Board of Directors

OFFICERS

James J. Sorebo, CLU®
President

James J. Sorebo serves as Senior Vice President, Community Banks & IBDs for Highland Capital Brokerage. Jim started his financial services career in 1979 and was an executive with an industry-leading insurance and investment company. While there, he led the company’s wholesaling efforts and was president of a wholly-owned subsidiary.

As a recognized speaker and sales trainer, Jim has been a featured speaker before industry trade groups like Life Insurance and Market Research Association (LIMRA), bank and broker/dealer sales conferences, and insurance company conventions. A graduate of Minnesota State University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Jim is a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU®), and a member of the Society of Financial Service Professionals and Bank Insurance and Securities Association (BISA).

Jim has given back to the industry in numerous ways over his career. He served on the National Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies (NAILBA) board for six years and was Chairman in 2017. Additionally, he participates in the Association for Advanced Life Underwriting (AALU) Brokerage Task force, building relationships with the Members of Congress on the issues affecting our industry. Jim serves on the board of directors for The Lone Survivor Foundation, which restores, empowers, and renews hope for our wounded warriors and their families suffering from PTSD.



Robin S. Landers, CLU
Immediate Past President

Robin Landers is a principal at NAILBA member agency Landers-Stein & Associates, Inc., a Miami-based BGA founded in 1959 by Bernie Landers and Marty Stein.

 A graduate of the University of Florida’s College of Journalism, Robin has a degree in Advertising. She started as a file clerk at Landers-Stein in 1983, earned her insurance license, followed by her CLU designation. She partnered with Carmen A. Rodriguez in 1995 to begin their agency together, choosing Robin’s sister, Diane Preuss, as their first staff person, all of whom had worked for the original agency.

She has been president of both the Miami SFSP (CLU) and NAIFA–Miami. In addition to serving on the NAILBA Charitable Foundation Board, she also served on the NAILBA Marketing Committee and works on NBA’s Nomination and Bylaws committees. Along with her volunteer commitments to the insurance community, Robin has served on the board of The Heart Association and the Women’s Fund. She is the wife of a prize-winning journalist, and is the proud mother of five children and grandmother to five grandchildren.

Victoria Van Dusen-Roos
Treasurer, NAILBA 
Ex-Officio Member

Tori Van Dusen-Roos, co-principal and 50% owner of Diversified Brokerage Services, joined DBS in 1993 and currently serves as its Chief Operations Officer. In this role, Tori is responsible for overseeing its Director of Operations, Director of Finance, Director of IT, Chief Underwriter and Director of HR.

Tori stays very active in the industry and currently sits on the advisory councils of a few different insurance companies. She is a current LIBRA Insurance Partners Board Member, a member of NAILBA’s Executive Board where she serves as treasurer, and on the NAILBA Foundation Board of Directors as its current Grants Committee Chair. She is also a past Board Member of LifeMark Partners, past President of LIFE, Inc. (a National Life Brokerage Study Group), and has served on numerous NAILBA committees in the past.

Tori lives in Shorewood, Minnesota with her husband Greg and two beautiful children, Parker and Piper. Most of her spare time is spent with her family but she still finds time for her monthly cooking club, summer golf league, boating, dining with friends, and gardening around the house.

John Gilbert
The National Benefit Corp.
West Des Moines, IA

John Gilbert is the President for The National Benefit Corp (TNBC). John’s financial services career began in 2002 as an agent for Banker’s Life and Casualty. He served the central Iowa senior marketplace with life insurance, long term care, annuities, and Medicare supplements. John joined The National Benefit Corp. in 2004 as a marketing consultant specializing in annuity marketing. Gaining a strong knowledge of the brokerage world and the independent broker dealer community was a key to the early successes of the TNBC annuity department.

In 2009 John was named the director of annuity marketing at TNBC. The annuity department continued to flourish, posting several consecutive record years in total annuity production. In 2014, John accepted the role of VP of Business Development and has continued to help TNBC grow its distribution of insurance products in the institutional space while taking on a larger role in relationship management and agency operations.

