Meet Our People

At IFG Companies we truly believe that a knowledgeable and dedicated team makes a difference not only in the quality of our products, but also, the quality of our relationships. Please meet our peopl​e: ​

Brett M. Blumencranz, Senior Vice President - Head of Strategy and Business Development

Brett is Senior Vice President and the Head of Strategy and Business Development​ at IFG Companies. He is responsible for driving growth and business expansion efforts across the organization.

Brett joined​ IFG Companies most recently from Wells Fargo Insurance, where he held numerous leadership roles in sales and business development. Brett began his career in insurance at BWD Group in New York where he spent six years as an insurance producer. He then returned to his hometown of Tampa, Florida where he worked in investment and financial planning roles with Prudential Financial and ProVise before joining Wells Fargo in 2005. Brett holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Gettysburg College and various licenses in the insurance and financial services industries.

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​Andrew P. Kempen, Senior Vice President and Chief Actuary

Andy is a Senior Vice President and the Chief Actuary of IFG Companies. He is responsible for all aspects of actuarial analysis including actuarial reserving, rate-making and competitive analysis. Prior to becoming IFG’s Chief Actuary, Andy was Chief Pricing Actuary and worked closely with underwriters, claim professionals, product development specialists and unit leaders to advise them in making rating/pricing decisions, in evaluating underwriting analyses and in assessing the performance of classes or lines of business. ​

Andy began his actuarial career at Milliman (formerly, Milliman & Robertson) as an Actuarial Analyst. After Milliman, Andy worked for ING Group as an Actuarial Analyst in the valuation department of its U.S. life and annuities unit. Thereafter, Andy worked for three years at United Services Automobile Association ("USAA") as a Senior Actuarial Analyst. After USAA, he became an Associate Actuary for General Electric's warranty services business, where he priced and reserved automobile warranty risks. In 2007, Andy joined Argo Group International Holdings, Ltd. in its Excess & Surplus lines segment. While there, he held a number of roles, of which most recently he served as both Chief Pricing Actuary of the Excess & Surplus lines segment and Co-Chief Pricing Actuary of Argo's U.S. Operations.

Andy graduated from Drake University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, with a double major in Actuarial Science and Accounting. He is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries.

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Murad Lodhi, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer

Murad is a Senior Vice President and the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of IFG Companies. He is responsible for overseeing all Information Technology activities including cyber security, infrastructure, software, data engineering, enterprise architecture, machine learning and AI.

Prior to joining IFG Companies, Murad served in various leadership roles at Chubb. Most recently at Chubb, Murad served as a CIO for Global Data Ingestion and Intelligent Process Automation where he focused on business and technology transformation within Commercial P&C and Claims globally, as well as CIO North America Personal Risk Services. Prior to Chubb, he worked at Ernst & Young, where he led multiple global teams to deliver client driven technology solutions. Murad holds a Master of Science degree in Information Systems from Kean University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Rutgers University. ​

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John Mahoney, Senior Vice President and Chief Claims Officer

John is Senior Vice-President and Chief Claims Officer at IFG Companies. He is responsible for leading the claims organization and optimizing its performance.

John joined IFG Companies after serving as Senior Vice-President, Technical Claims for Zurich North America where he led a team of over 1,400 claim professionals who managed a diverse portfolio of claims. Prior to Zurich, John was Vice-President, Liability Claims at The Hartford where he was responsible for the overall performance of auto and general liability claims. John began his career as an attorney in Hartford, Connecticut where he handled product liability defense and commercial litigation. John is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross, where he was captain of the baseball team, and an honors graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Law. ​

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Kenneth "Trey" Martino III, Chief Operating Officer – Underwriting

Trey is the Chief Operating Officer – Underwriting for IFG Companies. He is a member of the executive leadership team and is responsible for overseeing the strategy and profitable growth of IFG Companies' underwriting operations.

Trey joined IFG Companies after serving as the Midwest Regional Vice President for US Middle Market at Zurich North America. Prior to Zurich, he was Head of Asia-Pacific and Global Head of Private Equity for Sompo International’s Global Risk Solutions business unit. Trey started his insurance career at Travelers, where he held underwriting leadership roles in the Commercial Accounts Group (Middle Market) and Excess Casualty divisions. He graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the Peter J. Tobin College of Business of St. John’s University (NY) and is a past Governor of the Board for the John Street Insurance Association. ​

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Elizabeth A. Monrad, President

Elizabeth (Betsy) is President and Chief Executive Officer of IFG Companies. She is responsible for leading and managing the Group operations of IFG's four insurance companies, focusing on specialty insurance coverages nationwide. She previously has served as IFG's Chief Operating Officer.

Betsy began her career in public accounting where she rose to become an audit partner at Coopers & Lybrand (now, PricewaterhouseCoopers). Subsequently, she was recruited to work in the reinsurance industry, where she ultimately became Chief Financial Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of General Re, within Berkshire Hathaway. After 12 years in reinsurance, Betsy was recruited to become Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of TIAA, one of the largest private pension systems in the world. She has also served on the Board of Directors of Colgate-Palmolive and was named Insurance Woman of the Year by APIW in 1998. She has also received the Montgomery Price Award (distinguished alumna) from PricewaterhouseCoopers. She has Chaired the Accounting Committee of the Reinsurance Association of America and was a member of the AICPA's Expert Panel on Financial Institutions.

Betsy earned a Masters in Management at the Sloan School at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she later served on the Dean's Advisory Council. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wellesley College, where she was a founding member of its Business Leadership Council and chaired the Council's New England Region. She has also served as Trustee and Treasurer of the Beaver Country Day School, has been an Incorporator of the Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Massachusetts and recently served as President of a League of 1,300 tennis players ("WAIT A/B") in Central Florida.

Nicholas A. O’Ryon, Chief Underwriting Officer

Nick is the Chief Underwriting Officer of IFG Companies. He is a member of the executive leadership team and is directly responsible for overseeing underwriting strategy, product development and portfolio management across all underwriting business units.

Prior to joining IFG Companies, Nick spent more than a decade in multiple leadership roles at Chubb. Most recently, he served as Chubb’s National Segment Manager for the Lower Middle Market and oversaw the development of Chubb's underwriting model and operating platform for that market. Nick began his career as an underwriter with ACE Westchester Specialty Casualty where he served both wholesale and retail distributors on admitted and non-admitted business. Nick holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from Eastern University. He is Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and an Associate in Commercial Underwriting (AU).

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