Tom Mayer, Founder and Rainmaker Tom Mayer is an energetic and resourceful professional with more than 25 years' business experience, predominantly with entrepreneurial, growth firms. He has founded five companies including a "Kid for Rent" lawn service he started at age 11. His second endeavor was "White Wolf Maintenance," a cleaning restoration company. In 1991, after graduating from Hamline University, Tom sold the business to his brother, Pat, who still owns White Wolf even today. Tom then co-founded and grew "Five Star Gourmet Meat Company" into a $4 million home delivery business with 90 employees. Five Star was featured in publications including Forbes, Success, and Twin Cities Business Monthly. In 1995, Tom sold his interest in Five Star so that he could attend the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management and earn his MBA in Marketing and Strategy in 1997. During graduate school, Tom started Superior Foods, Inc. and happily sold frozen foods door to door out of his 1995 Nissan Pathfinder until he entered the employee benefits field in 1999. Tom founded Direct Benefits, Inc. in June of 2001. Direct Benefits is a managing general agency that specializes in distributing dental, disability, life and vision benefits to over 1000 agents nationwide. Tom works with 5 fabulous salesladies who have helped our agents write over 3500 employer groups. Tom currently serves as the Retention Chair for Region 4 of the National Association of Health Underwriters. Tom recently married Bridget last august and honeymooned in Tanzania by going on safari in the Serengeti and summiting Mount Kilimanjaro. His hobbies include backpacking, cooking, dog-sledding, kayaking, mountaineering, rabbit hunting, reading, scuba-diving, traveling, trout-fishing, and tubing with his gas-powered blender. His favorite foods are Nueske's applewood-smoked bacon and oatmeal-raisin cookies. Check Direct Benefits in MN Insurance Magazine! Check out HIU - Tom Running with the Bulls article HIU Magazine, Sept 06 - Tom Looking Goofy with the Toothbrush Paulette Kotila, Dental Guru, CISR Paulette Kotila has been active in insurance for seventeen years. Paulette began her career in nursing.  She worked in a doctor's office and then left to teach certified medical assistants.  She taught nursing skills, lab work, and filling out insurance forms. When her youngest child was born, Paulette left teaching and began her insurance career.  She started in life and health, and then went on to commercial insurance.  Her first love has always been life and health and she is finally back doing what she likes best.  Paulette enjoys the people contact and working with the brokers. She has continued her education in insurance over the years.  Paulette has taken and received her designation for CISR, and is now taking classes for the designation of CLU. Fride Mauritzen is the Chief Quoting Officer at Direct Benefits. Fride is a native of Norway but completed a majority of her schooling in the USA. She graduated in 1997 from Concordia College in Moorhead Minnesota with a double major in Business and Scandinavian Studies. She has been active in the financial services industry for seven years. Fride previously worked as a customer service representative for Delta Dental of Minnesota and as a client associate and senior branch operation associate for RBC Dain Rauscher, a top 10 full-service securities firm. Her other jobs have included horseback riding instructor, trail guide, cook, office manager, snowmobile instructor and an electric fence tester. Fride's hobbies include softball, snowboarding, traveling, and volleyball. Carrissa Profant - Benefits Therapy Officer Carrissa joined Direct Benefits after more than 12 years in the healthcare and insurance industries. Her career path has included working for companies like Diversified Pharmaceutical, Smith Kline Beecham, United HealthCare and Delta Dental Plan of Minnesota. She's worked her way up from member materials to contract installations, proposals, and underwriting and now finally to sales. Carrissa's role at Direct Benefits is to wear all those hats and more. She takes pride in providing creative and responsive solutions to our agents and then making sure everything is processed smoothly for their clients. Carrissa enjoys being active outside the office too. Her hobbies include: traveling, motorcycling, volleyball, and the occasional remodeling project around her house. In her down time she loves to catch up on the latest movies, HGtv, Boston Legal, and Grey's Anatomy! Tracy Hagemeier - Benefits Princess Tracey brings more than 8 