John Bykowski
President's Forum Panel Participant
John Bykowski is President and CEO of SECURA Insurance, a mutual property and casualty insurer in Appleton, Wisconsin. He has served in that role since joining the company in 1997, and was named chairman of its board of directors in 2004.

Bykowski has 39 years of property/casualty experience. From 1972-79, he held underwriting management positions at Milwaukee Mutual and Allstate Insurance. He worked as Vice President of Casualty Operations at Wisconsin Employers Group from 1979 to 1983, and then moved to West Bend Mutual where he was Senior Vice President of Marketing from 1983 to1997. Bykowski is a graduate of Marquette University.

Active in the insurance industry, he was Chairman of the Board of Directors for the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) for the 2007-08 term.

Bykowski is highly involved in the community. He serves on the board of directors for the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center and the Fox Cities Community Foundation.

Phillip R. Davis
Phil has been employed in the insurance industry for over 31 years. He began his insurance career in 1973 in sales with Allstate Insurance Company. He was promoted to management where he was responsible for all aspects of training, including licensing for all agents in the state of Michigan. He traveled and lectured nationally at conventions and sales seminars from 1983 to 1988.

He owned and operated an independent, multiple lines insurance agency for 23 years in which he was licensing in all lines of insurance. Currently, Phil is a faculty member of The National Alliance, teaching CISR courses in Michigan.

Mary M. Eisenhart, CPCU, ARM, ARe, RPLU, CIC, CPIW
Mary Eisenhart has spent 30 years in the insurance industry, both in independent agencies and with insurance carriers. In 1996, she became an insurance industry consultant, and is the owner of Eisenhart Consulting Group in Lincoln, Nebraska, a consulting firm dedicated to helping insurance organizations become extraordinary.

A graduate of the University of Nebraska, Mary has continued her insurance education by earning the CPCU, ARM, ARe, RPLU, CIC, and CPIW designations.

Mary has been featured in Rough Notes and other insurance industry publications, and has authored a Best Practices tool for IIABA, “The Next Generation: A Young Agent’s Best Practices Leadership Guide.” She has also chaired local and state “Big I” Education Committees. Mary develops and presents insurance industry management, technical, Best Practices, motivational, and risk management seminars throughout the U.S.

Scott Hummel
Scott Hummel is Vice President for Government Affairs with the Michigan Association of Insurance Agents. He is uniquely qualified for that position having served as a Michigan State Representative from the 93rd District (Clinton and Gratiot Counties) for 6 years. His experience on the House Insurance and Tax Policy Committees, as Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee for 2 years has allowed him to seamlessly provide MAIA with important representation at the State Capitol. He was termed out of office at the end of 2006.

Prior to that, Mr. Hummel served on the Clinton County Board of Commissioners for 2 and one half years. He worked for General Motors for 25 years, primarily as a skilled tradesman building prototype vehicles. He is a graduate of Michigan State University with a degree in Economics.

Steven D. Monahan
Steve Monahan is President and CEO of MEEMIC Insurance Company/The Auto Club Group. He began his insurance career as an Allstate agent in 1987. He moved through several positions in field sales management and executive regional leadership, and was head of the Allstate Indemnity Auto Insurance Company for a time.

He became President & COO of the Auto Club Insurance Association (the personal lines insurance arm of The Auto Club Group) in 2000 with the charge to expand it into a regional company supporting five AAA clubs and their members in the Midwest. The Auto Club Insurance Association acquired the MEEMIC Insurance Company in early 2009 and Steve was appointed to his current position of President & CEO. In addition to his MEEMIC responsibilities, Steve was also given the responsibility of executive oversight for Fremont Insurance Company in August 2011 on behalf of The Auto Club Group.

Steve is active in the property & casualty industry and has been a director on the Board of Governors of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America for 12 years.

David Paul
President's Forum Keynote Speaker and Panel Moderator
David Paul is a partner at ALIRT Insurance Research, a firm specializing in the analysis of insurance company financial performance trends. ALIRT’s quarterly insight into the underlying financial strength of insurers allows distributors and buyers of insurance products to anticipate financial stress and/or rating downgrades of insurance partners before they occur.

David was a founding member of ALIRT Insurance Research, building out the company’s life, property/casualty and health insurance company analytical models/services, client service; and special project work delivery. David co-directs the company’s research staff, manages internal IT initiatives and product development, authors a number of the firm’s insurance industry research pieces, and is actively engaged in client service and business development.

David has nearly 20 years experience as an insurance industry research analyst and is active in the industry as an author and public speaker.

Bob Pierce, CAE
Bob Pierce, CAE, has served on MAIA’s staff for 30+ years, the last 16 as its CEO. Prior to joining at MAIA he was employed in higher education administration and as a university professor. Bob’s undergraduate and graduate degrees were earned at Western Illinois and Northern Illinois Universities respectively.

David Walker, AAI, CIC, LIC
David Walker currently serves as President and Principal of the Hartland Insurance Agency. During his career of more than three decades Dave has taught many classes nationally 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.

He currently serves as the professional liability consultant for GMAC. Dave has served on many MAIA boards and committees throughout the years. An MAIA Past President, he was elected to the Executive Committee of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers in 2009, is currently IIABA Executive Committee Board Member at Large (on track to be IIABA President in 2014) and currently serves on a number of IIABA committees and task forces.