Archives: People

Responsibilities
Tom Merchel serves as the Fund Risk Management Consultant to the Ocean County Municipal Joint Insurance Fund, the Professional Municipal Management Joint Insurance Fund, and the Monmouth Municipal Joint Insurance Fund. He also serves as the Risk Management Consultant to members of the Atlantic, Burlco, Camden, Garden State, Mid Jersey, NJUA, and Trico Joint Insurance Funds, as well as the Burlington County Insurance Commission.

Background
Prior to joining Conner Strong & Buckelew, Tom worked for 26 years at the Township of Moorestown as the Chief Financial Officer, Deputy Manager and Township Manager. Tom handled all accounting, financial and budgeting responsibilities for the Township. He managed over $200 million in capital projects, including the construction of a new municipal complex, three water treatment plants and major upgrades to a wastewater treatment plant. He is proud of his accomplishment in increasing the Township’s Moody’s Bond Rating from A1 to Aaa.

While at Moorestown, he served as Commissioner and Chair to the Municipal Excess Liability Joint Insurance Fund (MEL), New Jersey Cyber Risk Management Joint Insurance Fund, and the Professional Municipal Management Joint Insurance Fund (PMMJIF). Tom was also the Commissioner to the Environmental Joint Insurance Fund (EJIF) and the Residual Claims Joint Insurance Fund (RCF). In his capacity as commissioner, he served on various subcommittees including MEL, EJIF and RCF Claims.

Additionally, Tom previously worked for 5 years as the Treasurer for Pennsauken Township and for 4 years as a municipal and school auditor for Bowman & Company.

Education
Saint Joseph’s University – Bachelor of Science in Accounting, Minor in Finance

Professional Designations
NJ Property & Casualty Producers License
NJ Surplus Lines
Pa Certified Public Accountant (CPA)
NJ Certified Municipal Finance Officer (CMFO)
NJ Certified Tax Collector (CTC)
NJ MEL JIF Accredited Risk Manager

Community Involvement
Tom is a member of the Moorestown Breakfast Rotary Club where he participates in various community events such as the Adopt-A-Park and school backpack programs. He is a member of the NJ Government Finance Officers Association.

Responsibilities
Joan Robinson Brong advises medium and large multi-national employers on Healthcare Reform, HIPAA, ERISA, FMLA, COBRA and other federal and state laws governing health and welfare plan design and administration. Joan drafts complex health and welfare benefit plans, performs administrative compliance reviews for medium and large clients, and assists with drafting the annual open enrollment materials.

Background
Prior to joining Conner Strong & Buckelew in March 2015, Joan was a Compliance Consultant at Mercer Health & Benefits where she was a member of the Regulatory Resources Group. Prior to Mercer, Joan was a benefits analyst at Morgan Lewis in Philadelphia where she was a member of the Employee Benefits Group.

Education
Rosemont College – Bachelor of Arts
Philadelphia Institute – Paralegal Certificate in Employee Benefits

Responsibilities
Marc Labay leads the management and delivery of the Conner Strong & Buckelew application suite comprising of custom software applications, reporting tools, and business process automations. He is the liaison with business teams across the organization and strategically expands on the capabilities of the software stack and custom solutions. Marc is continuously improving project deliverables.

Background
Marc has over 25 years of experience as a software developer and manager. His primary focus has been on utilizing the latest technologies to build enterprise solutions to help streamline business processes.

Education
New York University – Bachelor of Computer Science
New Jersey Institute of Technology – Master of Computer Science

Responsibilities
Tim Svoboda is passionate about data-driven decision-making. As an expert in risk financing strategies, Tim equips clients with the tools they need to evaluate options such as captives, risk retention groups, and commercial market alternatives. As a trusted advisor, Tim guides clients through entire the captive’s life cycle: from feasibility and implementation until dissolution or divestiture. Tim is a member of the Alternative Risk Practice and aids the expansion of Conner Strong & Buckelew’s alternative risk offerings in both the Property & Casualty and Employee Benefits departments.

Background
Prior to joining Conner Strong & Buckelew, Tim was a member of the Risk Finance Practice at Lockton Companies, where he gained valuable experience consulting on efficient program design for complex clients. Throughout this role, Tim developed a strong foundation in quantitative risk analytics and a keen interest in alternatives to traditional methods of purchasing insurance.

Education
University of Kansas – Bachelor of Science in Finance

Professional Designations 
Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU)
Associate in Captive Insurance (ACI)
Associate in Risk Management (ARM)
Associate in Reinsurance (ARe)
Associate in Insurance Accounting and Finance (AIAF)

Responsibilities
Marina Lerner serves as the account lead for midsize employer groups, overseeing day-to-day service, renewal strategy, and client relationship management, while also supporting the financial and pricing strategy for large, complex accounts. With 25 years of experience, Marina works closely with clients to evaluate and implement innovative, cost-saving health and welfare solutions that optimize program performance while balancing risk tolerance and business objectives.

