John Howard is Chief Executive Officer of TIH (formerly known as Truist Insurance Holdings), the seventh largest insurance brokerage in the U.S. with over 200 offices nationwide. More than 10,000 TIH teammates serve clients through our diverse portfolio of industry-leading platforms—AmRisc, BenefitMall, CRC, Crump, Kensington Vanguard, McGriff, and Starwind—to place over $50 billion in insurance premiums annually.

An industry veteran with more than 35 years of leadership experience, John began his career on active duty in the U.S. Navy and held executive positions at GE Capital, Conseco, and Prudential. Since joining TIH in 2004, John has guided the company's transformation into a highly regarded industry leader consistently producing outstanding results.

John is a board officer for the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers, serving as treasurer; an overseer of the Maurice R. Greenberg School of Risk Management, Insurance, and Actuarial Science at St. John's University; and a member of the Insurance Policy Advisory Committee of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Additionally, he is a prior chairman of the board of The Institutes, The American College of Financial Services, and Gill St. Bernard's School. John is a recipient of the Hall of Fame award from the Tri-County Scholarship Fund and the Lindabury-Thomas Trustee award from Gill St. Bernard's School.

John earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Columbia University and an MBA from Duke University.

Dave Obenauer is President of TIH, the seventh largest insurance brokerage in the U.S. with over 200 offices nationwide. In his leadership role, Dave has direct responsibility for the company’s four divisions: Wholesale, Underwriting, Retail, and Insurance Services. He also serves on the TIH Board of Directors.

With 35 years of insurance industry experience, Dave joined the TIH organization in 2007 as part of Crump Group, a private equity-owned financial services holding company, where he served as chief financial officer. Since then, he has helped build TIH into one of the country’s most successful brokerages through a focus on strategy, execution, teamwork, and a continuous improvement mindset. 

Dave previously served as chief financial officer for Marsh Americas and chief administrative officer for Marsh’s wholesale brokerage and underwriting management operations (with operations in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.). He began his insurance industry career with United Educators Insurance, moving through the ranks to become its chief financial officer and chief operating officer. 

Dave serves as the immediate past president and a board member of the Wholesale Specialty Insurance Association (WSIA).

He holds an MBA from Wharton and a bachelor’s degree from Wake Forest University, both conferred with honors.

Chris Bradley is Chief Operating Officer at TIH, where he is responsible for the organization’s operational policies, objectives, and initiatives, focusing on optimization and quality control of systems and processes within the company.

Chris was previously with Truist Financial Corporation, where he led a broad range of teams since joining that organization in 2008. His roles of increasing scope and responsibility at Truist spanned risk management, deposits, capital management, corporate treasury, and financial planning and analysis. Most recently, he served as Truist’s head of finance transformation. Prior to joining the Truist organization, he held positions with UBS Investment Bank, Freddie Mac, and BearingPoint, Inc.

Chris received his MBA from the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School and his bachelor’s degree in business administration from James Madison University.

Mike Conway is Chief Financial Officer for TIH. In this role, he oversees the company’s financial operations, including financial planning, accounting and controls, treasury, and tax strategy. He provides both strategic and operational leadership to TIH, not only in the financial arena but also across all aspects of the company’s business.
 
Mike brings more than 30 years of experience leading large, complex business organizations to his position. He joined TIH from Brown & Brown Insurance, where he served as chief accounting officer & corporate controller and was responsible for delivering better control, efficiency, and transparency into the organization’s finance operation.

Prior to his role at Brown & Brown, Mike spent 13 years with Thomson Reuters, rising to the positions of CFO-Asia, CFO-Global Sales and Service, and Global Head of Sales Operations, Learning & Effectiveness.

Mike earned his MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business, graduating Magna Cum Laude, and his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the State University of New York at Buffalo. 

Chris Grady is Executive Vice President and Head of Strategy and Corporate Development for TIH. In this role, he leads the company’s strategic planning, merger and acquisition activities, and all other corporate development initiatives. 

Chris works closely with the TIH businesses to identify acquisition opportunities, assess their strategic fit, and execute against the company’s overall growth objectives. He also oversees the execution and monitoring of strategic initiatives across the organization to drive innovation and growth through actions and projects that create value for TIH clients and stakeholders. 