John has been active in NAILBA, serving as the Agency Successor Networking Group (ASNG) chair for the past three years, and was recognized in 2017 with the NAILBA Chairman's Award. John has also been active in the local NAIFA chapter and was the 2016 President of The TYGERS, a study group of second and third generation insurance professionals. he attended Northwest Missouri State and Iowa State universities. John is series 6, 63 and life and health licensed. John is married to Lindsay and together they have three wonderful children Jack, Julia, and Jenna.

 

James WongJames Wong
Partners Advantage
Irvine, CA

 

James Wong is the Area Executive Vice President of Partners Advantage, a Gallagher Company. Agencies looking to elevate their business growth strategy, enhance production, and eliminate inefficiencies have come to depend on James’ expertise. Throughout his time in the industry, James has deepened his understanding of agency needs, but places high importance on building relationships with owners and encouraging them to share challenges to work together towards solutions.

 

James entered the insurance industry in 1999 and has served in all facets of agency operations, so he knows first-hand from the inside out the issues agencies face. In 2006, Partners Advantage acquired his agency and since then he has served in an executive leadership role. During his tenure, he helped facilitate dozens of mergers and acquisitions, which fueled the company’s growth. Through these experiences, James has developed a deep appreciation for what it takes for an agency to thrive. 

James believes in giving back to the community, which is why serves on many carrier advisory boards and participates in industry associations. Since 2018, he has served on the NAILBA (National Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies) Board of Directors, where he diligently supports the needs of agents and agencies. James’ passion is consulting with businesses to foster innovation and growth. He’s always looking for ways to provide greater value and help establish overall financial well-being for the agencies he supports. Although business is important to him, James also knows the value of life outside of work. At home in southern California, he spends his time running and playing basketball as well as enjoying time with his wife, Valerie, and their two sons.

 

Dan LaBertDan LaBert
NAILBA
Dan LaBert is NAILBA CEO and serves on the Foundation Board as an ex-officio member.

 

 

DIRECTORS 

Pete Chrisos
Protective Life Insurance Company

Pete Chrisos is the Vice President and National Account Manager for Protective Life Insurance Company.

He has more than 37 years of insurance industry experience. He began his career in 1979 at North American Company for Life and Health Insurance working in multiple areas of the company  before starting his career as a as a Senior Life Underwriter.  He joined the Zurich Life Underwriting Team in 1998 as a Senior Life Underwriter and Sales Support Manager.

He began establishing his career as a Sales Vice President in the brokerage community in 2001. Pete joined Protective Life in 2006 and is currently a National Account Manager in the Brokerage Distribution channel, managing relationships with multiple strategic marketing organizations. Pete is a lifelong resident of the Chicagoland area and currently resides in Hoffman Estates, IL with his wife Karen and their two children, Kevin and Stephanie.

Philip Chuba
Prudential

Philip Chuba is a Vice President, Strategic Relationship Management for Prudential. He is an advocate for a firm’s specific needs, and then effectively connects and leverages Prudential capabilities and resources to help firms achieve their goals. His goal is to help our distributors develop strategies and tactics to drive profitable growth.

Phil graduated from St. Cloud State University with a degree in Marketing and a minor in Organizational Psychology. He also holds designations of CLU®, FLMI and ACS. Phil lives in Minnesota with his wife and their four children. Phil enjoys all sports and was a coach for youth hockey. He is a member of Prudential’s Beyond the Yellow Ribbon organization and is an active member of The River of Life Church.

PJ DoylePJ Doyle
CPS / Gulf States Brokerage

Paul (P.J.) Doyle, Jr., LUTCF, is a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi. He joined his father, Paul Doyle, Sr., at Crisis Management Agency in 1990. In 1997, the agency merged with the Harrison James Group, where P.J. was a partner and regional brokerage manager.

In 2002, P.J. and long-time business partner Angie Dean opened up a CPS affiliate office, CPS/Gulf States Brokerage, LLC, where he serves as principal/owner. In 2008, CPS/Gulf States Brokerage merged with Crisis Management Agency.

