Joyn Insurance. Ed has an incredible amount of experience in commercial insurance. At Joyn, he spends his time overseeing the underwriting and product function, building the underwriting capabilities, designing contemporary technology solutions to aid our underwriters and creating efficiency in the insurance process ecosystem.

Ed started his career as an actuary and over the years has provided consultative advice regarding business strategy and led underwriting teams at The Hartford Financial Services Group and Selective Insurance Group. From 2014 to most recently, he served Hamilton USA and Blackboard Insurance in bringing a modern approach to streamlining the underwriting practice, taking into account known industry dynamics, complexities and inefficiencies.

Ed is a member of the American Academy of Actuaries and a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society. He holds the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation and is a Certified Insurance Counselor.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics from Messiah College and is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.

Callie Thomas

Callie Thomas

Chief Administrative Officer and Co-Founder

Callie Thomas, Chief Administrative Officer and Co-Founder of Joyn Insurance. At Joyn, she is our expert generalist and leads our strategy execution, people, customer experience, MarComms and brand, finance and operations. Callie champions the strategy and culture at Joyn while keeping the team organized and focused on the north star mission to transform insurance into a joyful experience.

Throughout her career, Callie has gained an expansive background in generalist experiences in U.S. and international commercial insurance. At AIG and Blackboard Insurance, she has held diverse roles in finance, communications, brand, underwriting, strategy and general management. She has led teams through transformation, instilling a mindset of continuous improvement and open communications.

She earned her Bachelor of Science in both Finance and Economics from the University of South Florida.

Edward (Ed M) McGough​

Edward (Ed M) McGough

Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder

Edward (Ed M) McGough, Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder of Joyn Insurance. At Joyn, he leads our in-house team of technology experts that build, secure and manage our proprietary applications, core business systems and data environment. He keeps the team backlog well-maintained, seeks to avoid tech-debt, and promotes a cloud-centric approach as we build our company to be empowered by modern technology across the entire ecosystem.

A technologist at heart, Ed has held roles in the space of data, engineering and analytics across a variety of industries in the UK, Australia, and USA. Over the last six years at AIG and Blackboard Insurance, he focused on bringing innovative technology and data solutions to the commercial insurance middle market underwriter. These solutions manifested in a single system to walk the underwriter through a clear and concise rules-based application that resulted in real-time rating and policy issuance.

He was awarded an MBA with distinction from Curtin University, Western Australia, and holds a first class honors degree in Computer Science from the University of Nottingham, UK.

Stephan Braig​

Stephan Braig

Chief Innovation Officer and Co-Founder

Stephan Braig, Chief Innovation Officer and Co-Founder of Joyn Insurance. At Joyn, his role is at the nexus of data science and strategy – developing business strategies informed by advanced analytics and data insights.

Most recently, Stephan was the Head of Research & Development at Blackboard Insurance where he led a team of data scientists and R&D developers focused on turning data into an asset by leveraging automated data capture from documents, natural language processing capabilities and behavioral analytics. Before his tenure with Blackboard Insurance, he was at AIG leading a team of business analysts and data scientists focused on advanced claims analytics.

At Capital One, he ran customer management programs in the core branded card business. He was the accountable executive responsible for developing the business strategy, marketing plan and end-to-end execution for these programs, while closely collaborating with operations, marketing, and technology functions. Stephan started his professional career at McKinsey & Company where he was an Associate Principal serving leading financial institutions both in the public and private sector.

He was raised in Germany and studied Physics and Mathematics at Heidelberg University, Germany. After moving to the U.S., he earned his Ph.D. and Masters in Theoretical Physics from Cornell University.

Wagner_K

Keith Wagner

Chief Claims Officer and General Counsel

Keith Wagner, Chief Claims Officer and General Counsel of Joyn Insurance. At Joyn, Keith oversees our claims practice and ensures that all of our innovation, technology development and insurance operations comply with applicable laws, regulations, and governance. He also monitors emerging regulatory trends affecting the InsureTech space.

Keith brings extensive experience in internal and external counsel roles advising clients in the commercial insurance and reinsurance industries in relation to a wide array of US domestic and offshore insurance and reinsurance regulatory and transactional matters and disputes.  Prior to Joyn, Keith served as General Counsel at Blackboard Insurance where he was responsible for legal, regulatory, and compliance activities of the group. Keith accumulated immense experience serving companies including AIG, Munich Health North America, XL and Berkley Accident and Health.