Chris joined TIH from investment banking firm Piper Sandler, where he was a managing director in the Insurance Banking practice. Prior to Piper Sandler, he had a longstanding career at Marsh McLennan Agency, where he was head of corporate development and M&A. He was responsible for all acquisitions, divestitures, and principal investment activity at Marsh McLennan Agency and completed approximately 80 transactions, including more than 70 acquisitions of insurance distribution firms in the U.S. and Canada. He began his career in corporate finance advisory at Ernst & Young in New York. 

Chris holds an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business and an undergraduate degree in finance and corporate accounting from Ithaca College.

Matt Hopes serves as Chief of Staff for TIH.  In this role, he works with the executive committee, board of directors, clients, teammates, and stakeholders to fulfill internal and external commitments and support the delivery of TIH strategic priorities.  

Matt joined the organization in mid-2023.  He previously served as the deputy chief of staff at Bank of America, supporting Retail Banking.  Prior to his time at Bank of America, Matt held a similar position at USI Insurance Services, leading business management and operations supporting the president.  He joined USI by way of the Wells Fargo Insurance divestiture in late 2017 where he oversaw all operational activities related to the transition.  Matt also spent time at Wells Fargo as the chief operating officer for the Employee Benefits National Practice and led the Insurance Services Project Management Office.     

Matt currently serves on the Board of Directors for JoyRide Cars, a car club exclusively for kids with special needs.  He recently served on the board of directors for Cannon Memorial YMCA and chaired the board of managers for West Cabarrus YMCA.  

Matt earned his bachelor’s degree from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.

Jim Odell is Executive Vice President and General Counsel for TIH.  In his role, Jim leads the company's global legal affairs by providing strategic legal counsel to TIH's business lines and corporate functions; overseeing litigation, compliance, and regulator enforcement matters; and advising on corporate governance. 

Jim has an established history of leading global legal and compliance departments, including in general counsel roles at UBS AG and Citigroup's Corporate and Investment Bank. Most recently, he was general counsel and interim CEO for Momentum Financial Services Group, a multinational private equity-owned portfolio company. 

Prior to his general counsel roles, Jim led finance and capital markets practice groups at some of the nation’s leading law firms, focusing on financial services, banking and securities regulation, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate finance in a variety of industry sectors including financial services, insurance and healthcare, financial sponsors, technology, media and telecom.

Jim received his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law and a bachelor’s degree in finance from Lehigh University. 

Nicole Pemberton is Chief Human Resources Officer for TIH. With over 20 years of HR experience, Nicole oversees the development and enablement of organizational design, workforce strategy, HR service delivery, total reward, employee engagement, culture, and change management initiatives.

Previously, Nicole served as the senior-most HR professional supporting more than 30,000 employees in the Property & Liability Division of Allstate. She was accountable for all aspects of HR management, including global talent strategies, M&A integrations, employee relations and engagement, talent acquisition, total rewards strategy, and employee care and well-being in her prior role.

Nicole spent more than ten years at National General Insurance, prior to its acquisition by Allstate, ultimately rising to the head of Human Resources, where she was responsible for more than 10,000 employees in the United States, Bermuda, and Latin America.

Nicole earned her master’s degree in Human Resources Management from the University of Maryland and her bachelor’s degree in Sociology-Criminal Justice from Morgan State University in Baltimore.

Matthew Spriggs is Chief Information Officer at TIH. In this role, he oversees all aspects of technology, cybersecurity, and innovation for the enterprise and its subsidiaries, including AmRisc, BenefitMall, CRC, Crump, Kensington Vanguard, McGriff, and Starwind.

Matthew is a results-driven technology executive with over 20 years of leadership experience in software engineering, infrastructure operations, digital transformation, consumer banking, and insurance brokerage operations.

Prior to his appointment as our organization’s CIO in 2021, Matthew served as the Truist Financial Corporation CIO for Consumer and Small Business Banking along with many other roles. His teams were responsible for the JD Power award-winning U Mobile application and the successful integration of hundreds of systems enabling Branch, ATM, Contact Center, Deposit, Lending, Mortgage, Credit Cards, and Debit Cards related to the merger between BB&T and SunTrust.

Matthew earned an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Memphis.