About Our Presenters

Arel Moodie …

Arel is a best selling author, TV show host of Family Reboot on Disney+ and professional speaker who has spoken at the White House and has been acknowledged by President Obama.

Arel has done extensive work on understanding human relationship dynamics to understand what makes people tick and how to positively use these universal truths. He has been quoted in The New York Times, USA Today, Forbes, Black Enterprise, Huffington Post and contributor to TV shows like “The Doctors”

His podcast has reached millions of people in 178 countries and was the number 1 career podcast on Apple.

Inc. Magazine called him a “High-Energy, Motivator” and named him to their “30 Under 30 list” of America’s top entrepreneurs and he has been also named to the 40 Under 40 list of top CNY business professionals.

Arel grew up on welfare in the projects of Brooklyn, NY and went on to graduate from college and build a million-dollar event production and education company. As a professional speaker, he has spoken to over 750,000 people in 48 states and 5 countries.

J. Sheldon Snodgrass ...

Sheldon has spent thousands of hours coaching soldiers, skiers, white water rafting quests, high school athletes, masters level Ultimate Teams, and Insurance Industry Professionals around the world.

In 2002, Sheldon launched SteadySales.com to help service people sell. He’s coached hundreds of insurance agencies and thousands of CSR’s in collaboration with dozens of national and regional carriers, state associations, and industry partners.

Sheldon delivers energetic, emotive and entertaining content that translate our best intentions into the spark of action; all the while eliciting nods of agreement, chuckles of laughter and earnest commitments to oneself.

His masterful blend of behavioral science book-smarts with industry specific street –smarts helps insurance industry professionals sell more while they serve better.

Sheldon’s energetic coaching flows from two guiding principles: lovingly meet people where they are and ignite their own desire to improve.

Joseph Cox

Joseph has been on the Trusted Choice team for nearly 4 years and highlights the free programs and resources members have access to. Joseph works to help agents properly utilize these tools and understand broader marketing tactics for maximum impact in local markets. He has experience with many facets of marketing and has been in the association world for over 10 years.

Chris Greene

Chris Greene is the President and Owner of The Flood Insurance Guru. He is married to Stephani Greene, and they have one daughter Lydia Greene. He graduated with a master’s degree in emergency management with a focus in hazard mitigation from Jacksonville State University in 2007. He started his insurance career in 2009 and launched The Flood Insurance guru in 2018. The Flood Insurance Guru is a flood education company that spends its time educating people on flood risks, flood mitigation, and flood insurance. Chris recently launched one of the world’s largest flood learning centers after producing more than 5000 pieces of flood education content.

Lori Heemstra, CIC, CPIA, CIE

Lori Heemstra has over thirty years of experience in the insurance industry, seventeen of which were with a large independent agency where she has served as Commercial Lines Manager. She possesses strong hands-on proficiency with agency operations, training, development of consistent professional standards and agency errors and omissions (E&O) loss control. She is skilled at optimizing the use of agency technology.

In 2018, Lori joined LaPorte Consulting by providing operations consulting and education. She is also an E&O auditor, an approved instructor for the Certified Professional Insurance Agent (CPIA) program and teaches a number of continuing education classes, including those with emphasis on agency management and Errors and Omissions (E&O) loss control.

James Jenkins

James is an innovator and an eternally curious problem solver. He's an unapologetic risk and insurance nerd and gets really excited about things that bore most people. As a lifelong student, he eagerly reads articles and journals to stay fresh on industry developments. He is the host of a leading industry podcast, Agency Freedom, and an accomplished public speaker on a variety of topics related to business, technology, process and innovation.

Lisa Lemanski, CISR

Lisa alongside her husband Will, own and run MLL Insurance in East Lansing. They are a 4th generation family agency. Lisa has been in insurance for 18 years, 10 of those as an agency owner and eight as a commercial underwriter for a Midwest regional carrier. Lisa is in charge of HR, operations, agency marketing and social media and all of the thing. Their agency has been recognized a number of times for their marketing and social media both inside the insurance industry and outside. Lisa loves all things Irish - especially competitive Irish Dance, Notre Dame and Ireland of which she’s been 15 times.

Joe Dahlvig, CPCU, ARM, ASLI, ARe, AMIM

Joe Dahlvig is a Senior Casualty Underwriter for Admiral Insurance Group, an excess and surplus lines commercial insurance provider. He has more than 10 years of property and casualty underwriting experience. He spent his first 7 years in property and transitioned to casualty in 2017.

Joe has been involved in several cannabis related initiatives with Admiral and has completed the Cannabis Training University Master Certificate Program.

Sean Siebigteroth, JD

Sean Siebigteroth is an attorney, author, and educator with over 20 years of practice in the areas of creditors' rights, bankruptcy, consumer law, criminal defense, probate and estate planning, civil rights law, administrative law, and general civil litigation. Sean now focuses on employment civil rights litigation, labor and employment law, arbitration, and general civil practice. Martindale-Hubbell rates Sean as "Notable" in recognition of his ethical standards and ability.

Monica Stolar

Monica is the Creative Marketing Manager and head of the Partners Program at Big I Michigan. She has also founded her own freelance design company, Monica Stolar Designs. Monica has a Bachelor of Fine Art with a concentration in graphic design and photography from Michigan State University. She has over 10 years of design and marketing experience and specializes in creating colorful, unique, “out of the norm” designs for the insurance industry. She is the brain behind almost everything creative at Big I Michigan, ranging from logos, to event marketing designs, to video creation. In her free time, you can find Monica enjoying the beauty of Northern Michigan with her twin sister, spending time with friends and family, working on house projects, or binge watching Netflix while searching Pinterest for creative inspiration. She is looking forward to sharing her professional design tips and tricks with the attendees at Big I Michigan’s Annual Convention!

Rob Umstead, CPCU

Rob Umstead has been an active production agent since 1981 with Steenland Insurance Agency in Grand Rapids. He is a past president of the Kent County Agents Association and of MAIA (now Big I Michigan). Rob came to realize a few years back that he was not issuing COIs correctly when he attended a Certificates of Insurance (COI) course at a previous association convention. Since then he has become an avid student in the study of COIs and has presented the topic several times over the past six years.

David Walker, AAI, CIC, CAWC, LIC, CRM

David (Dave) Walker began his insurance career in 1979 as an agent with Guarantee Mutual Life Insurance Co. In 1981, he joined Hartland Insurance Agency as a producer, rose through the ranks, and currently serves as president and principal of the agency.

During his career he has taught many classes at the state and national level - for CIC, CISR, and at numerous conventions. He is an instructor on Agent Ethics and Professional Liability and acts as an expert witness throughout the United States.

Dave has also served on many boards and committees throughout the years, and is a past MAIA President and IIABA (Big “I”) Director.