Headquarters:
9029 271st NW, Stanwood, WA 98292
Year founded:
1901
Number of employees:
96
Phone:
360 424 4559
Email:
wafdinfo@wafdinsurance.com
Website:
wafdinsurance.com
LinkedIn:
linkedin.com/company/wafdinsurance
"We are constantly living by our core values: integrity, impact and teamwork"
Julie Giraldi,
CAAT Pension Plan
Read on
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WAFD INSURANCE GROUP
Duane Henson
President
Jude Griego
Vice President
Hans Eskelsen
Regional Manager
Leadership
For the last 20+ years, Duane Henson has led WAFD Insurance Group to become a multi-state agency. With decades of experience, he continues to help the company grow and never misses an opportunity to support his team.
President
Duane Henson
Jude Griego serves as a vice president of WAFD Insurance and oversees much of the company’s commercial insurance operations. He brings over 20 years of industry experience to benefit the WAFD team.
Vice President
Jude Griego
Hans Eskelsen is WAFD’s regional manager for Washington, Idaho, and Montana. He applies his 20+ years of experience to exclusively operate the commercial and personal insurance departments in this region.
Regional Manager
Hans Eskelsen
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“We are constantly living by our core values: integrity, impact and teamwork”
Julie Giraldi,
CAAT Pension Plan
“Now, we have much more frequent recognition awards because we want to celebrate people staying at CAAT and recognize the contributions that they bring to the organization”
Julie Giraldi,
CAAT Pension Plan
Read on
Award Winner
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Bio
“Now, we have much more frequent recognition awards because we want to celebrate people staying at CAAT and recognize the contributions that they bring to the organization”
Julie Giraldi,
CAAT Pension Plan
“We are constantly living by our core values: integrity, impact and teamwork”
Julie Giraldi,
CAAT Pension Plan
Read on
Award Winner
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James Sabin
Regional Manager
James Sabin oversees WAFD’s Oregon operations and brings over 15 years of experience working closely with commercial customers, finding solutions and educating clients along the way.
Regional Manager
James Sabin
Angie Skeen
Accounting Manager
Angie Skeen manages WAFD’s accounting department, ensuring that all 17 of our office’s books stay accurate. She has used her extensive knowledge to support the company for the past seven years.
Accounting Manager
Angie Skeen
Founded in 1901, WAFD Insurance Group is an ever-expanding independent agency that focuses on protecting its clients through all of life’s milestones. Originally incorporated in the state of Washington, WAFD Insurance Group has since expanded across six Western states and now has physical locations in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and New Mexico. WAFD Insurance also has property & casualty licenses in most of the United States so they can offer their services coast to coast.
WAFD Insurance Group is affiliated with WaFd Bank, a regional bank that serves most western states. The Group shares its corporate views, such as being active community members and aspiring to build healthy, thriving relationships with their clients. As a whole, the company aims to act more like a reliable next-door neighbor, delivering simple, straightforward banking and insurance solutions.
“WAFD Insurance Group recognizes that the client-agent relationship requires close attention, and we respect the trust that our clients put in us,” says Duane Henson, president. “Our agents take pride in acting as an advocate for each of their clients and know the importance of every detail when choosing the right coverage for different situations.”
As a company, their biggest investment is the team who represents them. They strive to ensure that each team member has all the resources they need to succeed and grow; they encourage their staff to always have open communication with their leaders. Because of this, they believe that their dream team has full confidence in WAFD Insurance’s leadership, which allows them to serve their clients with the same assurance. Being named one of America’s Top Insurance Employers for the fifth consecutive year brings them so much joy because they know their success is credited to the team they’ve built.
What are their plans for the near future? “Our goal is to become a digital-first insurance agency, focusing on using enhanced technology to improve our services,” says Henson. “This will allow us to have a more diverse employee environment, establishing more remote workers and offering a balance between work-from-home and in-office options.”
The company’s outlook is to take on each client’s needs and concerns as its own. The WAFD team takes pride in their ability to make people’s lives less stressful, knowing that they’re properly protected and that they have experts in their corner when life takes unexpected turns. They recognize that Insurance is a service industry and customer service is their first priority. Over a century in the insurance industry proves why WAFD Insurance Group has what it takes to cover their customers’ insurance needs.
“Now, we have much more frequent recognition awards because we want to celebrate people staying at CAAT and recognize the contributions that they bring to the organization”
Julie Giraldi,
CAAT Pension Plan
Alex Ventura
Head of Marketing
Dave Longbottom
Chief Technology Officer
Karen Bannister, CM
Vice President, Marketing
Sarah M Stewart
Associate Vice President,
Leasing and Call Centre Operations
Alex Ventura has a wealth of experience and passion for martech across the financial services sector – including B2B and B2C – with a focus on delivering exemplary omnichannel experiences. Alex is responsible for driving brands in the digital age with strategies that evoke a brand’s personality and corresponding values. Mapping customer journeys encompassing systematic and programmatic technologies has been key to his successful strategies.
