At Pacifica Group, LLC, Anthony served as Managing Director for the Servicing Division before separating from Pacifica in April 2009 to begin NorthStar’s operations. Pacifica is a leader in the premium finance and portfolio servicing industry, and also accumulated large life policy portfolios for distribution to investors in Europe, Asia and the United States. Pacifica acquired, financed and/or managed over $10 Billion in death benefit, and deployed over $1 Billion in capital. It also generated over $200 Million of life insurance commissions annually throughout its national agent network.
Mr. Jacobson is also the founder and President of Mutual Credit Corporation (“MCC”), a California Premium Finance Company. Licensed by the Department of Financial Institutions in 2004, MCC engaged in the financing of life insurance premiums for elderly affluent clients. MCC has issued well over 600 loans for a total loan amount in excess of $378 Million, securing over $4.2 Billion of life insurance face amount. MCC holds the reputation as one of the most successful and pioneering life insurance premium finance programs in the U.S.
Starting in 2001, Anthony served as an Insurance Producer and Marketing Manager for Lincoln National Life Insurance Company, before leaving to develop his own companies in the insurance and financial markets. During his tenure, Anthony distributed life insurance to high net worth individuals in conjunction with other sophisticated estate planning products and techniques. Through this process, he worked closely with large legal and accounting firms and has developed significant relationships within the industry.
Anthony holds numerous insurance licenses in the United States, and participates regularly in continuing education and Anti-Money Laundering training. His interests include spending time with his family, sports, travel, and serving as a host family for an international church group.
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LISA L. FULLER, General Counsel & VP
Lisa Fuller is General Counsel and Vice President of NorthStar Life Services, LLC. Headquartered in Irvine, California, NorthStar services large portfolios of life insurance policies for private and institutional investors.
Since 2003, Ms. Fuller has assisted the NorthStar principals in structuring, designing, acquiring, and managing insurance programs and portfolios for some of Europe’s largest commercial banks. Ms. Fuller initially served as outside counsel to the principals as a partner in the tax department of the Dallas based law firm, Thompson & Knight, LLP. While at Thompson & Knight, LLP, Ms. Fuller gained significant expertise in the fast growing life settlement industry, conducting an in depth 50 state analysis of insurable interest laws, life insurance and life settlement regulation, and premium finance rules and regulations. During this time, Ms. Fuller worked with a wide variety of brokers, insurance carriers, investors, policy owners, insureds and their families, premium finance companies and other market participants. Ms. Fuller had a robust charitable practice and analyzed a number of insurance transactions for her public and private charity clients.
In 2005, Ms. Fuller accepted positions as general counsel for Sierra Life Solutions which became one of the premier wealth preservation strategy firms in the United States and Mutual Credit Corporation which became one of the premier nonrecourse premium finance companies in the United States. Ms. Fuller has successfully defended litigation against Sierra and Mutual Credit Corporation, resulting in every case being decided in favor of the companies, including three judgments holding that the transactions marketed by Sierra and loans made by Mutual Credit Corporation were valid and enforceable and complied with insurable interest laws.
After two highly successful years in operation, Sierra and Mutual Credit Corporation were acquired by one of Europe’s largest commercial banks in 2006. The acquisition led to the formation of Pacifica Group, LLC, for which Ms. Fuller served as general counsel. Pacifica soon became a leader in the premium finance and portfolio servicing industry, and also accumulated large life policy portfolios for distribution to investors in Europe, Asia and the United States.
As Pacifica began to wind down its activities and its California executive team formed NorthStar in early 2009, Ms. Fuller was named General Counsel and Vice President.
Ms. Fuller graduated, with distinction, from the University of Oklahoma School of Law in 1992. She concluded a summer study program at Oxford University and went on to earn her masters in law in taxation from New York University in 1993. Ms. Fuller resides in Irvine, California along with her two daughters. She is an active member of the National Charity League and her hobbies include running, cycling and spending time with her children.
