Management Team

Jeff Rieder has overall leadership and responsibility for Ward Group^®. Jeff has significant experience in the insurance industry with expertise in the property-casualty and life, health and annuity segments. Throughout Jeff's 18 year career, he has been involved with over 350 projects for numerous regional, national and international insurance companies, covering a diverse range of technology, performance, and operational evaluations. Jeff joined Ward Group in 1998, after he worked five years for a Great American Insurance Company in the corporate finance department. Jeff leads the firm's annual Ward's 50 analysis of the financial performance of every property-casualty and life-health insurance company in the industry identifying the top performers in each segment. The Ward's 50 Benchmark Group has achieved international recognition and is widely regarded as one of the insurance industry's distinct achievements.

Jeff is a frequent speaker at insurance industry conferences on a diverse range of subjects, including, among others, claims operations, human resources, information technology, agency management, distribution system analysis and expense benchmarking.

Jeff holds a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting and international business certification from the University of Cincinnati.

Brad Stegman has dual responsibility for leading client benchmarking engagements and for designing the systems for all of the firm's benchmarking applications. In addition, Brad leads the publication of the Ward's Insurance Results, which serves as the foundation for the Ward's 50 analysis. Brad has been with Ward Group since its founding in 1991, and has supported over 1,000 benchmarking and consulting projects at property-casualty and life, health and annuity insurance companies throughout the United States and Canada. He has extensive experience in applications design, development and implementation, systems analysis, process reengineering and financial modeling.

Brad holds a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial engineering from the University of Cincinnati. Prior to the founding of Ward Group, he was Project Engineer at Colejon Corporation.

Charlie Gall has responsibility leading major client engagements and overall leadership for the firm's operational benchmarking programs in North America, including CEO (Core Enterprise Operations), Claims and Information Technology benchmarking. Charlie has over 17 years of experience in the insurance industry, working with over 100 insurance companies throughout the United States and Canada. He has expertise in both the property-casualty and the life, health and annuity segments. Throughout his career, Charlie has directed numerous consulting projects covering a diverse range of operational performance, expense benchmarking and project management.

Charlie holds a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from the University of Cincinnati. Prior to joining Ward Group, he served as Project Manager and Controller for a Liberty Mutual and in the corporate Finance departments at Great American Insurance Company.

Betty Cornelius has worked at Ward Group since 1994 and oversees corporate marketing for the firm. She has coordinated efforts with marketing teams at many high performing Ward's 50 recipient companies and has been instrumental in making the certification and placement on the list of Ward's 50 companies an international recognition which is widely regarded as one of the insurance industry's elite achievements. More recently, Betty has led efforts to promote new benchmarking initiatives at Ward Group leading to significant growth and added value to Ward Group clients.

Betty holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of Mount St. Joseph. Prior to joining Ward Group, she served as an independent marketing and graphic design advisor.

Felix Schachter has responsibility leading the firm's operational and compensation benchmarking programs in UK/Europe. He is responsible for developing Ward Group's operations across the UK and Europe in property-casualty, life and health segments. He has extensive experience in strategy, commercial management, finance and M&A.

Prior to joining Ward group, Felix advised several investment funds and management consultancies on the insurance industry and prior to that worked globally for several multinationals , including AXA, RBS, Samsung and Andersen. In his last corporate role he served as Head of Group Strategy for AXA UK & Ireland.

Felix is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a MBA from London Business School.

Tony O'Shea oversees the firm's compensation benchmarking programs. Tony specializes in incentive compensation consulting within the insurance industry. He has designed and executed several compensation surveys covering an array of segments including life and annuity, property-casualty, insurance brokerage and property-casualty reinsurance. Additionally, Tony has completed a wide range of studies related to sales incentive design and reward practices.

Prior to joining the firm in 1998, Mr. O'Shea worked with The Evergreen Group and Optima Group providing consulting services related to the financial services industry.

He received a B.A. from Columbia College and an M.B.A. degree from The Stern School of Business at New York University.

Joshua Bewlay oversees Ward Group’s executive compensation practice focusing on the insurance industry, delivering compensation solutions to executives and top management at insurance carriers and brokers. Josh personally directs all aspects of client engagements, helping guide compensation committees and management to align their strategic goals with sound performance and reward solutions, bringing an appropriate balance between annual, short- and long-term pay components.

In addition to his more than seven years of experience as a compensation consultant, Josh spent more than 15 years in the insurance industry starting as an excess & surplus lines underwriter at General Star (a Berkshire Hathaway company) and then as a Managing Director with Marsh Inc., leading their excess casualty placement operations in the US. Josh earned his BA in Political Science from Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. and his MBA from Cornell University.

Leah Hollstegge leads client benchmarking engagements in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom, including CEO (Core Enterprise Operations), Claims and Information Technology benchmarking. Since Joining the Ward Group in 2005, Leah Hollstegge has led benchmarking and consulting projects at property-casualty and life, health and annuity insurance companies throughout the United States and Canada. She has worked with insurance companies in detailed assessments of their Information Technology operations, allowing companies to maximize their Information Technology spend to meet corporate priorities. Leah also designed the quantitative approach Ward Group uses to measure the operational performance of clients. More recently, Leah has been instrumental in developing Ward Group operations across the UK and Europe.

Leah holds a Bachelor of Science in Actuarial Science and a Masters of Business Administration from Ohio University. Prior to joining the Ward Group, she worked as management consultant for the Voinovich Center.

William (Bill) Lang leads client benchmarking engagements in the U.S. and Canada, including CEO (Core Enterprise Operations), Claims and Information Technology benchmarking. Since joining Ward Group in 2001, Bill has led numerous benchmarking and consulting projects at property-casualty and life, health and annuity insurance companies throughout the United States and Canada. In addition to leading and supporting client engagements, Bill was extensively involved in the development, testing, and launch of Ward Group's benchmarking applications.

Bill holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and Accounting from the University of Cincinnati. Prior to joining the Ward Group, Bill worked in the Internal Audit department for the Union Central Life Insurance Company.

Matthew (Matt) Ryan leads client benchmarking engagements in the U.S. and Canada, including CEO (Core Enterprise Operations), Claims and Information Technology benchmarking. Since joining Ward Group in 2006, he has led a wide range of benchmarking projects for property-casualty and life-health insurers in both the United States and Canada. In addition to leading benchmarking engagements, Matt is responsible for coordinating, developing and administering the Ward Research Center.

Matt holds a bachelors of Science degree in finance from Miami University and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Cincinnati. He is a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU). Prior to joining Ward Group, Matt worked in financial products division of the Western and Southern Financial Group.

Ken Hutchens leads client benchmarking engagements in the U.S. and Canada, including CEO (Core Enterprise Operations), Claims, and Information Technology benchmarking. He has led a wide range of benchmarking projects for property-casualty and life-health insurers in both the United States and Canada. Ken has over 15 years of experience in the insurance and financial services industries. Throughout his career, he has performed over 70 benchmarking and consulting engagements for a diverse group of insurance companies.

Ken holds a bachelors of Science degree in accounting and finance from Miami University. Prior to joining Ward Group, Ken worked in consulting at PricewaterhouseCoopers and AXA Equitable.