September 29, 2015
IOA is pleased to announce an exciting expansion to our Property & Casualty division with the addition of our Restaurant Group in Ontario, CA. Today, this team is comprised of five business consultants, and several knowledgeable client support personnel including claims advocacy and safety training. This group has over 120 years of experience in the restaurant industry as either owners, managers, trainers, presidents or vice-presidents. Additionally, they have written insurance for more than 3,400 restaurant locations nationwide in Workers Compensation and Property and Liability, EPLI etc. Most importantly, they bring a unique approach to training restaurant managers that has resulted in lowering overall losses in both frequency and severity. The managers and their teams work with Julie Beezley to learn how to understand and to champion safety in their work environments.
Howard Massey, is a former Chief Operations Officer of Denny’s overseeing over 1,000 Denny’s in the nationwide billion dollar company. He was also the former President of El Pollo Loco when they tripled in size. Howard later became a franchisee of El Pollo Loco with 16 of his own locations. Howard left EPL with a great understanding of what restaurant owner/operators deal with when it comes to managing safety. Howard specializes in results oriented insurance programs and has been building and perfecting Restaurants Safety Programs for over 20 years. Howard is passionate about safety and continues to adapt restaurant safety training programs as the Restaurant Industry grows and changes. Howard has a degree in business from the University of Texas.
Angela Newman, currently writes over 500+ restaurant locations for multiple concepts such as, Denny’s, Wendy’s, Corner Bakery, TGI Friday’s, Pieology, Jamba Juice, Jack in the Box, Dunkin Donuts and many more. Angela specializes in the Restaurant Franchise Captive Insurance Program/RFCP. Her expertise in Captive insurance has helped many clients who have had the opportunity to get back up to 60% of their insurance premiums based upon their individual claims experience. Her 20+ years of experience makes her extremely knowledgeable on a variety of coverages from Property & Casualty to Employment Practices Liability.
Alka Manaktala, a former Burger King Franchisee. Brings her 20+ years of experience in Quick-Service & Fine Dining to the Restaurant Group. Alka was ranked the Top producer for 2014 among 375 producers and 125 offices at a large national brokerage firm. She was also ranked in the top 10 producers in 2013 at the same National Insurance Brokerage. She has successfully written over 500+ restaurants in various concepts such as Wendy’s, Jack in the Box, Carl’s Jr, Papa John and many more. She is well respected in the restaurant industry by clients and carriers alike for her extensive knowledge in Property & Casualty, Workers’ Compensation & Employment Practices Liability. She is a true professional in everything that she does and customer service is her number one forté.
Greg Massey worked for Denny’s, Ameci’s Pizza and Johnny Rockets. Greg has written several hundred restaurants made up of over 10 nationally recognized chains. Greg, who has written insurance for over 20 years, was ranked in the top ten producers at a large national insurance brokerage firm in 2013. Greg has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of California-Riverside. Greg has a tremendous amount of technical knowledge and expertise in writing all kinds of restaurants.
Andy Pettise is an experienced franchisee owner and operator of several concepts including IHOP, Baja Fresh and Burger King. Andy was a franchisee with IHOP for 18 years and achieved the IHOP Franchisee of the year in 2000 for the Western Region. Andy’s IHOP restaurants were the first group to implement the Safety Service Program with the help of his agent Howard Massey. He sold his businesses and became a broker in the Insurance Industry in 2009. Since then Andy has enjoyed helping owners insure and protect their most valuable investments. Andy has successfully helped save franchisees hundreds of thousands of dollars. As a broker, Andy placed in the Top 25 Producers at a large brokerage firm in a field of over 375 producers. Andy is currently writing insurance for franchisees in 10 nationally known chains like IHOP, Burger King, Taco Bell, etc. In the last 3 years, Andy has written insurance for restaurants in 32 different states and continues to expand his territory to help other franchisees. Andy graduated with a degree in business from Cal State University Northridge.
Our five producers and their clients are supported by a talented Risk Services team. Julie Beezley, Vice President of Safety Training, has over 35 years of experience in the restaurant industry. Julie started her restaurant career as an employee with a variety of positions. She advanced in her career from employee to Store Management, Area Management, Trainer and Vice President of Training. She has worked for Soup Exchange and Red Lobster. Julie has successfully trained and assisted hundreds of restaurant companies nationwide in the areas of restaurant safety, food safety and leadership. Additionally, Julie has trained the Marines in Japan, the Army in Germany, the Navy worldwide including the chefs and culinarians for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon in Washington, DC.
Maria Armas-Veasley, Claims Advocate, has over 18 years of experience in the worker’s compensation industry. She has extensive knowledge and understands the intricacies of Workers Compensation Law. She has also worked for insurance carriers and third party administrators, in which during that time she was promoted from various adjusting positions to claims supervisor. She specializes in handling high exposure claims involving litigation. Maria’s diverse experience includes hands on support from both the carrier and employer side with an expertise in manufacturing, restaurants, and municipalities. She maintains both the California Claims Adjuster and Self-Insured Certification along with the Workers’ Compensation Claims Professional Designation.
“This is an extremely talented group of producers that have a wealth of experience as insurance professionals, restaurant franchisees and as corporate executives. We also have one of the premier restaurant safety training experts in the United States, one that has over 30 years restaurant and safety training experience. THIS is what we really bring to the table! ” stated Howard Massey.
“The Ontario Restaurant Group strengthens IOA’s offering for all size and many types of restaurant brands and franchises. The Five Star Safety Program is a game changer in the industry” shares CEO Heath Ritenour.
Insurance Office of America (IOA) is a full-service insurance agency founded in 1988 and is one of the fastest-growing independent agencies in the U.S. IOA is currently the thirteenth-largest privately-held insurance agency in the US by Insurance Journal and is the twenty-eighth largest American broker according to Business Insurance magazine. The IOA headquarters is located north of Orlando in Longwood, Florida. IOA has more than fifty branch offices across the United States and an international office in London, UK. With more than one thousand associates, IOA specializes in providing solutions for many industries of business. We invite you to engage our people, discover the difference, grow your business and experience a service you never want to leave. For more information about Insurance Office of America call (800) 243-6899 or www.ioausa.com.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
To learn more contact:
National Restaurant Division
3281 E. Guasti Rd., Ste. 400
Ontario, CA. 91761
909-510-6300