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WARD M. BUKOFSKY, COO
Mr. Bukofsky was the former Chief Operating Officer of Pacifica Group, LLC. He played a key role in the creation of NorthStar by managing the amicable spin off from Pacifica Group and by building the infrastructure of NorthStar’s servicing business. Pacifica was a leader in the life settlement and portfolio management industries, and also accumulated large life policy portfolios for distribution to investors in Europe, Asia and the United States. As a subsidiary of a major Belgian bank, Pacifica acquired, financed and/or managed over $10 Billion in death benefit, and deployed over $1 Billion in capital. Mr. Bukofsky oversaw the supervision, coordination and integration of all operational departments and was the key liaison to the parent company.
Before his tenure in the life settlement industry, Mr. Bukofsky spent over 30 years in the accounting profession. He was the Managing Tax Partner of Moss Adams LLP’s Los Angeles office, the largest tax department in that 20-office firm. He supervised a multi-faceted practice serving middle market companies, entrepreneurial real estate developers and operators and high net worth families. Mr. Bukofsky’s client base consisted of high net worth families and business owners, with a focus on sophisticated, holistic income tax, estate and business management planning services. While at Moss Adams, he was the office leader of the Wealth Services Group, which comprehensively integrated tax, business management and investment/insurance services for clients.
Prior to joining Moss Adams LLP, Mr. Bukofsky was the Managing Partner of Braverman Codron LLP in Beverly Hills, CA. At Braverman, Mr. Bukofsky pioneered an expansion in the range of services provided to the firm’s mostly high net worth clients, including the development of high level income tax and estate planning expertise. Under Mr. Bukofsky’s leadership, Braverman was among the first CPA firms to operate affiliated entities to provide comprehensive investment advisory and insurance services. Having served on and chaired numerous CPA professional committees at the local and national levels, Mr. Bukofsky contributed to the success of this independent local CPA firm that was nationally recognized for its creative thinking, exemplary client service and integrity. In 2000, Mr. Bukofsky negotiated and executed the merger with Moss Adams LLP, now the 11th largest CPA and consulting firm in the nation.
Mr. Bukofsky holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from UCLA and earned his CPA certificate in 1976 while at Braverman Codron LLP.
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JAMES A. ADAMS, CFO
James Adams is the Chief Financial Officer of NorthStar Life Services, LLC. Headquartered in Irvine, NorthStar services large portfolios of life insurance policies for private and institutional clientele.
Mr. Adams is a former big 4 CPA and a veteran Chief Financial Officer that has been involved in public held and privately financed growth companies for over 27 years. Mr. Adams has extensive background in financial and insurance services, healthcare and IT services, including CFO positions with Chartered Financial Services, Inc. a $40 million insurance services firm and Data Processing Resources, Corporation. (NASDAQ: DPRC), a 400 million publicly traded IT services firm. In addition Mr. Adams served as Vice President of Finance for Apria Healthcare Group (NYSE:AHG), a 1.2 billion healthcare company.
Mr. Adams has been involved in the acquisition of over 40 individual companies as well as the successful sale of DPRC to Compuware Corporation in 1999 and Chartered Financial Services to Brown & Brown Insurance, Inc in 2002. Mr. Adams was also involved with the merger of Abbey Home Healthcare and Homedco Group to form Apria Healthcare Group in 1995.
In 2004, Mr. Adams accepted positions as Vice President and CFO for Sierra Life Solutions which became one of the premier wealth preservation strategy firms in the United States and Vice President, CFO and Director of Mutual Credit Corporation which became one of the premier nonrecourse premium finance companies in the United States. After two highly successful years in operation, Sierra Life and Mutual Credit Corporation were acquired by one of Europe’s largest commercial banks in 2006. The acquisition led to the formation of Pacifica Group, LLC, for which Mr. Adams served as Chief Financial Officer. Pacifica soon became a leader in the premium finance and portfolio servicing industry, and also accumulated large life policy portfolios for distribution to investors in Europe, Asia and the United States.
As Pacifica began to wind down its activities and its California executive team formed NorthStar in early 2009, Mr. Adams was named Chief Financial Officer.
Mr. Adams holds a Bachelors degree in Economics from UCLA and earned his CPA certificate while at the accounting firm of Ernst & Young.
