Board of Directors, NAILBA Brokerage Community

Executive Committee 

Victoria Van Dusen-Roos
Chair
Diversified Brokerage Services, Inc.
Minneapolis, MN

Tori Van Dusen-Roos, co-principal and 50% owner of Diversified Brokerage Services, joined DBS in 1993 and currently serves as its Chief Operations Officer. In this role, Tori is responsible for overseeing its Director of Operations, Director of Finance, Director of IT, Chief Underwriter and Director of HR.

Tori stays very active in the industry and currently sits on the advisory councils of a few different insurance companies. She is a current LIBRA Insurance Partners Board Member, a member of NAILBA’s Executive Board where she serves as treasurer, and on the NAILBA Foundation Board of Directors as its current Grants Committee Chair. She is also a past Board Member of LifeMark Partners, past President of LIFE, Inc. (a National Life Brokerage Study Group), and has served on numerous NAILBA committees in the past.

Tori lives in Shorewood, Minnesota with her husband Greg and two beautiful children, Parker and Piper. Most of her spare time is spent with her family but she still finds time for her monthly cooking club, summer golf league, boating, dining with friends, and gardening around the house.

James Wong
Chair Elect
Partners Advantage
Irvine, CA

James Wong is the Area Executive Vice President of Partners Advantage, a Gallagher Company. Agencies looking to elevate their business growth strategy, enhance production, and eliminate inefficiencies have come to depend on James’ expertise. Throughout his time in the industry, James has deepened his understanding of agency needs, but places high importance on building relationships with owners and encouraging them to share challenges to work together towards solutions.

James entered the insurance industry in 1999 and has served in all facets of agency operations, so he knows first-hand from the inside out the issues agencies face. In 2006, Partners Advantage acquired his agency and since then he has served in an executive leadership role. During his tenure, he helped facilitate dozens of mergers and acquisitions, which fueled the company’s growth. Through these experiences, James has developed a deep appreciation for what it takes for an agency to thrive. 

James believes in giving back to the community, which is why serves on many carrier advisory boards and participates in industry associations. Since 2018, he has served on the NAILBA (National Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies) Board of Directors, where he diligently supports the needs of agents and agencies. James’ passion is consulting with businesses to foster innovation and growth. He’s always looking for ways to provide greater value and help establish overall financial well-being for the agencies he supports. Although business is important to him, James also knows the value of life outside of work. At home in southern California, he spends his time running and playing basketball as well as enjoying time with his wife, Valerie, and their two sons.

Debbie Hannam
Treasurer
Brokers Clearing House, LTD
West Des Moines, IA

Debbie Hannam is President of Brokers Clearing House in West Des Moines, Iowa. With more than 19 years of experience directly supporting our advisors and their clients, Debbie brings a different perspective to her operations oversight. While overseeing the day to day service model of our company, Debbie also supports a team of advisors to ensure that she stays current with this ever-changing industry and the needs that your clients have. She is an invaluable resource to our staff and advisors alike.

John Gilbert
Past Chair 
The National Benefit Corp.
West Des Moines, IA

John Gilbert is the President for The National Benefit Corp (TNBC). John’s financial services career began in 2002 as an agent for Banker’s Life and Casualty.  He served the central Iowa senior marketplace with life insurance, long term care, annuities, and Medicare supplements.  John joined The National Benefit Corp. in 2004 as a marketing consultant specializing in annuity marketing.  Gaining a strong knowledge of the brokerage world and the independent broker dealer community was a key to the early successes of the TNBC annuity department. 

In 2009 John was named the director of annuity marketing at TNBC.  The annuity department continued to flourish, posting several consecutive record years in total annuity production.  In 2014, John accepted the role of VP of Business Development and has continued to help TNBC grow its distribution of insurance products in the institutional space while taking on a larger role in relationship management and agency operations. 

John has been active in NAILBA, serving as the Agency Successor Networking Group (ASNG) chair for the past three years, and was recognized in 2017 with the NAILBA Chairman's Award. John has also been active in the local NAIFA chapter and was the 2016 President of The TYGERS, a study group of second and third generation insurance professionals.  he attended Northwest Missouri State and Iowa State universities.  John is series 6, 63 and life and health licensed.  John is married to Lindsay and together they have three wonderful children Jack, Julia, and Jenna.

Directors

Jason Grover
Ash Brokerage 
Ft. Wayne, IN

Jason Grover truly believes in the exceptional value Ash Brokerage delivers to families and professionals nationwide. A second-generation insurance executive, he has a passion for the financial services industry and for telling the Ash story. As president of Ash Brokerage, Jason focuses on creating best-in-class platforms to increase awareness of insurance solutions through partnerships with insurance carriers, financial institutions and individual advisors.

In 2001, Jason joined Ash Brokerage to lead our national account development, and relocated to Tampa, Florida, to build the company’s first Culture Center. Today, he oversees company-wide sales and national account relationships. In addition to his daily responsibilities, Jason serves as a member of both the executive leadership team and the company’s board of directors.

Jason earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Vermont. Prior to joining Ash Brokerage, he built a successful practice as a financial representative with a mutual insurance company in New York City. In addition to earning industry honors as a member of the Million Dollar Round Table, Jason was consistently recognized as a leader within his own firm. He and his wife, Amy, currently reside in Fort Wayne.

Jim Duff
Crump Life Insurance Services
Harrisburg, PA

Jim Duff is Senior Vice President and General Manager of Crump Life Insurance Services’ Solution Centers for Annuities, Disability and Long Term Care insurance, a member of the Crump Executive Team and is the President of Tellus Brokerage Connections, Inc. (a Crump company). His background includes over 20 years of executive experience in sales leadership and execution.

At Crump, Jim is responsible for the sales and operational growth of the Solution Centers, an internal sales and servicing organization that provides annuity, disability and long term care insurance solutions to the more than 25,000 Crump insurance producers annually. Jim is also responsible for Tellus Brokerage Connections, a national network of independent brokerage general agencies that affiliate with Tellus for carrier access.

Jim is a graduate of the University of Richmond. He currently resides in Charlotte, North Carolina with Kortni, his wife of 30 years. They have two grown children, a son, Adam (wife, Rachel) and daughter, Kristin (husband, Cameron).

Luke Ramsey
The ASA Group
Little Rock, AR

Luke Ramsey grew up in the independent brokerage business. His father, Jiggs Ramsey, started The ASA Group in 1977. The ASA Group is a multi-carrier wholesale distributor of quality life insurance, longterm care, disability and annuity products. Luke joined the ASA Group on full-time basis in 1999 after his graduation from The University of Arkansas. Luke has worked in various roles at The ASA Group over the years. Luke is President and Chief Marketing Officer and enjoys working closely with agents to build their agencies. Luke has extensive experience and acknowledged expertise in trust services, advanced underwriting, large case design, impaired risk underwriting, negotiation, sales and operations.

Luke is currently life licensed in five states and holds his 6 and 63 securities registrations. In addition to being a published author, he is frequently quoted and speaks on issues related to the life insurance industry. Luke has been very involved in leadership positions in the industry over his career. He has served on the NAILBA membership advisors council as well as insurance carrier field advisory councils. Luke is also Past-President and an active member of the TYGERS and has consulted for insurance carriers on product design. He has planned life marketing training schools for BRAMCO. Luke is an active supporter of Young Life, and enjoys playing golf, tennis and spending time with family.