Head of Marketing
Alex Ventura
With a superior understanding of web design and architecture, Dave Longbottom has been pivotal in orchestrating the development of new technologies, which are aligned with business objectives, and pioneering industry-leading solutions. Dave’s tenacity to push the status quo has led to the development of innovative solutions encompassing the latest emerging technological trends and cyber security frameworks.
Chief Technology Officer
Dave Longbottom
Karen Bannister has over 20 years of marketing expertise and has a Chartered Marketer designation from the Canadian Marketing Association. She is a strategic marketing leader with a career record of success in developing and executing effective marketing strategies, growing revenue, and overseeing multi-talented teams. She also holds five certifications for marketing and brand management.
Karen has successfully completed the Mini-MBA, Essentials of Management program at Schulich School of Business, and most recently completed the Communications and Leadership Program at The Ivey Academy.
Vice President, Marketing
Karen Bannister, CM
Sarah M Stewart has more than 15 years of strategic leasing and customer care experience in residential property management. She is responsible for overseeing all aspects of Centurion’s national leasing platforms, residential lead generation, and overall customer experience excellence through operation of the company’s internal customer service department.
Associate Vice President, Leasing and Call Centre Operations
Sarah M Stewart
Alex Ventura
Head of Marketing
Sarah M Stewart
Associate Vice President, Leasing and Call Centre Operations
Karen Bannister, CM
Vice President, Marketing
Dave Longbottom
Chief Technology Officer
Alex Ventura has a wealth of experience and passion for martech across the financial services sector – including B2B and B2C – with a focus on delivering exemplary omnichannel experiences. Alex is responsible for driving brands in the digital age with strategies that evoke a brand’s personality and corresponding values. Mapping customer journeys encompassing systematic and programmatic technologies has been key to his successful strategies.
Head of Marketing
Alex Ventura
With a superior understanding of web design and architecture, Dave Longbottom has been pivotal in orchestrating the development of new technologies, which are aligned with business objectives, and pioneering industry-leading solutions. Dave’s tenacity to push the status quo has led to the development of innovative solutions encompassing the latest emerging technological trends and cyber security frameworks.
Chief Technology Officer
Dave Longbottom
Karen Bannister has over 20 years of marketing expertise and has a Chartered Marketer designation from the Canadian Marketing Association. She is a strategic marketing leader with a career record of success in developing and executing effective marketing strategies, growing revenue, and overseeing multi-talented teams. She also holds five certifications for marketing and brand management.
Karen has successfully completed the Mini-MBA, Essentials of Management program at Schulich
School of Business, and most recently completed the Communications and Leadership Program at
The Ivey Academy.
Vice President, Marketing
Karen Bannister, CM
Sarah M Stewart has more than 15 years of strategic leasing and customer care experience in residential property management. She is responsible for overseeing all aspects of Centurion’s national leasing platforms, residential lead generation, and overall customer experience excellence through operation of the company’s internal customer service department.
Associate Vice President, Leasing and
Call Centre Operations
Sarah M Stewart
Sonia Ahuja
Chief Operating Officer
Sanjay Mehta
EVP and Chief Market Officer
John Laurie
Chief Partnership Officer
Anthony Dippolito
Chief Wellness Officer
Alex Ventura has a wealth of experience and passion for martech across the financial services sector – including B2B and B2C – with a focus on delivering exemplary omnichannel experiences. Alex is responsible for driving brands in the digital age with strategies that evoke a brand’s personality and corresponding values. Mapping customer journeys encompassing systematic and programmatic technologies has been key to his successful strategies.
Head of Marketing
Alex Ventura
With a superior understanding of web design and architecture, Dave Longbottom has been pivotal in orchestrating the development of new technologies, which are aligned with business objectives, and pioneering industry-leading solutions. Dave’s tenacity to push the status quo has led to the development of innovative solutions encompassing the latest emerging technological trends and cyber security frameworks.
Chief Technology Officer
Dave Longbottom
Karen Bannister has over 20 years of marketing expertise and has a Chartered Marketer designation from the Canadian Marketing Association. She is a strategic marketing leader with a career record of success in developing and executing effective marketing strategies, growing revenue, and overseeing multi-talented teams. She also holds five certifications for marketing and brand management.
Karen has successfully completed the
Mini-MBA, Essentials of Management program at Schulich School of Business, and most recently completed the Communications and Leadership Program at The Ivey Academy.
Vice President, Marketing
Karen Bannister, CM
Sarah M Stewart has more than 15 years
of strategic leasing and customer care experience in residential property management. She is responsible for overseeing all aspects of Centurion’s national leasing platforms, residential lead generation, and overall customer experience excellence through operation
of the company’s internal customer
service department.
Associate Vice President,
Leasing and Call Centre Operations
Sarah M Stewart