Keith graduated with an A.B. in Political Science from the University of Michigan and, following service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Gabon, attended the St. John’s University School of Law where he was Notes and Comments Editor of the New York International Law Review.

Uwe Schoberth

Uwe Schoberth

Chief Distribution Officer

Uwe Schoberth, Chief Distribution Officer at Joyn Insurance. At Joyn, he is responsible for developing deep and trusted broker relationships, creating engagement strategies to drive meaningful growth, and identifying areas where Joyn’s technology and data capabilities can bring insights to broker partners. Uwe will partner across Joyn’s team of experts in insurance, data, and technology to deliver a one-of-a-kind experience to brokers and insureds.

Uwe brings to Joyn an expansive background in commercial insurance, having held many global, international, and domestic market-facing roles developing and overseeing business development strategies. Most recently, he was the Global Head of Distribution at Lloyd’s and has held distribution roles at Blackboard Insurance, QBE Group, XL Group, Winterthur International Insurance Company and Gerling.

Uwe is a former officer in the German military and holds a Master of Science degree from Southern Connecticut State University. He is also Vice Chairman for the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest and Chairman for German American Events, LLC.

Chris Parrillo​

Chris Parrillo

Digital Underwriting and Loss Control Lead

Chris Parrillo, Digital Underwriting and Loss Control Lead at Joyn Insurance. At Joyn, he ensures our insurance products utilize consistent digital rules and leading-edge third-party data in the underwriting process. He also leads the development, implementation and execution of loss control based on automated rules.

Upon entering the insurance industry in 2014 as an Environmental Underwriting Analyst at AIG, Chris has continually evolved and strengthened his underwriting expertise. Over the last six years he has developed property & casualty expertise in middle market commercial insurance. Most recently, he served as Product Innovator at Blackboard Insurance where he spearheaded the strategy development and execution for Commercial Auto. Extensive focus was spent on establishing underwriting rules and alerts to trigger underwriting actions in the proprietary application.

He is a Certified Nursey and Landscape Professional, a field in which he spent the first four years of his career. He earned his Bachelor of Science from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, studying Environmental Planning and Design. Chris earned his Master of Engineering from Clemson University. He is a Certified Risk Manager and holds certificates in System Analytics and Risk Engineering.

Fabiana Zambrano​

Fabiana Zambrano

Head of Product and Delivery

Fabiana Zambrano, Head of Product and Delivery at Joyn Insurance. At Joyn, she leads the strategy definition, execution, delivery and user understanding of our bespoke user applications, enabling a joyful experience for our underwriters.

As a technologist who is innately focused on the user experience, Fabiana has spent the last six years in the insurance industry improving the efficiency of the underwriting desk, building products and workflows that save valuable time for the underwriter to concentrate on the risk. Most recently at Blackboard Insurance she led a hybrid, agile-principled team in the ground-up design, development, deployment and maintenance of a highly dynamic, first-of-its-kind, natively web-based commercial insurance workflow management system. As she began her career, Fabiana used data, analytics and clustering algorithms to enable customer segmentation and design targeted marketing treatments.

She was raised in Venezuela and studied Production Engineering at Universidad Simon Bolivar in Caracas. After moving to the U.S., she earned her Master’s Degree in Management Science and Engineering at Columbia University.

Dalton Jorgensen​

Dalton Jorgensen

Service Lead

Dalton Jorgensen, Service Lead at Joyn Insurance. At Joyn, he is designing a connected ecosystem of vendors, processes and metrics to meet the needs of delivering a joyful insurance experience to our customers and brokers.

Over the last four years, Dalton has developed his operations and underwriting skills working for AIG and Blackboard Insurance. Most recently at Blackboard Insurance, he led a team of more than 30 on and offshore operations associates as well as mapped out, operationalized, and developed and managed KPIs for multiple core processes. Additionally, he supported a national team of underwriters by rating hundreds of middle market commercial insurance submissions and assisting in supporting thousands of service tickets related to new business submissions, policy changes, and general customer service inquires.

Dalton received his Bachelor of Science in Supply Chain Management with a Concentration in Entrepreneurship from the University of Kansas. A devout learner, he has recently received certifications for Design Thinking for Innovation, Leading with Finance and Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt.

