Veris Settlement Partners Management Team
J. Russel Dorsett, Director
russel@go2veris.com
Russel is known globally as an industry executive and consultant, having been
a principal speaker at conferences and conventions across the world. He's served
as a senior executive for a number of major companies, including eight years
as the Managing Director and CEO of AIA Australia (a division
of AIG),
a licensed insurance company, and AIA Superannuation Company, an Approved Trustee
for Australian Retirement Plans. Russel also had regional responsibility for
AIG's life and A&H businesses
in Australasia and has extensive experience in the global insurance and financial
services businesses. As a consultant, he has worked with a number of major
global firms and is also affiliated with Improved Funding Techniques in retirement
planning.
Russel is President of the Board
of Directors of the Life Insurance Settlement Association (LISA).
He has a degree in Biological Sciences and has held the Chartered Life
Underwriter (CLU) designation for more than 25 years.
Patrick
T. Duke was a founder and Principal of Chesapeake Financial Settlements,
a life insurance settlement broker located outside of Washington, DC.
His responsibilities included establishing strategic partnerships with
financial advisors to serve as their turn-key partner in utilizing the
emerging life settlement marketplace. In addition
he is actively involved with the day to day management of the firm.
Prior to Chesapeake Financial, Mr. Duke started the Washington,
DC branch for Hays Companies, a commercial insurance brokerage firm
based in Minneapolis. As Senior Vice President and the first
to join Hays in Washington, he recruited additional staff, eventually
compiling a team 16 employees to service the customers in that branch. Hays
Companies of DC is an insurance brokerage firm with operations that
specialize in risk management consulting, insurance placement, employee
benefits and retirement planning for businesses with all levels of
risk and benefit requirements. During his tenure at Hays,
he managed the insurance affairs of many prominent life settlement
providers and brokers developing a particular expertise in errors and
omission placements for these firms.
Mr. Duke has more than 17 years experience in client management, managed
care, government contracting, non-profit, and general insurance matters.
In addition, Mr. Duke has extensive knowledge of program design, marketing
and placement of insurance plans for middle market employers. Mr. Duke
applies his expertise to help clients with all aspects of their risk
management and employee benefit programs’ design, risk management,
and insurance placement.
Prior to joining Hays in 2002, Mr. Duke was a Practice
Leader and Client Executive for Marsh, Inc. Mr. Duke was responsible
for the management of the client initiatives and served many local
and national clients. Prior to Marsh, Inc., Mr. Duke was employed
by Canada Life and Blue Cross & Blue Shield of the National Capital
Area.
Steve is past President and CEO of Bankers Life Insurance
Company of New York and most recently Chief Operating Officer of Improved
Funding Techniques, an innovative actuarial and consulting pension
firm. During his 13-year tenure at Bankers Life of New York, the Company
became a market leader, as well as an innovator in product design fueling
substantial increases in life insurance sales. At Improved Funding
Techniques, under the mentoring of Joel Boyarsky, he has been a leader
in a sophisticated organization that designs, implements and administers
qualified pension plans.
Steve has undergraduate degrees in both Math
and Economics as well as and MBA in Finance, and has achieved insurance
and financial planning designations of Chartered Financial Consultant
(ChFC), Certified Long-Term Care Consultant (CLTC), and Fellow of the
Life Management Institute (FLMI).
His life settlement column, "The Secondary Market," appears
in the Financial Advisor magazine. He has an extensive background in
the design, development, and application of life insurance and other
financial products, and is accustomed to working regularly with corporate
executives and high net worth individuals, as well as accountants,
attorneys and other advisors from top firms.
Joe and his partner Patrick Duke founded Chesapeake Financial Settlements,
LLC (CFS) in October 2005. CFS was borne out of the need for
a life settlement broker to provide highly professional and transparent
life settlement services to the financial advisory community.
Prior to founding CFS, Joe served as the East Coast
Marketing Representative for Corporate and Endowment Solutions (CES)
of Springfield, Illinois. CES is a turn-key provider of nonqualified
planning solutions that predominantly targets middle-market companies.
CES is a leading broker of institutional corporate-owned life insurance
products that are commonly used as an informal funding strategy for
these nonqualified programs.
Joe entered the financial services industry by joining
The Estate Advisory Group in Potomac, Maryland. This boutique
firm specializes in developing and implementing executive benefit and
advanced estate planning strategies for business owners and high net
worth individuals.
His career in financial services was preceded by over
ten years of sales and marketing experience in both the sports marketing
and technology industries. In the sports marketing industry,
Joe specialized in marketing sponsorship and hospitality programs to
senior management of Fortune 500 corporations. He represented events
such as the 1997 U.S. Open Golf Championship, the Kemper Insurance
Open (PGA Tour), and The Maui Invitational (college basketball). He
also served as a Senior Account Executive for a start-up technology
firm that specialized in providing technology solutions for small and
medium sized businesses.
Patrick T. Duke, Director 
Stephen
J. Shorrock, Director 
Joseph M. Young, Director 
FINANCIAL
ADVISORS
