Agency Leadership
315-703-9147
Jim has served Haylor, Freyer & Coon, Inc., and the insurance industry for over 35 years. As Managing Partner, Jim is responsible for the overall operation of the Agency, alongside the Alera Group delivering exceptional experiences and outcomes, positively impacting the business, communities, and lives of people where we live and work. Jim drives the vision and mission of the Agency and is proud to work alongside 180 employees in six local offices. In addition, Jim is bringing our partnership with Alera Group and the associated resources to our clients, community, and employees. Alera is an independent, national insurance and financial services firm created through the merger of like-minded, high-performing, entrepreneurial companies across the United States. This new partnership strengthens our commitment to bring the best insurance and risk management solutions to our valued clients.
Prior to his role as Managing Partner, Jim held the positions of Chairman, CEO, Executive Vice President, and Director of the Manufactured Housing Division.
Jim is a past member of The Hanover Insurance Company National Agents Council. He is also past President of the New York Housing Association, Northeast Manufactured Housing Association and has been the New York delegate to the Manufactured Housing Institute in Washington DC. In 2003, he was recognized by the industry and received the NYHA Hall of Fame Award. In 2006, he was recognized by the Pennsylvania Manufactured Housing Association and received the President’s Award for his service to the industry. Jim holds a broker license in all states.
Jim is dedicated to the communities that Haylor serves and maintains active involvement. At the United Way of Central NY, he is currently Secretary, Leadership Development Chair and was the past 2016/17 Campaign Chairman. He serves on the Board of Trustees at Cazenovia College and LeMoyne College’s Madden School of Business Advisory Board for the McNeil Academy of Risk Management & Insurance. He and his wife Shari are actively involved with Young Life, David’s Refuge and Hopeprint, all organizations making a difference in our communities.
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Director - Alera Group/HF&C Region
315-453-1726
Steve’s goal is to become a “trusted advisor” to his clients. He accomplishes this by advocating for his customers and addressing their needs on a daily basis. Attention to detail and servicing his client’s needs are his top priorities. He takes a “consultative approach” with his clients by making sure his customers are properly protected as well as educated with regard to all of the options available to them in the insurance marketplace. His philosophy is not to just sell a customer more insurance but to find the most cost effective options to handle a company’s risk management needs. This may be accomplished by transferring a customer’s liabilities to other responsible parties through contracts and/or agreements, by taking steps from a safety standpoint to mitigate exposure to loss, or by implementing management practices that provide for checks and balances to reduce a certain risk. His goal for a customer’s insurance program is to have a comprehensive program that is aggressively priced as well as making sure his clients are proactive from a risk management perspective. This will ultimately protect the company’s assets and lessen their overall insurance costs.
Steve handles Haylor, Freyer & Coon’s larger complex accounts. His accounts are both domestic and internationally based and they include privately held and publicly traded companies. His knowledge of insurance products is wide ranging from guaranteed cost options and international products to the alternative marketplace, including captives and self-insurance.
Steve has over 30 years of experience in the Insurance Industry. He was also a member of Syracuse’s Common Council for eight years and played a major role in the successful redevelopment of a historic area in the City of Syracuse. Steve lives in Jamesville, NY, is married and has four children. He is an active coach of youth sports, mainly basketball which is one of his passions.
Director of Sales, VP of Transportation
315-703-1389
Joe Peplinski is a Vice President in our Transportation Department where he leads a team of Trucking dedicated risk advisors.
Joe’s commitment to the trucking industry is evident by his specialty designations; TRS & TRIP.
- TRS - Transportation Risk Specialist
- TRIP - Transportation Risk Insurance Professional
- Featured speaker at Annual Conference and Safety Symposium on Fleet Safety
- An Advocate for the voice of trucking; attending the Call on Washington to speak with Congress & Senators to bring about needed change in our industry
Director of Marketing & Sales Team Lead
315-453-1729
Rich MacDonald is Haylor Freyer & Coon's Commercial Lines Sales Director. He is responsible for the planning and directing of the agency's sales force throughout Upstate, NY. Rich has over 20 years of experience that includes loss control, underwriting and marketing responsibilities for 2 major carriers specializing in servicing mid-size to large accounts. His experience includes working for the 2nd largest property carrier and the largest workers’ compensation carrier in his career prior to joining Haylor, Freyer & Coon.
