RT Specialty

Timothy W. Turner

Chief Executive Officer, Ryan Specialty Chairman, RT Specialty

Edward F. McCormack

Chief Executive Officer, RT Specialty

Brenda (Ballard) Austenfeld

Co-President, RT Specialty Chief Executive Officer, RT National Property

Leadership

Timothy W. Turner is CEO of Ryan Specialty and chairman of Ryan Turner Specialty (RT Specialty), Ryan Specialty’s wholesale brokerage division, and a member of Ryan Specialty’s board of directors. He joined the firm in 2010 to create RT Specialty. Under his leadership, RT Specialty is now one of the top wholesale distributors of specialty insurance in the country. Prior to joining Ryan Specialty in 2010, Turner was the president of CRC Insurance Services. He started his career at AJ Renner & Associates and was a casualty broker at the Crump Group. He has received numerous awards, including the Spirit of Life 2021 by the National Insurance Industry Council and City of Hope. In 2019, he received the prestigious Insurance Industry “Good Scout” Award from the Boy Scouts of America, Greater New York Councils.

Chief Executive Officer, Ryan Specialty Chairman, RT Specialty

Timothy W. Turner

Edward F. McCormack is CEO of RT Specialty. He joined Ryan Specialty in 2010 after two decades as a courtroom lawyer, first as a federal prosecutor and then as a commercial litigator. Most recently, he was with the international law firm Nixon Peabody. McCormack received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Michigan and his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia.

Chief Executive Officer, RT Specialty

Edward F. McCormack

Brenda (Ballard) Austenfeld is co-president of RT Specialty and CEO of RT National Property. She provides leadership to brokerage teams for sales and strategy initiatives while managing relationships with key market and retail broker partners. She joined RT Specialty through RT’s acquisition of Westrope in 2013, where she was partner and executive vice president. Before joining Westrope, Austenfeld served as a global property broker and held several leadership roles at retail brokers Aon Risk Services and Alexander & Alexander. She serves as chair of the board of directors for the Wholesale & Specialty Insurance Association (WSIA). She also recently served six years on the Board of Directors for The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers (CIAB) and was a founding board member of the WSIA Diversity Foundation, where she spent four years, and had served 15 years on the Board of Trustees for the KS 4-H Foundation. Austenfeld has been recognized by many industry and community publications for her leadership throughout her career.

Co-President, RT Specialty Chief Executive Officer, RT National Property

Brenda (Ballard) Austenfeld

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Michael T. VanAcker

Co-President, RT Specialty

Michael T. VanAcker, co-president of RT Specialty, has direct leadership responsibilities over RT Specialty’s operations and digital offerings, including The Connector, RT’s digital marketplace for micro commercial business, Stetson, the firm’s premium finance company, and Ryan Specialty University, the firm’s enterprise-wide learning and development platform, among other services. He also works closely with RT’s valued clients, markets, and internal brokers and underwriters to provide best-in-class solutions. VanAcker has been with Ryan Specialty since 2011, most recently as executive vice president of RT Specialty and, before that, chief operating officer of Ryan Specialty. In his role for Ryan Specialty, he ensured the firm’s successful transition to a public company and oversaw more than 1,200 teammates across the operations, technology, and service teams. Previously, he served as controller and COO for RT Specialty, as well as establishing and leading numerous departments for the firm and being heavily involved in the strategic positioning and integrations of Ryan Specialty’s multitude of acquisitions.

Co-President, RT Specialty

Michael T. VanAcker

Shannon Newman

Director of People Operations

Shannon Newman joined Gorst & Compass in 2021 and serves as director of people operations. In this role, she leads initiatives that support the company’s strategic growth, with a strong focus on culture, employee experience, and organizational effectiveness. Newman partners closely with leaders across the business to enhance engagement, streamline processes, and ensure teams have what they need to succeed. Before joining Gorst & Compass, she held human resources, business development, and consulting roles with Chubb and ADP, giving her a well-rounded view of people and business dynamics. Newman holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from California State University Northridge and a master’s degree in organizational management from the University of Phoenix.

Director of People Operations

Shannon Newman

RT Specialty is a leading wholesale distributor of specialty insurance products and services and the wholesale broking specialty of Ryan Specialty. The firm’s specialist brokers handle an expansive mix of property, casualty, professional lines, transportation, personal lines, and workers’ compensation insurance products on both an open market and delegated authority basis. RT Specialty’s entrepreneurial spirit is combined with advanced risk modeling, market access, and claims advocacy to provide excellent solutions to its clients. The firm is built on a foundation of talent, innovation, and execution and believes that clients are best served by professionals who maintain meaningful teamwork among brokers, agents, and carriers. RT Specialty thrives on challenge, and its wholesale specialty and binding authority risk professionals have deep experience and the drive to find superior placement for even the toughest risks. Regardless of account size – big or small – RT Specialty is dedicated to providing lightning-fast expert advice, advocacy, and execution on behalf of its retail broker clients.

