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As innovators and strategic thinkers, the Burns Lowry team believes that wealth transfer strategies start with a solid relationship and trusted guidance. We have provided practical ideas, custom solutions, and personal services to high-net-worth clients and their advisors for over 40 years.
We are experienced in wealth transfer strategies and Private Placement Insurance and can create flexible and customed wealth transfer and preservation solutions. By listening, through education and building personal relations, our clients and network of advisors have access to guidance and strategies that work to help protect wealth, minimize taxes, and create long-term value for future generations.
We are at a crossroads in the life insurance industry today. Economic shifts have pressured many life insurance companies to increase their costs of insurance on policies that have been in existence for as many as 20 years. This has caused changes to many existing policies, including increased premium amounts and reduced coverage ages and guarantees. That’s why it is critical that you, as their trusted advisor, be in front of these matters.
Burns Lowry’s multiple decades of life insurance experience enable us to leverage our successful relationships with carriers and the collective buying power of our broker-dealer, Valmark Securities, Inc., to help your clients navigate these issues—whether it is:
DESIGNING A LIFE INSURANCE PLAN that optimizes benefits customized to your client’s objectives. We perform due diligence to find the most suitable insurance carrier and advocate for the best underwriting offer, resulting in the most desirable pricing.
ADVISING YOUR CLIENTS ON THEIR EXISTING INSURANCE PORTFOLIOS. What are their existing policy guarantees, or lack thereof? When appropriate, we can help your clients replace non-guaranteed policies with guaranteed contracts that provide stable premiums.
ENGAGING IN A LIFE SETTLEMENT of your clients’ policies when policy termination is found to be the best course of action.
Burns Lowry is independently-owned and is not tied to any one company, product or provider. We guide you and your clients according to the priorities you establish and then help you tailor and integrate the right strategies and tools to fit your client’s objectives.
Through our independent relationships with our broker-dealer, Valmark Securities, Inc. and other industry leaders, we have access to some of the top echelon of global resources available. As your personal advocate, we bring together the necessary resources based on your client’s unique needs and deliver them with objectivity and superior personal service.
We can provide our services behind the scenes through your firm or via direct client interface on a case-by-case basis. Simply put, our goal is to add to your credibility—through technical intelligence and comprehensive resources—delivered objectively, promptly and thoroughly.
Our team is made up of skilled and experienced professionals from a variety of financial disciplines working together to provide seamless, tax-efficient solutions for optimizing your clients’ wealth transfer strategies. We have team members onsite at our main office as well as a robust back office of specialists in insurance, tax, estate, and charitable planning.
OUR INSURANCE PLANNING AND ADVANCED CASE SPECIALISTS include a team of attorneys, accountants, MBAs, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professionals, Chartered Life Underwriters, and Chartered Financial Consultants who provide independent assessment and analysis of recommended product sets, policy management and life settlements.
OUR UNDERWRITING ADVOCACY TEAM includes several former insurance company underwriting vice presidents, directors and medical directors, a licensed physician, and a staff of case management, business processing and policy service specialists.
In addition to working closely with our clients’ attorneys, accountants, financial, fiduciary, and banking professionals, Burns Lowry maintains independent relationships with some of the industry’s top echelon of global financial resources.
By combining these resources with our high level of personal service and expertise, we offer the best of both worlds – institutional quality and selection with concierge-level service and advocacy.
Burns Lowry is a Member Firm of Valmark Financial Group, a 61-year-old, invitation-only group of independent wealth and insurance advisory firms. As a collective group, Valmark Member Firms have over $50 billion of life insurance in force and an estimated $6 billion of assets under management, with an additional $25 billion of assets under management controlled through independent Investment Advisors associated with Valmark. This combined buying power gives us access to some of the nation’s top companies, products, and services, enabling us to advocate on behalf of our clients while maintaining independence.