Blair Farwell
Resource Brokerage, LLC

Blair Farwell RHU, REBC is the President and owner of Resource Brokerage, LLC. Blair has been in the insurance industry for 25 years. Blair has built a multi line wholesaler with 30 employees that have specialized divisions that focus on: Group Benefits, Individual Medical, Medicare Products, Life Insurance, LTC Insurance and individual DI. Resource Brokerage has been awarded one of the Best Places To Work In Illinois (Top 30- Small Employer Division) for 10 years! Blair is married to his wife of 20 years Nicole and has three daughters.

Hamill

Andrew M. Hamill, CLU, ChFC
Breeze

Andrew M. Hamill is the Head of Distribution for Breeze. As the Head of Distribution, Andrew has a passion for protecting American families and making the process of getting disability income, critical illness, and other much-needed coverage faster and easier and proudly leads the distribution expansion and strategy at Breeze.

Andrew is an active member of AALU, NAILBA, NAIFA, and the Society of Financial Services Professionals, for which he served several terms as a board member. He was Education Chairman of the European LUA, is a past board member of March of Dimes Central Virginia Chapter, a founding board member of Regents School of Charlottesville, and a member of the AALU “Future of the Industry” working group. Andrew attended Penn State University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics. He has earned CLU, ChFC, CLTC and LTCP designations. Andrew and his wife Eileen reside in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina with their three children, Michaela, Shannon and Ian.

Anthony Lancaster
Chief Information Officer and Chief Operating Officer

Anthony Lancaster serves as Chief Information Officer and Chief Operating Officer for Highland Capital Brokerage. He is responsible for executing strategic enterprise roadmaps, managing information technology, and leading the company’s project management team. Anthony’s expertise includes process improvement, project management, and information technology integration strategies.

Prior to joining Highland, Anthony was Director of Operations with New York Life in Chicago.

Anthony has a master’s degree in Management Information Systems (MIS) and a master's in Business Administration (MBA). In addition, he holds a Project Management Professional Certification (PMP®) and is Six Sigma Black Belt Certified (CSSBB).

 

Sheryl J. Moore
Moore Market Intelligence/Wink, Inc. 

Sheryl J. Moore is president and CEO of Moore Market Intelligence. She is also the founder and creator of several competitive intelligence tools, including Wink’s AnnuitySpecs and LifeSpecs tools, as well as Wink’s Sales & Market Report. Moore Market Intelligence specializes in providing competitive intelligence tools to the insurance industry, particularly the indexed life and annuity markets. Ms. Moore provides competitive intelligence, market research, product development, consulting services and insight to select financial services companies.

 

Mark Pellicano
Vice President, Financial Advisor Network

Mark Pellicano is the Vice President of the Financial Advisor Network, comprised of Long Term Care, Edward Jones, Wirehouse, Marketing Organizations, WFG, Key Account Marketing and Broad Markets. Pellicano is responsible for overseeing the national sales and distribution of Pacific Life insurance products, including Pacific PremierCare, and brings over 25 years of insurance industry expertise and an exceptional sales track record to his role at Pacific Life.

Mark began his financial services career at John Hancock before moving on to MassMutual and later to Lincoln Financial Distributors. He has held positions as a Branch Sales Manager Recruiter, Trainer, and Assistant Vice President. Prior to joining Pacific Life, Mr. Pellicano was National Sales Manager for Lincoln MoneyGuard Reserve.

Mark was born in Long Island, New York, and currently lives in Annapolis, Maryland, with his wife, Jerren, and their three boys, Cole, Wyatt, and Jed.

 

Michael “Slades” Sladek     
Mutual of Omaha        

 Michael “Slades” Sladek is a National Sales Director with Mutual of Omaha.  In his current role he is responsible for sales and marketing to industry leading NMOs and BGAs and managing a team of seasoned sales professionals.  Slades has over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Accounting with a double major in Economics from Northeastern Illinois University and received a Master of Science in Taxation from DePaul University. 

He and his wife Rose have 5 children and 8 grandchildren and reside in Houston, Texas.