Rich has over 15 years of management experience and has been directly involved in working with his sales representatives resolving client issues. Areas of focus includes addressing property valuation and business interruption concerns, discussing alternatives to loss control recommendations and reviewing various workers compensation loss sensitive options to assist clients in identifying their best options to consider.
Rich has a Chemical Engineering Degree from Clarkson University and M.B.A. from LeMoyne College enabling him to understand technical issues and relating them to provide the best business solutions for clients. These clients range in all sizes and industries and he worked with clients with over 10 employees to over 2,500 employees. His area of industry experience includes construction, manufacturing, wholesale, real estate, retail, municipalities and healthcare. Rich earned the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation in 1992 , Associated Risk Management (ARM) in 1991, and the Associate in Management Designation in 1993.
Vice President of Finance
518-431-7093
Chris serves as a trusted advisor to Senior Leadership, manages and leads the budgeting process, and oversees all aspects of the accounting and finance functions. Prior to coming to Austin & Co, Chris spent 17 years at Golub Corp/Price Chopper. She held various roles in the finance/accounting department throughout her tenure, including Treasurer for 8 years. Chris has spent the last 6 years at Austin & Co. and has held various roles including Treasurer and VP of Finance. Chris grew up in Johnson City, NY, graduated from LeMoyne College, and currently resides in Niskayuna, NY with her husband Sam and three daughters.
Regional Director-Operations Project Management
315-703-3234
Pat Clary is Director of Shared Services & Digital Marketing which includes responsibility for working with the critically important “behind the scenes” functions of the agency. These include Administration, Facilities, Mail, Reception, Licensing, Technology Tools, along with the outward facing communication, website, marketing, and advertising areas.
Director - Commercial Insurance Operations
315-703-9136
An insurance professional with 18 years technical, training and management experience, Gia leads our Claim Advocacy Team in serving the needs and interests of our customers.
Prior to joining Haylor, Freyer & Coon, Gia held Claim and Underwriting positions with Travelers Insurance. Gia’s claim experience included handling complex Commercial and Personal Property claims. He has lead claim teams and taught claims adjustment to claim professionals across the country. With his knowledge of protocols and processes, Gia is able to counsel and advocate for our customers throughout the claim process. Most recently, Gia was the Director of Underwriting for Travelers, leading a team of 40 underwriters responsible for managing risks throughout the Northeast and bringing with him an understanding of underwriting philosophy and appetite strategies of insurance carriers.
A lifelong resident of Central New York, Gia attended Syracuse University and the Baldwinsville School District. With a specialty in Property Claims Adjustment, Gia understands the challenges that individuals and companies face after suffering a loss. Whether it’s the Ice Storm, Labor Day Storm, flood events or everyday accidents, his focus has always been helping local families and businesses recover and move on. In addition, Gia has extensive experience with National Catastrophes including Hurricane Katrina, Storm Sandy, and numerous weather events throughout the country that have devastated whole communities. By finding solutions to overcome obstacles and advocating for the customer, Gia has a proven track record of helping customers get back to normal.
Director of Claims and Loss Control
315-703-2230
Mike is a Certified Safety Professional with over 30 years of safety and health consulting experience. He holds a masters degree industrial engineering with a concentration in human factors and ergonomics. Mike has been a speaker at major safety conferences, local safety events, safety day meetings, client meetings, and at colleges and universities. He has completed work across the United States, Canada, Europe, and China.
Mike’s client work focuses on helping businesses implement effective safety programs that prevent accidents, improve regulatory compliance, and lower costs. His risk assessment work activities include completing best practices evaluations, safety and health risk assessments, regulatory compliance audits (i.e., OSHA), safety culture surveys, ergonomics evaluations, industrial hygiene surveys, machine guarding assessments, and construction safety inspections.
In addition to completing risk assessments, Mike helps clients develop and implement written safety programs, inspection protocols, training materials, and accountability systems to improve safety performance. He has helped clients implement safety management systems such as OHSAS 18001 and OSHA VPP, worked with behavior based safety programs, helped insurance trusts and captives implement loss control programs that protect the interests of all members, and developed self-inspection systems that significantly lowered loss experience on OCIPs and ROCIP.
Director of Personal Risk Management
315-703-3233
Diane Viviano is responsible for HF&C's Personal Lines and Small Business division. Diane has been a long-standing part of HF&C, and has been a successful member of many departments in the agency over her career. She started in Claims before later moving to Commercial Lines, Training, then Personal Risk Management.
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