A senior practitioner with independent agencies, brokerages and insurance consulting firms, Mr. Cunningham began his career with Cunningham Insurance Group,a suburban Chicago brokerage specializing in professional liability and middlemarket commercial accounts. At that firm, he was senior vice president and chief operating officer. In addition to his management responsibilities, he also worked as a producer and thereby developed extensive experience in all areas of the insurance distribution system, from sales and marketing to finance, IT & systems, and agency-company relationships.

In 1987, he accepted a position as principal with Hales & Associates a Chicago-based insurance financial consulting and investment banking firm. Mr. Cunningham specialized in merger and acquisitions and valuations. He also edited the Hales Report, a monthly newsletter containing coverage and analysis of the insurance industry with a focus on the distribution sector.

In 1997, Mr. Cunningham joined IMCG, a Kansas City-based business management consultancy specializing in start-ups and mergers. As a principal, he worked exclusively with insurance clients. Wishing to extend his consulting services beyond individual transactions, Mr. Cunningham partnered with Steven Germundson to form OPTIS Partners, LLC, in 2002.

Interviewed and quoted extensively in the business press and industry publications, Mr. Cunningham is chairman of the board of the Insurance School of Chicago and past president of the Chicago Board ofUnderwriters. He has held adjunct faculty positions at Triton College and Morton College, as well as leadership positions with a number of insurance organizations, including the Harold H. Hines Memorial Symposium Committee. Mr. Cunningham holds a BA in business management from Lewis College, with a focus in finance and accounting.

Download Timothy Cunninghan‘s resume

After earning a B.A. in Economics from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., Mr. Germundson acquired his Accredited Advisor in Insurance Instituteof America. He co-founded NSIA, Inc., a Minneapolis-based independent insurance agency focusing on small- to middle-market commercial and personal lines insurance throughout the Upper Midwest. Responsible for the firm‘s financial management and its acquisition activity, Mr. Germundson developed personal experience in the financial and operational aspects of the insurance distribution system while leading NSIA in the purchase of nine insurance businesses in Wisconsin and Minnesota over the course of four years.

From 1987 through 1994, Mr. Germundson served as a partner and consultant of Hales & Company, Inc., a Chicago-based investment bank specializing in the insurance industry. At Hales, he provided a broad spectrum of professional services, from errors & omissions loss control to business planning and succession-ownership planning.

In 1998, Mr. Germundson served as owner and CEO of The Germundson Company, an operational and financial consulting practice focused on the insurance distribution system. He developed an E&O consulting program for a state association, consulted with a captive E&O carrier, and was engaged in numerous operational and financial assignments with independent agents. After amassing nearly 20 years of experience in the insurance distribution industry, Mr. Germundson brought his business into and co-founded OPTIS Partners, LLC with Tim Cunningham in 2002. At OPTIS Partners, Mr. Germundson specializes in the areas of agency workflow/errors & omissions loss control, strategic planning and ownership succession planning.

Download Steven Germundson‘s resume

Starting his career in 1980 at Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co., predecessor of KPMG, Mr. Menzer earned his CPA credential and soon after completed his MBA from the University of Connecticut. As a Senior Auditor at KPMG, Mr. Menzer developed a specialization in the insurance industry, and in 1983 accepted a position at the Hartford Insurance Group in Hartford, Connecticut.

After spending several years in the financial reporting and later as Controller of an insurance agency subsidiary of The Hartford, Mr. Menzer accepted the position of Controller and Business Analyst at Lawrence Group, Inc., a Business Insurance top-20 insurance broker in Albany, N.Y in 1988. Mr. Menzer was responsible for financial reporting and analysis, as well as budgets, financial controls and accounting practices. He also played a key role in the analysis, structure, due diligence and financial integration of several insurance agency acquisitions in three states.

In 1995, Mr. Menzer joined Marsh, Berry & Co., an insurance industry financial consulting firm based in Ohio, performing fair market valuations, ownership perpetuation analysis, and merger representation of insurance agencies. In late 1996, he joined Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., the world’s fourth-largest insurance brokerage.

At Gallagher, Mr. Menzer worked as a unit controller and later became Vice President of Finance in the consolidation of the brokerage’s Chicago operations. He also worked as a Regional Controller and Chief Financial Officer within the Brokerage Services Division, helping design and implement the firm’s Sarbanes-Oxley financial controls while making contributions to the division’s financial and strategic planning efforts.

Bringing with him more than 25 years of insurance experience, Mr. Menzer joined OPTIS Partners in 2008 where he specializes in financial management, perpetuation planning, merger representation and facilitation, compensation design and review, and fair market valuations.

Download Daniel Menzer‘s resume