Archives: People

Conner Strong Team

Andrew Wagner

Responsibilities
Andrew Wagner is responsible for managing account relationships including program design, brokerage placement, contract review, coordination of services, and the offering of strategic, tactical and risk management solutions to our clients.

Wagner manages a team responsible for program design of property, casualty, and executive risk placements in a variety of business sectors with notable experience in Life Sciences, Not for Profit, Social Services and Manufacturing. In addition to providing risk management services to large commercial clients, Wagner is responsible for coordinating the agency’s life science practice group.

Background
Prior to joining Conner Strong & Buckelew, Wagner served as a Vice President & Account Executive at Aon Risk Services, for fourteen years and has 20+ years of Major Accounts experience.

Education
LaSalle University – Master in Business Administration
Temple University – Bachelor of Business Administration in Risk Management & Insurance and Finance

Philip Glick

Responsibilities
Philip Glick is a 42-year veteran of the insurance industry, Glick is responsible for generating new business opportunities and directing account services for large strategic business relationships for the Property & Casualty Division.

Background
Prior to Conner Strong & Buckelew, Glick served as Senior Vice President for ECBM, where he was a Partner and Consulting Group Practice Leader. He has extensive experience in the design, placement and servicing of insurance coverages for large clients including both private and publicly-held firms. In addition to his consulting experience, Phil has held senior positions with several large national and regional insurance brokerage organizations for over three decades.

In addition, Phil is a nationally recognized insurance educator having written national examinations for the Society of chartered Property and Casualty Underwriters and taught both graduate and undergraduate courses as an Adjunct Lecturer at LaSalle University in Philadelphia and seminars for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, and The PA Institute of CPA’s.

Education

Wharton Undergraduate Division – University of Pennsylvania – BS in Economics with majors in Finance and Insurance
Wharton Graduate Division – University of Pennsylvania – MBA in Finance and Insurance

Professional Designations
Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU)
Registered Professional Liability Underwriter (RPLU)

Scott Davenport

Responsibilities
Scott Davenport brings 32 years of senior consulting and brokering experience to the Employee Benefits Department. As a Public Entity Practice Leader, his responsibilities include the design, communication and implementation of all phases of both qualified and non-qualified benefit plans for hospitals, school districts, not-for-profit organizations, governmental, and industrial entities.

Background
Davenport is a 28 year veteran of the benefits business and among the top public entity benefit consultants in the region. Prior to joining Conner Strong & Buckelew in 1990, Davenport was involved in commercial real estate and mergers and acquisitions of privately held companies.

Education
Glassboro State College – Bachelor of Science

Professional Designations
Registered Health Underwriter (RHU)
Registered Employee Benefits Consultant (REBC)
Group Benefits Associate (GBA)
Certified Employee Benefits Specialist (CEBS)

Community Involvement
Davenport is an active fund-raiser for the American Cancer Society as well as the Multiple Sclerosis Association.

Roger Ladda

Responsibilities
Roger Ladda has over 25 years of experience in the insurance industry, ranging from captive consulting to sales and marketing and financial risk management. He oversees the firm’s overall alternative risk and captive strategies covering both group captive opportunities and individual risk alternatives. As National Captive Practice Leader, Ladda is leading the expansion of Conner Strong & Buckelew’s alternative risk services in both the Property & Casualty and Employee Benefits arenas. The Captive Practice operates under Conner Strong Captive Strategies, an affiliate of Conner Strong & Buckelew.

Background
Prior to joining Conner Strong & Buckelew, Ladda served as an Assistant Vice President of Sales, Consulting, and Captive Management at Innovative Captive Strategies. While there, he was responsible for creating, marketing and managing alternative risk solutions for clients in partnership with brokers across the country. Previously, Ladda held positions at Liberty Mutual Insurance Company in its Alternative Market Group, PepsiCo, Inc. in its Risk Management and Treasury Group, and Commonwealth Risk Services, a subsidiary of Mutual Risk Management.

Education
Bowdoin College – Bachelors of Arts in Government and Legal Studies
The College of Insurance – Associate in Risk Management

Melissa Csercsevits

Responsibilities
Melissa Csercsevits provides support to the General Counsel’s corporate functions and the Commercial Lines department by advising on various coverage issues. Additionally, she assists Conner Strong & Buckelew’s Claims Department in handling complex claims to ensure clients maximize their coverage under their insurance policies.

Background
Before joining Conner Strong & Buckelew, Melissa was a Partner at Cipriani & Werner, P.C. Her practice was dedicated to the defense of insurance carriers, third-party administrators, and self-insured entities in workers’ compensation matters. Melissa had the opportunity to represent numerous Fortune 500 companies providing effective trial advocacy, as well as cost-saving pre-litigation guidance.

In addition to her caseload and litigation responsibilities, Melissa was integral to the development and overall growth of the workers’ compensation department. She is skilled in developing strategic relationships and cultivating collaboration and trust amongst various stakeholders. As an associate, she was personally responsible for marketing and securing the business one of the department’s largest self-insured clients.

Education
Widener University – Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, Magna Cum Laude
Widener University School of Law – Juris Doctorate, Cum Laude, Admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and New Jersey

Edward Cooney

Responsibilities
Edward Cooney is an Partner, Senior Account Executive, Underwriting Manager for Public Entity Practice in the National Accounts department for Conner Strong & Buckelew. Cooney’s clients fall within the spectrum of Public Entities. In addition to his primary client service responsibilities, Cooney is a member of the firm’s Executive Risk Practice Group, an insurance and risk management think-tank focused on trending issues in the space including Public Officials Liability, Directors & Officers Liability, Privacy & Security (including Cyber), Employment Practices Liability and Fiduciary Liability.

