Meet our team
The people at The Bishop Company combine industry experience with a depth of expertise that assures our clients of unparallelled service. Click below to learn more.
Tom Bishop (CLU, AEP, Licensed Insurance Advisor) began his career as an independent insurance agent over 30 years ago. He is founder and president of The Bishop Company, LLC. Prior to 2004 his success was built on being part of large organizations that provided life insurance and financial services to families, executives, and business owners with planning needs that crossed many disciplines like estate planning, executive benefits and business succession planning. Tom has created an organization whose singular focus is to negotiate the best pricing for their client’s unique situations, circumstances and medical profiles. More
Tom graduated from Babson College and has earned the designations of Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and Accredited Estate Planner (AEP). He is one of a select group of the most elite life insurance professionals who are invited to join the Forum 400. He is a past President and remains active in the Boston Estate Planning Council and a longstanding member of the Essex County Estate Planning Council.
Tom enjoys being a hands on grandfather, is an avid fly fisherman and golfer. He lives in Manchester, MA with his wife Joan.
Joan came to The Bishop Company in 2011 and comes from an extensive career as an employee benefits administrator having managed ERISA retirement plans at multiple levels for participants of large corporations and unions. Immediately prior to joining the firms she spent 5 years at Tufts Medical Center and prior to that had a lengthy tenure at the International Union of Operating Engineers. More
Joan attended both Northeastern University and Curry College and has utilized a wide variety of outside educational and training vehicles to develop her expertise in handling client-centric responsibilities.
Joan is an avid fly fisherman, enjoys traveling and lives with her husband Tom in Manchester, MA.
KEY VALMARK RESOURCES
Keith Miller is the Vice President of Insurance Planning for our partner, Valmark Financial Group. Keith works with the insurance planning team to provide advanced case design and sales expertise. His core areas of focus include customized wealth transfer solutions, product analysis and holistic life insurance design. Keith received his BA from Samford University and his MBA from the University of Alabama. Mr. Miller is both a Chartered Life Underwriter and Chartered Financial Consultant.
Chris Bottaro is the Vice President of Insurance Services for our partner, ValMark Financial Group. He is responsible for the vision, strategy and execution of life insurance underwriting and new business initiatives. Formerly, Mr. Bottaro was an Underwriting Account Executive at Lincoln Financial Group where he led a team of 25 underwriters and new business associates through strategic initiatives aimed at making the life insurance process simpler and more efficient for advisors and their clients. He has an MBA from the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts and holds FINRA Series 6 and 26 securities registrations.
Eric Johnson is Vice President of Underwriting for our partner, ValMark Financial Group. He is responsible for risk assessment appraisal, consultation and negotiation on the behalf of ValMark Financial Group member offices and clients. Mr. Johnson brings more than 30 years of experience with impaired risk and jumbo case underwriting, reinsurance, sales and brokerage operations. He is a presenter at numerous industry seminars and workshops speaking on topics such as Challenging Underwriting Impairments, Jumbo Business and Brokerage Underwriting. Mr. Johnson earned his BA from Luther College and holds Minnesota Life, Accident and Health Insurance licenses. He is a member of the Association of Home Office Underwriters (AHOU) and the Twin Cities Association of Home Office Life Underwriters (TCAHOLU).
As a Director of Underwriting for our partner, ValMark Financial Group, Lauren Ballentine is responsible for the design and management of underwriting for special-risk cases and serves as an escalation contact for any new business or underwriting issues. She earned a BA in Biology and Art from the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University where she received the President’s Scholarship, an Art Scholarship, Universal Honors and made the Dean’s List. Ms. Ballentine is a Fellow of the Academy of Life Underwriting (FALU), a board member of Twin Cities Association of Home Office Underwriters and holds Minnesota Life and Health Insurance licenses. In addition, she is an industry conference presenter.
As a Director of Underwriting for our partner, ValMark Financial Group, Michael Noss is responsible for the technical assessment and negotiation of underwriting offers and serves as a contact for any new business or underwriting issues. He is a national presenter for the ValMark School of Excellence in addition to various industry conferences. Mr. Noss earned his BA in Philosophy and Communication from Saint John’s University. He is a member of the Association of Home Office Underwriters (AHOU) and a Fellow of the Academy of Life Underwriting (FALU).