Caroline Ettinger​

Caroline Ettinger

Technology Operations Lead

Caroline Ettinger, Technology Operations Lead at Joyn Insurance. At Joyn, Caroline leads the execution for all aspects critical to Joyn’s IT Infrastructure including strategic and financial planning, IT support and security, vendor review, and application integration and management.

Over the last seven years, Caroline has developed a wealth of knowledge and skills leading and working with multi-department teams across a variety of industries. She is a Certified Agile ScrumMaster, an experienced Project Manager, and is proficient in a variety of analytics and management tools. Caroline is appreciated by the team for her engagement and interest in team building activities that result in inclusive experiences. Most recently, she was Technology Chief of Staff at Blackboard Insurance.

Caroline earned a Master’s in Political Science and Political Economy at the London School of Economics and Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Mathematics from Macalester College.

Bill Fahrner ​

Bill Fahrner

Head of Insurance Product

Bill Fahrner, Head of Insurance Product at Joyn Insurance. At Joyn, Bill leads the translation of our insurance products into technical specifications for the build of our underwriting platform and user experiences.

With more than 25 years in the insurance industry, Bill has had the opportunity to develop deep expertise in Casualty underwriting, insurance product development, regulatory compliance, state filings, portfolio optimization, complex project management, process improvement, large team management and the art of building innovative, user-friendly technology platforms to enable data-driven underwriting. Prior to Joyn, Bill led the Insurance Product Development Team at Blackboard Insurance focusing on the development of Blackboard’s proprietary Package product in all states and providing requirements and direction to multiple Engineering teams. Before Blackboard, Bill spent 24 years at AIG, most recently as Casualty Underwriting Officer for the Americas.

Bill attended St. Mary’s College of California and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Integral Liberal Arts. Bill is a trained actor and devout supporter of the Arts. He is passionate about diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Lindsey-Fisher

Lindsey Fisher

Service Specialist

Lindsey Fisher, Service Specialist at Joyn Insurance.  At Joyn, she plays a crucial role in delivering our one-of-a-kind experience to our customers and brokers by ensuring our underwriters have everything they need at their fingertips and building efficient processes and monitoring capabilities.

Over the last six years, Lindsey has become passionate about commercial insurance having worked across various teams in underwriting, claims, and operations. She joins the team from having spent two years at Blackboard Insurance where she was a Mission Control Advocate, helping build and monitor the submission, endorsement, and post bind data reporting processes. Prior to Blackboard, Lindsey was at AIG in a number of roles including Technical Underwriter and Operations Analyst.

Lindsey earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a minor in Latin American in Caribbean Studies from the University of Kansas. She has a designation of Associate in Risk Management (ARM).

Devasis Bassu ​

Devasis Bassu

R&D Lead

Devasis Bassu, R&D Lead at Joyn Insurance. At Joyn, Devasis spends his time solving for industry problems that lack a commercialized solution. Enhancing and augmenting the underwriting process with data-driven advanced analytics and insights, enabled by automated data intake, is one of the problem priorities at Joyn.

A researcher in information analytics with more than 20 years of industry experience, Devasis has led, performed and managed numerous research projects across insurance, telecommunications, automotive, and government sectors. Prior to Joyn, Devasis spent five years at Blackboard Insurance and AIG researching and developing solutions related to creating efficiencies in the insurance value chain. Before landing in insurance, Devasis was a Senior Scientist in the Applied Research Labs (originated in Bellcore) over 15 years.

Devasis was raised in India and has a B.Sc. in Mathematics with Honors in Statistics, and Physics from St. Xavier’s University, and a M.Stat. specializing in Mathematical Statistics and Probability from the Indian Statistical Institute. After moving to the U.S., he earned his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. He is inventor of 5 issued patents (others pending), and numerous scientific publications.

Gabriel Fox​

Gabriel Fox

Head of Insurance Underwriting

Gabriel Fox, Head of Insurance Underwriting at Joyn Insurance. At Joyn, Gabriel leads underwriting governance which includes the development of our underwriting products, guidelines, authorities, business rules and reinsurance placements as well as oversight of agency compliance functions.

