Bios

Ben earned a Bachelor of Science in business administration degree from the University of Arkansas in 1971 before returning to the family businesses of insurance, banking and agriculture.  He has served on the board of directors of Southern Pioneer Property & Casualty Insurance Company since its incorporation in 1981 and was named its president in 1984.

Hal obtained his business administration degree in 1977 from the University of Arkansas, where he became an avid Razorbacks fan. In 1980, he received his master’s degree in business administration from Southern Methodist University. He has been involved in the management of Southern Pioneer for over 33 years.

Brian received a B.S.B.A. in accounting from the University of Arkansas in 1995, a J.D. from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1998, and an LL.M. in taxation from New York University in 2004.  Brian has served in a management role as the secretary and treasurer and member of the board of directors of Southern Pioneer Property & Casualty Insurance Company since 2008.

David earned his Bachelor’s of Business Administration degree in Risk Management and Insurance from Georgia State University. He then went on to obtain his Master’s of Business Administration degree with a concentration in Finance from Georgia State University. David is a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) candidate, and has over 20 years of insurance industry experience.

Rob is the Vice President of the Southern Pioneer claims department. In his role, he has oversight for all claim operations. Rob has 29 years of claims experience and held various claim leadership positions with The Hartford for 17 years before coming to Southern Pioneer. He graduated with a B.S. in business administration and holds several industry designations such as Senior Claims Law Associate (SCLA) and Associate in Claims (AIC). Rob is a member of the Claims & Litigation Management Alliance and participates in the Claims Committee for Property & Casualty Insurers Association of America.

Eric started his interest in computers, programming games for his own entertainment, in 9th grade on the Commodore-64. In 1994, he graduated with two degrees from Belhaven University in Computer Science and Psychology. After college, he started a 16 year career in software development for the insurance and banking industries. He was instrumental in development, team management and promotion of policy administration and claim adjudication systems for small to mid-range regional insurance carriers. In 2010, he moved into the business side of insurance to oversee the IT department for Southern Pioneer.

Anthony graduated in 1982 with a B.S.B.A. in marketing from Henderson State University. He has worked for Southern Pioneer since May of 1984. Anthony is currently the commercial lines product manager and oversees the financial institutions products division. He enjoys spending time outdoors and fly fishing on the White River in Northern Arkansas.

In 1993, Marilyn started her insurance career in Nashville, Tennessee, handling all direct and agency-billed accounts, premium refunds, agency commissions and shareholder dividends, eventually progressing to a management position overseeing the company’s local branch. Marilyn came to Southern Pioneer in 2003 and played an important role in the development of the company’s personal lines division.  She currently serves as personal lines division manager and has oversight of the underwriting and policy service branch located in middle Tennessee. Outside of the office, Marilyn enjoys spending time with her two children and four grandchildren.

Sharon obtained her accounting degree from Lyon College with honors in 1994. She began as a staff accountant with Southern Pioneer in 1995, and was named Controller in 2013. Sharon enjoys all art forms especially theatre and writing.

Suzann joined Southern Pioneer in 2011 as Director of Agency Development for the state of Arkansas and part of western Tennessee. In addition to her marketing responsibilities, in October 2013, she was given a new role as Special Projects Coordinator. Prior to joining Southern Pioneer, Suzann worked in independent insurance agencies in northeast and central Arkansas. Starting in industry in 1993 as a personal lines customer service rep, she moved to the position of Vice President of Agency Operations manager in 2002. Suzann became a Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) in 2001. In 2009 she was honored by the Independent Insurance Agents of Arkansas by being named “Insurance Woman of the Year”.

Bob has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He began his insurance career selling life insurance. He entered the P&C industry as a claims representative, eventually becoming a claims manager in Knoxville, Tennessee. He transitioned to marketing with several carriers, advancing to Marketing Manager. He joined Southern Pioneer in 2004 and manages all of Tennessee, except for Shelby County.

Tim began his sales career in 1986 after serving six years in the US Army. He joined Southern Pioneer in 2007 as a marketing representative to the automobile industry, providing ancillary products to their finance departments and in-house training for their sales and management teams.

Bryan began his career with Southern Pioneer in August of 2003 after attending Southern Arkansas University and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.  He has acted as Marketing Representative in our Furniture Business lines, Automobile Dealers, Financial Institutions, and in the General Insurance Agent market.  Bryan enjoys the relationships he develops as the contact between our customers and the company.  Bryan also enjoys many outdoor sports, especially with his two sons.

Jim graduated from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 1972 with a BBA degree. In 1982 he became a marketing representative in the financial institutions division for First Pyramid Life Insurance Company in Little Rock. Jim joined Southern Pioneer in October of 1986 as a marketing rep in the Financial Insurance Division. Jim enjoys the outdoors, and is an avid fisherman.