“Monarch E&S has the products, talent, expertise, and reputation to get deals done with our strategic partners and clients, which is essentially table stakes”

Yiana Stavrakis, Monarch E&S Insurance Services

Daniel Kang

Director of IT

Nealy Farshadi

Principal, Strategic Client Relations

Christopher Welty

Chief Human Resources Officer

Simon Williams

Chief Strategy & Distribution Officer, Arch Insurance International and Active Underwriter, Syndicate 1955

Daniel Kang joined Gorst & Compass in 2024, bringing more than a decade of information technology leadership experience. As director of IT, he has led the organization through a successful migration to a cloud-based environment and has modernized IT support systems with a people-centric approach. His work focuses on improving reliability, efficiency, and user experience while supporting the company’s broader growth goals. Prior to Gorst & Compass, Kang served as associate director of IT at Cinter Technology and held technology roles in the financial services sector at Mizuho Group. With a strong interest in cybersecurity and emerging AI technologies, he continues to advance the company’s technology strategy to enable scalable growth, stronger protection, and ongoing innovation.

Director of IT

Daniel Kang

Nealy Farshadi is instrumental in helping strengthen and grow Brown & Riding’s (B&R) client relationships. She maintains and improves quality procedures, oversees B&R’s ISO certification, and manages the firm’s client feedback program. Her contributions enable the executive management team to act on client input effectively. As a result, B&R’s client feedback scores greatly exceed the average and continue to improve each year. Farshadi also supports and furthers the growth of B&R and its employees by contributing to professional development within the organization and being a resource to staff.

Principal, Strategic Client Relations

Nealy Farshadi

Christopher Welty is dedicated to aligning employees with Brown & Riding (B&R)’s vision and values, fostering mutual growth for all. During his tenure, B&R has more than quadrupled in size. He has helped successfully integrate the company through two mergers and has been a strong advocate for many of the company’s important benefit plan enhancements and development programs. He excels at collaboration and has been a key contributor in establishing and promoting the company’s culture and offering programs and opportunities to help employees build a rewarding career. Welty joined B&R in 2007 as an HR assistant. His dedication and talent earned swift advancement, culminating in his appointment as the firm’s chief human resources officer in 2019.

Chief Human Resources Officer

Christopher Welty

Kimi leads the Estate Planning and Wealth Protection team and is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. She understands the complex and delicate nature of family estate planning, the technical requirements around probate and estate administration, and the importance of preserving wealth for future generations. Her advice is accurate, commercial, strategic and tailored to each situation.

Partner

Kimi Shah

Partner

Kimi Shah

Partner

Kimi Shah

maintaining an in-house team of more than 20 programmers to facilitate fast improvements direct bill options to streamline the payment process for the agent and the insured providing IVANS policy downloads that enable up to 30 percent labor savings to independent agencies delivering online capabilities including rating, policy documents, payments, and claims reporting

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“We will continue to strengthen our service proposition and customer experience as a key differentiator, as we build on the momentum we have achieved to date across multiple business lines and territories,” says McLean. “Our im is to continue to grow our market relevance and strengthen our partnerships with our strategic brokers as we expand our leadership position in key sectors. “We will also continue to invest in talent. We are committed to drawing from the broadest pools of talent, and to creating an environment that attracts and retains stellar employees. We recognise the importance of building teams that are diverse, collaborative, and innovative and are dedicated to cultivating a supportive and inclusive workplace culture in which all our employees can thrive.”

Monarch’s sister company, Capitol Special Risks, is now part of the Monarch umbrella to provide retail broker customers with expertise and markets in the professional, management, and cyber liability space. “I am very proud of our young and dynamic leadership team,” says Derek Borisoff, chief executive officer of Monarch E&S. “Stefanie McLeod, vice president of personal lines, and Devon Borisoff, vice president of commercial lines, are led by Yiana Stavrakis, our very capable president. All three are known standouts in our industry who lead by example in both work ethic and desire to solve problems. Our firm’s outstanding performance is a result of their positive communications with our people, superb carrier relationships, and proactive management style.” As a full-service MGA and wholesale brokerage, Monarch gives retail insurance brokers access to many different lines of business through its commercial lines, personal lines, professional lines, transportation, mining/energy, CAT property, earthquake, and flood departments. “Monarch E&S has the products, talent, expertise, and reputation to get deals done with our strategic partners and clients, which is essentially table stakes,” says Yiana Stavrakis, president at Monarch E&S. “How do we go above and beyond? We aim to work on every deal, regardless of size, as if it were our personal account and provide our retail brokers with problem-solving competencies to handle hard-to-place risks. Most competitors do not provide the same level of service for smaller brokers and risks as they do for larger ones. Monarch thrives when it comes to providing solutions for small to mid-market risks.”

relationships and teamwork embracing and driving change holding teammates accountable pursuing excellence with humility giving back to the community

Furthermore, talent acquisition and retention pose a significant challenge and are at the forefront of most business leaders’ minds during this unique time. The insurance industry has been aware for years of a looming talent shortage caused by the Baby Boomer generation’s retirement and is now experiencing a war for talent. “Monarch has been able to overcome this talent acquisition challenge by staying true to who we are, a family environment with national resources, which is something we will continue to encourage and promote,” says Stavrakis. “When working for a team like ours, you are not another cog in the wheel but have the opportunity to make your mark and grow with us as we build out Monarch 2.0.” Monarch E&S Insurance Services is licensed in every state and is continuously finding ways to enhance its team, client, and carrier partner experiences. Get ready for the royal treatment as Monarch 2.0 expands digitally.

“I am very proud of our young and dynamic leadership team. Our firm’s outstanding performance is a result of their positive communications with our people, superb carrier relationships, and proactive management style”

Derek Borisoff, Monarch E&S Insurance Services

Yiana Stavrakis, Monarch E&S Insurance Services