years of experience in the insurance industry to her position with Direct Benefits with prior employers ranging from Delta Dental Plan of Minnesota, Park Nicollet Medical Center to the State of Minnesota. Tracey has a laundry list of experience in a wide variety of areas ranging from employee benefits to insurance billing, claims review and even the development of ceramic dental molds. While working her way up the ranks with previous employers, she also pursued and achieved an Associates Degree in Veterinary Assisting. Tracey takes pride in her ability to effectively resolve customer concerns while also balancing the responsibility of new group implementation. Tracey’s hobbies include, but are not limited to - biking, bowling, music, reading, caring for animals, and trying to figure out what will happen next on “LOST”. Jodie Ingeman - Benefits Rock Star Born and raised in Minneapolis and a graduate of South High School, Jodie participated in the infamous “Work Program” and landed her 1st job at Dr. Brackney & Associates. After graduation she continued working full-time at the dental office for 5 years until the birth of her first child. Jodie became a stay at home mom until her children were full-time students. Then she went back to school and earned her M.S.C. degree at Saint Paul Technical College. After working at Affiliated Reconstructive & Cosmetic Plastic Surgery for several years, Jodie was lured into the insurance industry in 1999. At Corporate Benefit Services of America (CBSA), she spent 7 years in the administration services only (self-funded), new business processing and underwriting departments and 1 year at Insurance Administrators Corporation (IAC). She has enjoyed working in this field ever since. Jodie enjoys cruising the Caribbean, camping at Minnesota State and National parks, walking, Sunday dinners with her whole family and playing with her 3 dogs-Boogie, Ellie and Vito. Diane Lysen - VP of Broker Operations & Benefits Fairy Godmother Diane’s career in the health insurance industry started in 1972 at Control Data’s employee benefits department. In 1983 she joined Hanratty & Associates as office manager. 3 years later in 1986, Diane went to work as an account manager at Chandler Insurance. Her manager at Chandler recognized the talent she had working with clients and encouraged her to consider sales on a full-time basis. In 1991 she and a former property and casualty colleague formed Consultants 4 Insurance Benefits. As a partner and Vice President of Benefits Administration, she successfully helped the agency achieve a preferred agency status with many carriers in both health insurance and ancillary products. The Minnesota Association of Health Underwriters (MAHU-NAHU) has played a major role in Diane’s career. She has been a member of MAHU/NAHU for 20+ years and was President of the Minnesota Association of Health Underwriters in 2001-2002. In 2003 she was awarded the Symanitz Award, which honors only one person each year in the state for their outstanding contributions to the insurance industry. Diane currently serves as the Region 4 Media Relations chair. Diane’s new position as Vice President of Broker Operations for Direct Benefits will allow her to utilize all of her skills and industry knowledge. She looks forward to waiving her pink magic wand to increase sales for the agents doing business with Direct Benefits. Diane enjoys spending her free time with friends and family and catering to her two Scottie dogs, Winston and Duffy. She enjoys gourmet cooking, especially Italian food, and watching HGTV and Food TV Network. Tys Sniffen - Direct Web Monkey Tys is heading up 'Direct Benefits West' as a vaguely experienced website developer and project manager. With knowledge of internet marketing and usability issues, Tys tries to keep the insurance language to a minimum and ease-of-use at the top of the list. Having run his own efficiency consulting business as well as a stint as a consultant in Human Resources, Tys brings a 'let's get this done' mentality to the Direct Benefits Team. He has a Bachelor’s degree from Hamline University, and has previously been an Executive with the Boy Scouts of America, a Sales Director for an international software company, and a Sales Rep in a number of industries. Other aspects of heading up the west coast office include: always carrying the five foot long tooth brush to the conventions, living off-the-grid and three miles off the paved road in a yurt (a round Mongolian-style tent), practicing martial arts with his lovely wife Melissa, growing his own food and hot-tubbing as often as possible.