With more that 25 years in the insurance industry, Gabriel is a proven leader with a diverse background that includes underwriting, operations, product development and product management leadership, oversight of ceded reinsurance and directional input on technology and innovation. Most recently, Gabriel was an Underwriting Leader at Blackboard Insurance where he played a key role in managing product development, technical underwriting oversight as well as reinsurance placement. Prior to Blackboard, Gabriel held roles at Hamilton USA, XL Catlin, AIG and American Reinsurance Company.

Gabriel earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

Jeff Helzner ​

Jeff Helzner

Decision Scientist

Jeff Helzner, Decision Scientist at Joyn Insurance. As part of the R&D team at Joyn, Jeff spends his time working on solutions to improve decision making across the insurance value chain. Currently, Jeff’s work is focused on the pipeline of customers matched to Joyn’s underwriting appetite.

Jeff has been applying his knowledge of decision making to the insurance industry for the past six years at AIG, Blackboard Insurance and now Joyn. His major projects have focused on areas such as reducing noise in human judgment, behavioral analytics, nudging, and decision support systems.

Prior to entering the insurance industry, Jeff was an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University where he taught undergraduate and graduate level courses at on foundations of probability and decision theory, logic, philosophy of science, and epistemology. His research focused mostly on foundations of rational choice theory, especially as it relates to decision making under conditions of uncertainty.

Jeff earned his PhD in Logic, Computation and Methodology at Carnegie Mellon University. He is an Advisor at KeeperAI and RationalAi.

Susan-Lee

Susan Lee

Senior Product Manager

Susan Lee, Senior Product Manager at Joyn Insurance. As part of the technology team at Joyn, Susan will drive the development of the operations workflow and underwriting platform, working with the business team to understand the requirements and designers to create mockups, then creating user stories for the engineers to code. She will then continuously collaborate with engineers to complete the development of the product.

Prior to entering the insurance industry, Susan worked as a management consultant for four years at IBM. Making the move to insurance, Susan was a Senior Product Manager at Blackboard Insurance for three years where she managed the development of a new technology-enabled commercial underwriting platform. In that role she was prioritizing user stories, communicating with vendors and stakeholders, and driving product releases in an agile environment. Most recently, Susan was at Marsh when she was responsible for managing several client initiatives, like a motor vehicle insurance platform, a rewards app that connects multiple insurance products, and a professional liability platform.

Susan earned her Bachelor of Science in Finance and Marketing from New York University’s Stern School of Business and has earned her Certified Scrum Master (CSM) designation. She was born in Chicago but spent half of her life in Seoul, Korea.

Dan-Roman

Dan Roman

Underwriting Insurance Product Lead

Dan Roman, Underwriting Insurance Product Lead at Joyn Insurance. At Joyn, Dan works with the technology team to design, build and evolve our platform, making sure that it aligns with our risk selection and profitability strategies.

Dan is an underwriting-focused insurance professional with two decades of experience in the insurance industry. At Prosight Specialty Insurance, Dan ensured underwriting quality within the underwriting system, completed system audits, provided subject matter expertise, and developed requirements for new and evolving niches. At Blackboard Insurance, Dan led 51 jurisdiction filings process for multiple lines of business, managed go to market rating engine testing strategy, and collaborated cross functionally to assist with development of the proprietary underwriting platform.

Dan has a B.S. in Business Administration from California Coast University, an MBA from American Public University, and the designations he’s earned include CPCU (Chartered Property Casualty Underwriting) and CRIS (Construction Risk and Insurance Specialist.

Pete-Delaney

Pete Delaney

Broker Relationship Leader

Pete Delaney, Broker Relationship Leader at Joyn Insurance. At Joyn, Pete connects with broker partners, developing strategic two-way relationships based on data insights and meaningful communication. Passionate about creating and driving growth opportunities, Pete has been working in the insurance industry for almost twenty years.  Most recently, Pete was at Keenan & Associates where he worked with California K-12 school districts and community colleges to provide risk transfer solutions. Prior to that, Pete worked at Blackboard Insurance where he developed and led strategic broker partnerships in support of Blackboard’s go-to-market approach, value proposition and financial goals. In the years prior to Blackboard, Pete worked for both Aon and AXA XL focusing on new business development for their construction industry verticals.

Pete attended Villanova University where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Marketing. Pete is a licensed Property and Casualty Broker in the state of California.

