Speakers

Chairman

Jack Dewald, CLU, RHU

Jack Dewald, as the former President of Agency Services, Inc. in Memphis, TN, brings an impressive 35+ years of industry expertise. His leadership journey includes pivotal roles in major national insurance organizations, highlighted by his tenure as Chairman of both NAILBA and LIFE HAPPENS. Notably, Dewald's contributions earned him the prestigious Douglas H. Mooers Award for Excellence from NAILBA in 2013.

At the helm of TMA as its Chairman, Dewald also distinguishes himself in MDRT's 'Top of the Table', an elite group for advanced sales strategy exchange. Beyond his professional sphere, Dewald's commitment extends to his local community in Germantown, TN, where he actively participates in various boards and serves as an Elder in his church, demonstrating a balance of professional acumen and community involvement.

TMA Underwriter

Heather Sprague

Heather Sprague is an Underwriting Consultant with 25 years of home office and brokerage underwriting experience. She provides multi-level consulting services with a primary focus on special risk underwriting and brokerage general agency support. Heather is a powerful resource to agents, leveraging her high-level skill and longstanding carrier relationships to negotiate competitive underwriting decisions and secure successful case placement.

CLU, ChFC, Chief Executive Officer, Dye & Eskin, Inc.

Rick Eskin

Rick Eskin is one of the original founders of Dye & Eskin, Inc. Rick has extensive knowledge in many life and disability insurance areas – not the least of which is Executive Benefits. One of Rick’s valued characteristics is his creativity in developing cutting-edge programs/products that revolutionize the market. Insurance Companies, BGAs and Advisors alike trust Rick.
Rick is a lifelong athlete, playing collegiate football at Lehigh, as well as an accomplished jazz violinist.
B.A. History, Lehigh University

VP of Government Affairs, Prudential

Carol Danko

Carol has more than 15 years of experience navigating Washington, DC through a public policy, advocacy, and communications lens. Carol currents serves on Prudential’s external affairs team working on federal issues related to financial services, retirement, lifetime income, and data privacy and innovation.

Prior to joining Prudential, she served in multiple senior communications roles in the executive branch as a senior executive service political appointee under President Trump. In this capacity, she held multiple roles, serving as a communications advisor to two cabinet secretaries, as well as held a chief spokesperson role at the Department of Homeland Security and later at the Department of Health and Human Services - at the request of the White House - to coordinate interagency communications and messaging during the pandemic response. Prior to her federal service, she served as vice president of public affairs at SIFMA, where she worked on communications and advocacy on capital markets issues, as well as the DOL fiduciary rule. She began her career on Capitol Hill where she worked for several members of the House Financial Services Committee, including as a legislative assistant to New York Congressman Peter King during the drafting of the Dodd-Frank Act, and later as communications director and senior policy advisor to another high-profile member of the delegation

President and CEO
Legal & General America

Mark Holweger

Mark Holweger, President and CEO of Legal & General America, is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the business, ensuring service excellence, continued distribution expansion and achievement of Legal & General America’s digital transformation strategy. Mark joined Legal & General in 2011 and moved to the US business in 2018. He is a director on the boards of Banner Life Insurance Company and William Penn Life Insurance Company of New York.

Mark is an Economics Graduate and Chartered Insurer with nearly three decades of experience in the insurance industry and has a strong background with intermediary distribution platforms. Mark previously served as Managing Director, Partnerships for Legal & General Insurance in the UK. That distribution included Life Intermediaries, General Insurance Brokers, Banks, Building Societies and Affinities. He also served as Director of Broker and Intermediary for Legal & General’s General Insurance business. Prior to joining L&G, Mark was co-founder of Coverwise.com, a P&C online international broker which now has more than one million customers. He has also held senior director roles at RSA Insurance Group in the UK, South America, Asia/Middle East, and Eastern Europe, at AXA Insurance UK and at Aviva.

Mark is a Board Member of LIDMA (Life Insurance Direct Marketing Association), LL Global and is on the Forum 500 Board of Governors for ACLI (American Council of Life Insurers).

Mark and his wife Rachel live in Bethesda, MD.

Doug Mantelli, Vice President, RIA and Growth Markets, Pacific Life

Doug Mantelli

Doug Mantelli is Vice President of Growth & Specialty Markets for the Consumer Markets Division at Pacific Life Insurance Company. Doug joined Pacific Life in 2019 to build the firm’s RIA business including product development, technological integrations, marketing, and sales. Today his teams are responsible for annuity and life insurance distribution in key emerging growth markets for Pacific Life including RIAs, Wirehouses, BGAs, property & casualty firms and marketing organizations.
Doug brings over 25 years’ financial services industry experience working with financial advisors and institutions to build and grow businesses. Prior to joining Pacific Life, he was Senior Vice President of National Sales Development at Jackson National Life Distributors. Previously he worked with US Bancorp Fund Services and The Wadsworth Group helping investment advisors launch and operate mutual fund families.
Doug received his undergraduate degree from the University of Colorado (Go BUFFS!) and MBA from the University of Denver (Go DU!). He and his wife, Hillary, are recent empty nesters living in Castle Rock, Colorado.

Fixed Income at Protective Life

John Roesle

John Roesle is Head of Fixed Income at Protective Life. In this role, he leads the corporate and municipal bond portfolio team. John joined Protective Life in 2006, he has over 20 years of investment management experience as a portfolio manager, trader, and research analyst. He earned an MBA degree with concentrations in finance and strategy from Vanderbilt University and a BSE in Chemical Engineering from Tulane University. John is a CFA Charterholder and member of the Alabama CFA Society.