Background
Prior to joining Conner Strong & Buckelew’s Public Entity team, Cooney was dedicated to account management within the Life Science & Technology Practice for six years, as well as interning with the company’s Risk Control department. Previous to working for Conner Strong & Buckelew, Cooney interned at CRC Insurance Services, a leading wholesale brokerage focused on large casualty. While attending St. John’s University as a graduate student, Cooney was the team leader in the Executive-in-Residence Program. The program placed students in a business consulting role for actual business and non-profit organizations with the purpose of developing strategic objectives and plans for the organizations.

Education
St. John’s University, Peter J. Tobin College of Business – M.B.A. in Risk Management & Insurance
Monmouth University, Leon Hess School of Business – Bachelors of Science in Finance and Management

Professional Designations
Cyber COPE Insurance Certification (CCIC)

Manuel N. Stamatakis

Responsibilities
Manuel (Manny) Stamatakis is a seasoned leader with extensive expertise in health and benefit plans. He oversees large, complex clients and provides strategic consultation to ensure clients receive innovative, cost-effective solutions that optimize the performance and quality of their benefit programs.

Background
Manny is a respected business leader and philanthropist with over three decades of experience. He founded Capital Management Enterprises in 1988, a Pennsylvania-based financial services and employee benefits consulting firm, which he later merged with Conner Strong & Buckelew in 2020.

Manny was also a founding member of First Financial Resources, a national financial service organization with over 120 offices nationwide.

Education
The Pennsylvania State University – Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering
Drexel University – Doctorate of Business Administration, Honoris Causa

Community Involvement
Manny is the Executive Chairman of the Board at MISTRAS Group and has been a key member of its Board of Directors since 2002. He previously served as Lead Director, Chair of the Governance Committee, and a member of the Audit and Compensation Committees.

He is Chairman Emeritus of Visit Philadelphia, where he plays a key role in supporting the growth of the region’s hospitality industry, which generates over $5 billion annually and supports more than 125,000 jobs.

Appointed by government officials, Manny has led public/private initiatives to strengthen the local economy and improve Pennsylvania’s role in world trade. He was instrumental in the rejuvenation of the Philadelphia Shipyard and continues to serve as Chairman of the Philadelphia Shipyard Development Corporation.

Manny actively supports numerous charitable organizations, including the American Heart Association, the Boy Scouts of America, the American Cancer Society, the Morris Arboretum, the American Jewish Committee, the United Cerebral Palsy Association, the United Negro College Fund and the Philadelphia Tribune Charities.

He has received numerous awards and honors in recognition of his service.

Phyllis M. Saraceni

Responsibilities
Phyllis Saraceni brings more than 30 years of professional experience to the firm. She is responsible for supporting customers and the firm’s benefit consulting staff on a day-to-day basis, preparing legal and regulatory updates and communication, interpreting emerging laws and regulations related to benefits and managing the firm’s benefits audit function.

Background
Prior to joining Conner Strong & Buckelew, she was a Principal for Mercer Health and Benefits for nearly 12 years where she supported clients and internal staff in various functions related to health and welfare compliance and legal matters. Previous to Mercer, Saraceni held positions at various law firms specializing in ERISA and benefits law.

Education
Temple University School of Law – Juris Doctorate
West Chester University – Bachelor of Science in Marketing

Peter Abitanto

Responsibilities
Peter Abitanto joined the firm in August of 2020 with 25 years of experience. In this role, he partners with clients to understand their unique needs, performs benefit and financial evaluations, and formulates strategies to deliver innovative, cost-savings solutions that optimize the quality and performance of their benefit programs.

Background
Prior to joining Conner Strong & Buckelew, Peter served as Senior Vice President overseeing the Employee Benefits Practice at Graham Company. Additionally, he spent 12 years at Brown & Brown where he was Executive Vice President and Regional Benefits Leader in the Northeast. Before this, he spent over a decade working in sales management roles for Oxford Health Plans and UnitedHealthcare. He has served as a board member for the Greater Philadelphia Association of Health Underwriters as well as the South Jersey Association of Health Underwriters.

Education
Lafayette College – Bachelor of Arts in Economics & Business

Professional Designations
Registered Health Underwriter (RHU)

Michael Dentner

Responsibilities
Michael Dentner has over 30 years of benefit plan management experience and is responsible for advising clients on plan design, underwriting, contribution strategy, population health management and maintenance of their health and welfare plans. As a strategic business partner, he is focused on proactively identifying competitiveness, market trends, utilization patterns and compliance issues to ensure the client has the most effective benefit solution in place to address organizational objectives and financial sustainability.

Background
Prior to joining Conner Strong & Buckelew, Michael spent 20+ years with other national broker/consulting firms such as Aon, Gallagher and NFP managing employee benefit programs for clients that ranged from 200 – 15,000 employees. He also spent 12 years with CIGNA Healthcare in both a middle market and national account management role assisting clients with the management of their CIGNA medical, dental, life and disability programs.

Education
Temple University – Bachelor of Business Administration

Professional Designations
Certified Employee Benefits Specialist (CEBS)