Allen People

Christian Pieri of Camden, a senior at the University of Maine in Orono, is the summer intern at Allen Insurance and Financial.
Christian, 22, is a 2008 graduate of Camden Hills Regional High School where he played basketball, baseball and lacrosse.
Christian applied to the Allen Insurance and Financial internship program after attending a job fair in Orono, where he met a representative from Presque Isle-based MMG Insurance, one of Allen’s business partners and decided he wanted to learn more about the role of insurance in finance, his area of study at UMO.
This summer, Christian will spend time learning all aspects of Allen Insurance and Financial’s business, including personal, business and health insurance and financial and retirement planning.
“I believe the best way to learn is through experience, and I’m hoping my time here will be educational and rewarding,” said Christian. “I find insurance intriguing. I’m looking forward to learning how the professionalism and communication skills of employees at Allen Insurance and Financial affect the business they do every day.”
Christian’s father is finance director at the Penobscot Bay YMCA in Rockport. His mother Lauren is a physician assistant. His younger brother Keegan just completed his freshman year at Bowdoin College in Brunswick. His sister Moira is a sophomore at Camden Hills.
Christian plans to graduate from UMO in December and work for a few years before pursuing a master’s degree in business administration.
　

Bonnie Lewis of Southwest Harbor has joined L.S. Robinson Co. as a commercial insurance account manager.

Bonnie Lewis

Bonnie has a dozen years of insurance experience and enjoys working with the customers in and around her hometown of Southwest Harbor. She is a graduate of Mt. Desert Island High School and attended the University of Maine. She and her husband own Mount Desert Granite and Brick in Bar Harbor.
Outside of work, Bonnie enjoys hiking and boating. She and her husband have three daughters and one granddaughter.
Call Bonnie Lewis at 244-7246 or email her at email hidden; JavaScript is required.
Since 1932, L.S. Robinson Co. has served the insurance needs of the people of Mt .Desert Island from offices on Main Street in Southwest Harbor. L.S. Robinson is employee-owned and a division of the Allen Insurance and Financial, the insurance, employee benefits, and financial services company with additional offices in Camden and Rockland.

Chris Richmond

Chris Richmond of Camden has joined Allen Insurance and Financial as a commercial insurance producer.

A former schooner captain who worked previously along the eastern seaboard, Chris participated in Allen Insurance and Financial’s in-house education program and after passing the state exam, has received his property & casualty insurance license.

He will be working with business of all types but will be focusing on the marine industry, a specialty at Allen Insurance and Financial. Chris is a native of Harvard, Mass., and a graduate of The American University in Washington, D.C. and The Landing School of Boat Building and Design.

“Chris’s extensive knowledge of the special needs of captains and their vessels puts him in a position to meet the needs of the industry especially well,” said J. Michael Pierce, president of Allen Insurance and Financial. “We are pleased to welcome him aboard.”

Chris and his wife have three young children. When not at work, he enjoys spending time with his family and working around the farm.

Mallory Follett of Owls Head has joined Allen Insurance and Financial as a scanning technician based in the company’s Camden office.

A 2009 graduate of Rockland District High School, she is enrolled in the company’s in-house education program as the first step toward obtaining her property & casualty insurance license. She plans a career in insurance.

Follett says she enjoys the challenge of working in the insurance industry. She adds: “I am proud to be part of such a well known team of experts here in Midcoast Maine.”

Outside of work, she enjoys  music, reading, cooking, knitting, being outdoors and spending time with family and friends.

On a Thursday in the spring of 1964, Cindy Norton graduated from Rockland District High School. The following Tuesday she started working for a local insurance agency for $1 an hour. At the end of 2011, after 47 years on the job, Cindy is retiring.

In the early days, it was typewriters, carbon paper and hand-penciled ledgers. Today, Allen Insurance and Financial runs a paperless office system, with three computer screens on everyone’s desk. Keeping up with technology has been just one part of the job, Cindy says.

“If you change with the times, you don’t have to give it much thought,” she says. “It’s kept me young. I always said I wasn’t going to let the young ones get too far ahead of me.”

The single most important constant over the years is the relationships – the ones she’s built with co-workers and with the insurance clients with whom she works.

“It’s easy to say Cindy is an institution, and that’s a true compliment,” says Gilbert Fifield, the company president. “She’s been a great help to many of us here at Allen Insurance and Financial as well as to some of the area’s most successful businesses.”

Now that she’s 65, it’s time to give up her desk job and trade an office to-do list for one she makes with her husband. That’s likely to involve reading, walking, ‘floating on Pitcher Pond,’ and maybe some traveling. And there are always the things at home that are long-delayed because she had to go to the office every day.

Cindy, who is the company’s Rockland office manager and a customer service representative, doesn’t like goodbyes. She prefers “see you later.” And when Cindy says “you can call me if you need me,” she means it.

Michael Pierce

Effective Jan. 1, 2012, Allen Insurance and Financial will have a new company president and treasurer.

Following unanimous approval last month by the company board of directors, J. Michael Pierce, JD, CFP®, will replace Gilbert T. Fifield, CIC, who served as company president and treasurer for eight years, since 2003. Fifield, who joined the company in 1986, will stay with the company and retain his post as chairman of the company’s board of directors. He will continue to serve his business insurance clients.

Pierce, a member of the company’s executive team, was formerly chief operating officer of Allen Financial, the company’s financial advisory and employee benefits division. He will retain those responsibilities. Pierce joined the company in 1998.

Allen Insurance and Financial is an independent, employee-owned insurance agency and financial services company employing 70 people in offices in Camden, Rockland and in Southwest Harbor, where the company operates as L.S. Robinson Co.

Other administrative changes at Allen Insurance and Financial effective Jan. 1 include:

• The appointment of Michael Dufour as executive vice president and company secretary. He was formerly a company vice president, joining the company in 2002 and will continue to oversee the company’s business and personal insurance divisions. Sara K. Montgomery is the company’s other executive vice president.
• The appointment of Scott Carlson as personal insurance supervisor, reporting to Dufour. Carlson, who joined the company in 2011, will be based in the Rockland office.

For more information about Allen Insurance and Financial, please call 800-439-4311 or visit AllenInsuranceAndFinancial.com.

Jennifer Coffin, ACSR

“Jen is dedicated to improving her technical knowledge and enhancing her professionalism, taking steps to solidify her career,” said Gil Fifield, company president. “The ACSR designation shows our people are well-educated members of the insurance industry.”

The ACSR designation program was developed to recognize the contribution made to each customer by the service they are provided through independent insurance agencies such as Allen Insurance and Financial.

Coffin, a graduate of Medomak Valley High School, lives with her husband and their two daughters in Nobleboro. She joined Allen Insurance and Financial in 2004.

Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America is the nation’s oldest and largest national association of independent insurance agents & brokers with more than 300,000 members. Find them online at independentagent.com.