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Kimie Chenik, Director of Policy Service
Ms. Chenik brought her expertise in premium financing, policy origination, loan and policy servicing, to NorthStar Life Services LLC, in April 2009, as a Director of Policy Servicing.
Kimie recently served as Director of Loan and Policy Servicing at Pacifica Group, LLC. Pacifica accumulated sizeable life policy portfolios for distribution to investors in Europe, Asia and the U.S., managing over $10B in death benefits, and deploying over $1 billions in capital. During this time, Pacifica generated over $200M in insurance commissions annually throughout its national agents' network.
Prior to joining Pacifica, Ms. Chenik became Director of Operations in 2004 for Mutual Credit Corporation, a California Premium Finance company. She and her team assisted in originating over 600 loans, with total loan amounts in excess of $378M, and securing over $4.2B of life insurance face value.
In 2001, Kimie joined Lincoln National Life Insurance Company as an In-Force Clients Manager, servicing over $3B of death benefit at up to $100M face amount per policy. She worked closely with High-Net-Worth clients, their CPA’s and attorneys in developing sophisticated and robust Estate Planning strategies.
Before her employment with Lincoln National, Kimie joined Fleet Bank as Vice President of Mortgage-backed Securities Operations, while also managing Loan Service Acquisitions & Dispositions departments. There, she and her team performed due-diligence audits, and worked closely with the Secondary Mortgage Market, including sale of notes to FNMA/FHLMC, Prudential Securities, Merrill Lynch, and the General Electric Finance company.
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Linda Fitzgerald, Director of Underwriting
Linda joined NorthStar Life Services, LLC in 2009 after serving with Pacifica Group, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of a large European bank, since 2006. As Underwriting Director at Pacifica Group, she was primarily responsible for the due diligence process involving life insurance applications and policies. At NorthStar Life Services, Linda focuses on the servicing of large life insurance portfolios and due diligence relating to portfolio acquisition. She is a Certified Fraud Examiner.
Prior to her tenure with Pacifica, Ms. FitzGerald joined Northbridge Insurance Agency as Underwriting Manager in 2002 and contributed to the placement of $4.2B in life insurance coverage through careful review of the life applications and supporting medical and policy documents. Northbridge served as primary underwriting support to Mutual Credit Corporation’s successful premium finance program.
Ms. FitzGerald’s career in the life insurance industry began in 1988. In the position of Office Supervisor for a Capital Analysts firm, she was first exposed to the intricacies of underwriting high net worth individuals, preparing estate planning presentations for the sale of life insurance products and managing client relationships. For the next 14 years, Linda worked as a brokerage manager for a series of life insurance agencies, including Lincoln National, Sun Life of Canada and Security Life of Denver, focusing on underwriting, case design and trust review.
Linda received a B.A. in French Literature and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Irvine as well as a M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Philosophy from Princeton University. Her dissertation was entitled “Acts of Artifice: The Politics of Tragedy in Modern Theory” She also holds both CLU and ChFC industry designations.
Her interests include running and raising teenagers.
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Ryan Harrison, Director of Pricing & Analytics
Ryan Harrison joined NorthStar Life in 2009, and manages the Pricing/Analytics Department’s efforts in asset pricing and financial model development. He held a similar position with Pacifica Group, LLC beginning in 2006, until the formation of NorthStar.
During his tenure at Pacifica, Ryan was responsible for developing wealth preservation products using life insurance, interacting with the parent company, assisting in issuing over $3B in death benefit and designing checks and balances to ensure accurate pricing.
Prior to Pacifica, Ryan was a senior financial analyst with Mutual Credit Corporation (MCC). At MCC, he designed a proprietary pricing model that was used to price and issue over $4B of death benefit. He also helped design a database used to track all post-issue policy data and values, developed workflow procedures and was responsible for final financial approval of all trades.
Prior to MCC, Ryan was a financial analyst with Lincoln National Life Insurance Company. He created presentation materials and modeled financial strategies for high net worth individuals. During his tenure he became highly knowledgeable in the insurance products of major insurance companies.
Ryan lives in Orange County, California and he enjoys traveling, tennis and physical fitness. He graduated Cum Laude from the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and an Emphasis in Finance. Ryan also holds an active California Life and Health insurance license.
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