Dawn Argue

Dawn Argue

Senior Underwriter

Dawn Argue, Senior Underwriter at Joyn Insurance.  At Joyn, Dawn will use her vast experience in the insurance industry to grow Joyn’s business. Her expertise for West Coast risks will add important perspective as the Company grows.

For more than two decades, Dawn has been developing her expertise in the insurance industry through roles that spanned claims, personal lines, broking and commercial underwriting. Her passion lies with underwriting where she has spent the last fifteen years building books of business in both the admitted and specialty markets. Dawn joins the team from Capital Insurance Group where she was an Underwriting Practices Consultant.

Dawn has her Certified Professional Insurance Agent (CPIA) and Certified Construction Insurance Program (CCIP) designations. She also has her Commercial Lines Insurance Certification (CLIC) and is a licensed agent in PA, AZ, OR, CA, NV, WA.

Alex-Bontz

Alex Bontz

Service Specialist

Alex Bontz, Service Specialist at Joyn Insurance.  At Joyn, he plays a crucial role in delivering our one-of-a-kind experience to our customers and brokers by ensuring our underwriters have everything they need at their fingertips and building efficient processes and monitoring capabilities.

As a true believer in the mission to change the way that insurance is perceived, Alex has spent the past five years in the insurance industry supporting innovation and technology-enabled efficiency gains. Most recently, Alex was at ProSight Specialty Insurance providing front-line support for core systems and developed requirements for proprietary products. Prior to ProSight Specialty Insurance, Alex spent two years at Blackboard Insurance where he enabled the pre-underwriting of submissions for the national team. He began his career at AIG in a rotational leadership program that focused on underwriting, claims, operations, reporting, and general strategy.

Alex began his higher learning career at the United States Air Force Academy where he focused on Business Management. He transferred to the University of Kansas where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Management and Leadership, with a concentration in International Business.  Alex is a Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt.

Andrew Carmilani

Andrew Carmilani

Senior Underwriter

Andrew Carmilani, Senior Underwriter at Joyn Insurance.  At Joyn, he will use his extensive experience in multi-line, complex risk and E&S underwriting to grow a profitable book of business. Andrew’s market insights will provide influence towards Joyn’s path forward as the Company matures.

With more than twenty years in the insurance industry, Andrew has held a variety of underwriting, marketing and leadership roles. He has been an integral part of launching new brokerage businesses in the small commercial market space for major carriers while developing a keen understanding of the excess and surplus lines market. He joins the team from Northfield Insurance Company where he was a Managing Account Executive and Senior Underwriter specializing in hard to place real estate risks. Prior roles included time at Berkley Regional Specialty, Markel Corporation, All Risks, Ltd. and AIG.

Andrew earned his Bachelor of Science in Marketing from University of Scranton. He holds the designations of AU (Associate in Underwriting) and ASLI (Associate in Surplus Lines).

Dorian West

Dorian West

Underwriter

Dorian West, Underwriter at Joyn Insurance. At Joyn, Dorian will use her expertise in the Texas insurance market to grow a profitable book of business while expanding broker and agent relationships.

As a service-minded insurance professional, Dorian has spent much of the last ten years underwriting property, inland marine, general liability, flood, crime, umbrella, and auto risks. She joins the team from Porch Group where she was a Manager of Customer Service & Retention for their Elite Insurance Group division.  Dorian’s dedication to the industry is evidenced in her role as Chairperson of the Insurance Management Advisory Board at Collin College.

Dorian holds a Master of Arts in Business Management from Dallas Baptist University and earned her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism at Baylor University. She is a licensed agent in Texas and is a Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt. Dorian is also an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.

Amy Pham

Amy Pham

Product Designer

Amy Pham, Product Designer at Joyn Insurance. At Joyn, Amy will be instrumental in defining our standards, best practices, user experience, and visual design for our greenfield systems.

Over the last five years, Amy has been building her design portfolio. She joins us from Arimus where she was a Designer & Marketing Manager responsible for defining, communicating, and executing on three mobile applications, conducting useability testing, and leading all marketing efforts for application launch. Prior to Arimus, Amy was a Cause Marketing Associate at The Walt Disney Company where she spent time redesigning the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility website and designing content to promote global cause marketing campaigns. Amy has also put in time as a Graphic Designer for UCLA and in social media for Discovery Channel.

