HomeWise Insurance Group

Dale Hammond serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of HomeWise. An industry veteran, he brings many years of executive level experience to his role, as well as Florida market expertise from his previous position leading First Floridian.

Most recently, Hammond was President and CEO of Kemper Auto and Home where he led the company's personal lines operations and managed its transition from Kemper to Unitrin. Hammond joined Kemper from Travelers Insurance Company where he spent several years in senior positions, including leading the company's personal lines operations. As President and Chief Operating Officer of First Floridian, he established and directed the company's first operations in Florida.

In addition to his role at HomeWise, Hammond is involved with many industry organizations and has served as the Chairman of the Institute for Business and Home Safety. He is the Immediate Past Insurance Co-Chair for Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. Hammond holds the CPCU designation and graduated from Saint Louis University with a Bachelors of Science in Industrial Management.

Tim Journy brings more than 30 years experience to the Senior Vice President/CFO post at HomeWise where he is responsible for all of the company's financial and accounting functions. Journy joined HomeWise from Metlife, Inc. where, most recently, he was Senior Vice President and General Auditor for the New York-based financial institution. Journy's high-level experience includes extensive internal audit oversight, "Best Practice" program implementation, and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.

Prior to Metlife, Journy served as Executive Vice President, Controller & Chief Accounting Officer at Compass Bancshares, Inc. Earlier in his career, he held a senior accounting position at Banc One Corporation and was a partner at KPMG Peat Marwick. Journy holds a B.A., Accounting from Illinois State University and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Institute of Internal Auditors.

As Chief Operating Officer, Bill Sparkes oversees the day-to-day operations at HomeWise and the company's back-office functions. He brings more than 30 years experience in the property and casualty insurance industry to his role. The majority of his career was spent with Travelers Insurance Company where he held various operational and underwriting positions. Bill is a graduate of Colby College.

Peyton Hurst brings more than 35 years experience to his role as Chief Marketing Officer at HomeWise, including a wealth of Florida experience gleaned from 26 years in the Florida insurance market. As CMO, he's responsible for the company's agent relations and marketing efforts. His career has included several home office and field marketing positions at Travelers Insurance Company, the majority of which were in Florida. He has served on the boards of the FWUA and the auto JUA. Hurst is a graduate of Southeast Louisiana University.

As Chief Claims Officer, Steve Backman oversees the company's claims handling and day-to-day claims operations. With more than 19 years experience in the property and casualty insurance industry, Backman has been involved in the preparation for and aftermath of over 20 catastrophes in the Southeastern United States. These include a variety of claims handling functions related to hurricanes and tropical storms, including CAT Site Management. Backman was most recently with Travelers of Florida, and, prior to that, served in a variety of claims-related capacities with USAA and the Florida Farm Bureau Insurance Companies. Backman is currently a member of the Board of Directors for the Florida Advisory Committee on Arson Prevention and was a panel speaker at the 2004 and 2007 Wind Insurance Conferences. He graduated with a Bachelors of Arts degree from the University of South Florida and possesses the CPCU and AIC designations.

Dennis Plante brings 30 plus years of diverse experience in Property & Casualty Insurance to the Vice President & CAO role at HomeWise. Most recently he served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for AmComp, a Florida-based workers compensation carrier. Prior to that, he was Senior Vice President and Controller for CNA Global and Specialty Lines, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer with the Frontier Insurance Group, and Executive Director of Loss Reserving with United Services Automobile Association. Plante is a Certified Public Accountant, holds a B.S., Accounting from Clarkson University, an MBA from the University of Texas at San Antonio and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Diane E. Falcone serves as General Counsel for the HomeWise affiliated companies and is responsible for providing all non-claims related legal services to the HomeWise companies. A graduate of Villanova University School of Law, Falcone has over 15 years experience providing legal services to personal lines insurers. Her most recent position, prior to joining HomeWise, was as Corporate Counsel for Kemper Auto and Home.

Linda brings more than 30 years of highly diverse management experience to her role as Vice President of Business Development for HomeWise. Linda most recently ran the Tampa insurance operations for Citizens Insurance, and just prior ran VIP, a startup insurance organization which she created for Clarendon Insurance Group. There she evaluated, secured and implemented new opportunities for VIP. Linda has also held senior executive positions at both regional and national insurance companies. She has long been known for her 'Out of the Box' creativity and successes and as such, been one of Ten Chicago Women of the Year, featured in multiple magazines, and has spoken at both national and international conferences. Linda is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin business school, and serves on their Advisory Board providing corporate world insight and strategy.

With more than 30 years experience in insurance, Dotti Brink oversees the underwriting operations at HomeWise, including supervising day-to-day operations for the company's customer service center. Brink's career includes serving as Underwriting Manager, and Regional Manager of Underwriting and Customer Service for Colonial Penn. She also held the positions of Director of Program Integration, and Director of Insurance Operations at USAA where her responsibilities included managing special programs, and overseeing policy service. Her career started as an underwriter of special lines at Progressive. Brink holds a BA degree from St. Leo University.

Steve Sandford brings more than 30 years experience to his role as Vice President for Product Management and Compliance for HomeWise. His responsibilities include ensuring compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements, state filings and rate development. Most recently, Sandford served as Regional Product Manager at Kemper Auto and Home. Prior to that, he held various roles at CNA, including Underwriting Director, Program Manager and State Strategy Product Team Leader. Sandford is a graduate of Loyola University and holds a CPCU designation.

With more than 30 years experience in the industry, Marty manages HomeWise's day-to-day operations in Louisiana, including supervising both underwriting functions and agency relations for the state. Joiner has extensive experience in the Southern U.S. market, having begun her career as a personal lines customer service representative in Texas in 1969. Since that time, she has held key positions with both a large managing general agency and a personal lines insurer.