Background
Marina’s core strengths as an employee benefits consultant include financial analysis and contract negotiation, supported by deep experience across medical, prescription, dental, vision, life, and disability programs. She previously worked at CME Benefits Consulting prior to its merger with Conner Strong & Buckelew, where she managed a diverse portfolio of employer groups and refined her consultative and client-management skills. Earlier in her career, Marina was part of the underwriting department at Independence Blue Cross (IBX), where she gained substantial underwriting and pricing experience. This background enables her to effectively navigate carrier perspectives and advocate for clients with a well-rounded, strategic approach.

Education
Temple University – Bachelor of Science in Finance
The Pennsylvania State University – Coursework toward Bachelor’s Degree

Professional Designations
Registered Employee Benefits Consultant (REBC)

Responsibilities
Matthew Doyle works alongside the firm’s Employee Benefits clients to ensure that all organizational objectives and priorities are being met. He works directly with the clients as a strategic partner to provide benefits and financial analysis, renewal negotiation, vendor evaluation and implementation, communication strategy, and trusted ongoing support.

Background
Prior to joining Conner Strong & Buckelew, Matt worked for over 12 years as a Senior Consultant for Armstrong, Doyle & Carroll. During this time, he worked directly with clients from all industries and sizes. Matt used his experience to provide clients with comprehensive support, assisting with all matters from the organizational level, to overseeing employee support.

Education
University of Scranton – Bachelor of Arts in Finance

Professional Designations
Certified Employee Benefits Specialist (CEBS)

Responsibilities
Derek Jaffe serves as a key member of the service team, focusing on plan analysis, product line financial evaluations, and trend and cost analysis of claim history. He is responsible for analyzing and negotiating fully insured renewals, developing self-funded medical, Rx, and dental projections. In addition, Derek tracks financial performance of the client health plans, analyzes different plan cost drivers on behalf of the client and assists with union negotiation requests.

Background
Prior to joining Conner Strong & Buckelew, Derek worked in the actuarial department for AON from 2017 until 2021. His responsibilities included leading health and benefits financial teams for middle market clients and assisting in financial support for large market clients. His main areas of focus included healthcare self-funded pricing, reserving, plan design modeling, benefits harmonization, union negotiations, and contribution modeling for Health Systems, Manufacturing, and Professional Service firms. He also developed and presented materials for the client’s healthcare strategy, benchmarking, and budgeting.

Education
Temple University, Fox School of Business – Bachelor of Business Administration in Actuarial Science

Professional Designations
Associate of the Society of Actuaries (ASA)

Responsibilities
Taruja Deshmukh is the InsurTech Solutions Manager for Conner Strong & Buckelew. In this role, Deshmukh leads labs. BY CONNER STRONG, the firm’s centralized innovation hub, focused on improving operational efficiencies, enhancing the customer experience, creating an innovation and inclusive culture, and driving innovation forward in the industry. Deshmukh manages various projects designed to explore, evaluate, and implement insurtech solutions to achieve the firm’s innovation goals through collaboration with leadership across all departments and active engagement with employees. Deshmukh also supports relationships with external partners in the insurtech community, as well as the company’s initiatives within BrokerTech Ventures, the first broker-centric, broker-led insurtech platform.

Background
Deshmukh joined Conner Strong & Buckelew in June 2011, after graduating Temple University with her undergraduate degree in Risk Management & Insurance and International Business. While at Temple University, Deshmukh was actively involved in the Risk Management & Insurance program and completed internships with Travelers Insurance and Marsh USA. Most recently, Deshmukh earned her AIDA (Associate in Insurance Data Analytics) designation, which focuses on the conception and application of utilizing big data in the insurance industry and adopting innovation into the company culture.

Education
Temple University – Bachelor of Business Administration in Risk Management & Insurance and International Business Administration

Professional Designations
Associate in Insurance Data Analytics (AIDA)
Associate in Risk Management (ARM)
Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU)

Responsibilities
Kevin Mullen is responsible for new business development and relationship management at Conner Strong & Buckelew. Kevin focuses on producer mentoring and Merger & Acquisition activities.

Background
Kevin has more than 40 years of experience in sales, strategic planning, and client service management. He has gained experience at both national and regional companies in the brokerage/consulting, TPA, and stop loss/reinsurance segments of the industry. Prior to rejoining Conner Strong & Buckelew, Kevin had been the founder and owner of Ironview Employee Benefits, LLC, which was acquired by OneDigital.

Education
St. Joseph’s University – Bachelor of Science in Accounting

Professional Designations
Life & Health Insurance License – Pennsylvania