Amy graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from The University of California, Los Angeles. During her time at UCLA, she spent a summer abroad at University of Cambridge, Pembroke College studying Marketing, Film & Theatre Journalism, and World Politics. Amy enjoys outdoor activities that include kayaking, hiking, and zip-lining. When not outdoors, she spends her time cooking or cake-decorating and loves taking care of her house plants.

Russel Newman

Russel Newman

Broker Relationship Leader

Russel Newman, Broker Relationship Leader at Joyn Insurance. At Joyn, will use his extensive experience building relationships in the commercial insurance markets to propel Joyn’s strategic growth initiatives.

For more than twenty years, Russel has been building a tremendous amount of commercial insurance experience across multiple segments including Management Liability, Employment Practices, Small Commercial, Workers Compensation and Personal Lines. Most recently, Russel was a Director at DUAL North America where he led the Sales & Distribution strategy. Prior to DUAL North America, he spent six years at QBE North America, before that he spent time at Employers Insurance Group, Tower Group Companies, Kemper Preferred and The Hartford. Across all of his roles, strategic business development and transformational change have remained a common theme throughout Russel’s impressive career.  

Russel earned his Bachelor of Arts in Communications & Marketing at Alfred University. He went on to earn his Juris Doctorate with emphasis on Labor & Employment Law from California Western School of Law. He successfully passed the New York and California Bar Exam. For nearly a decade Russel has been a proud Board Member of Children’s Craniofacial Association.

Sharna Hines

Sharna' Hines

Service Specialist

Sharna’ Hines, Service Specialist at Joyn Insurance.  At Joyn, she plays a crucial role in ensuring a seamless experience for our trading partners.  With a background in the brokerage side of insurance, Sharna’ is well-suited to provide insight and context to our fast-growing company.

For the last eight years, Sharna’ has held a variety of roles in the insurance industry including brokerage, client services, and having her own independent life insurance agency. Most recently, Sharna’ was Associate Broker at AmWINS working on new and renewal E&S accounts.  Knowing the ins and outs of customer service within the industry will serve her well in her role at Joyn.

Sharna’ earned her Master of Business Administration at Roosevelt University and her Bachelor of Science in Biology Illinois State University. She is a licensed Property & Casualty Producer in the State of Illinois.

Oguz Akgungor

Oguz Akgungor

Lead Software Engineer

Oguz Akgungor, Lead Software Engineer at Joyn Insurance.  As our first internal engineer, he will be instrumental in laying the technical foundation for the business and building out a scalable engineering practice. Oguz will be working closely with product managers, designers, and other engineers to ensure that the platform meets the needs of the business.

For more than two decades, Oguz has been building extensive background in leading the design and development of software applications across a wide range of operating system platforms and programming frameworks. He is well-versed in SAFe, Agile, Scrum and Kanban project methodologies, leveraging expertise to ensure delivery of the highest quality software products. Oguz began his career as a developer in Turkey and moved to the U.S. with much experience under his belt. He has worked on a wide array of engagements for multiple startups, led remote engineering teams, and spent time in corporate at AIG where he first met several members of the Joyn team. Most recently, Oguz Senior Team Lead at AmazinDash where he led teams in Turkey and India to maintain core products, APIs, dashboards and backend applications.

Oguz was raised in Turkey and studied Mathematics and Actuarial at Bogazici University and received his Master of Education Science at Yildiz Technical University.

John Young

John Young

Senior Data Analyst

John Young, Senior Data Analyst at Joyn Insurance.  As our first dedicated data analyst, John will be working with complex structured and unstructured data from all corners of our business, preparing repeatable analysis and reporting solutions. He’ll also become the expert on Joyn’s dimensionally modelled data warehouse and will guide our team to ensure that we are capturing the right data at the right level of detail.

Over the last five years, John worked at Tokio Marine North America Services where he worked his way through the Actuarial Analyst program. He spent time on data design and development as well as information analytics reporting. John’s experience in actuarial science coupled with his coding skills, not to mention his attention to detail and problem-solving attitude, will make him a great asset to the Joyn team.

John earned his Bachelor of Science in Risk Management with an Actuarial Science specialty from The Pennsylvania State University. He is currently enrolled in the Applied Data Science Program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.