Valmark Securities, Inc., our broker dealer, is a member of FINRA and SIPC, and is licensed in all 50 states for securities and insurance. The company has 100+ independently-owned Member Firms throughout the United States. Its affiliate, Valmark Advisers, Inc., is a Registered Investment Advisor with the SEC. WWW.VALMARKFG.COM
AEP® | CAP® | CLU® | ChFC®
PRINCIPAL
For more than 30 years, Mac has been involved in the design and implementation of advanced planning strategies for some of the nation’s wealthiest families as well as leaders of Fortune 500 companies. In most cases, this involves working with the client’s other advisors to establish, fund and leverage multi-generational wealth strategies, frequently in tandem with philanthropic techniques.
Before forming the national insurance planning firms of Burns Lowry, and earlier, Jones Lowry, Mac served as the Managing Director and Senior Resident Officer at Bessemer Trust in Miami, National Director and Senior Vice President with Merrill Lynch Trust Company, National Director of Business and High Net Worth Planning, and Senior Director and National Sales Manager of Merrill Lynch Insurance Group.
Mac is an Accredited Estate Planner, Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy, Chartered Financial Consultant, and Chartered Life Underwriter. He is a member of the Palm Beach Economic Council, the Palm Beach County Estate Planning Council, and the East Coast Estate Planning Council. He is a graduate of the Securities Industry Association Institute at The Wharton School of Business and a member of the UK-based Society of Trusts and Estate Practitioners. He is a longtenured member of Finseca, the leading technical arm of the life insurance industry.
MBA
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
JD | LL.M. (TAX) | CLU® | ChFC®
OF COUNSEL
As Vice President of Advanced Markets for our partner, Valmark Financial Group, Michael Amoia works with our clients and our clients’ advisors to implement advanced wealth transfer and business planning techniques that leverage the use of life insurance. With over 28 years of experience and a deep understanding of complex estate planning techniques, Mr. Amoia works closely with both our back-office life insurance case design and financial planning teams to create client deliverables that help illustrate how these techniques and strategies can maximize the ability for clients to efficiently transfer intergenerational wealth. Mr. Amoia is a frequent national speaker on various estate planning topics and an author of numerous industry articles. He is also a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU®), Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC®), Juris Doctor (JD) which he earned from University of Baltimore’s School of Law, and holds a LL.M. in Taxation and Certificate in Estate Planning from Georgetown University Law Center.
ChFC® | CLTC®
INSURANCE PLANNING
As Director of Insurance Marketing for our partner, Valmark Financial Group, Luke is responsible for advanced life insurance case design, product analysis, and the development of analytical and educational tools to assist our clients with their financial goals. He brings a decade of experience in the life insurance space working in roles at both a carrier home office and the independent agency environment. Mr. Ehinger holds a bachelor’s degree from Trine University and has his Series 6, 63, 7, and 24 registrations. He is also a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC®) and holds a Certification in Long Term Care (CLTC®).
MBA | CFP® | CLU®
INSURANCE PLANNING
As the Managing Director of Insurance Marketing for our partner, Valmark Financial Group, Mr. Jackson is responsible for managing and mentoring a team of associate analysts and interns to equip the next generation of insurance experts. He serves as an escalation point for Members, assisting with challenging case designs and troubleshooting insurance carrier issues. In addition to his Series 7 and 24 registrations as well as Ohio Life, Health and Variable licenses, Mr. Jackson is a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU®) and a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®) professional. He holds a BA in Marketing and Business Administration from Indiana Wesleyan University and an MBA from Palm Beach Atlantic University.
FLMI | CFS® | CRPC®
POLICY MANAGEMENT
As Vice President of In Force Insurance Solutions for our partner, Valmark Financial Group, Michael Michlitsch leads the Valmark Policy Management Company (PMC) and Life Settlement teams. He is responsible for integrating strategies and solutions to maximize in-force insurance business to best serve our clients. Previously, he was Manager of Practice Management at Securian Financial Services, Inc., a Senior Training Manager for Woodbury Financial Services, Inc., and Sales Manager for Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. Mr. Michlitsch earned his MBA from the Opus College of Business at the University of St. Thomas and his BA in Management and Marketing from Bethany Lutheran College. He is a Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor℠ (CRPC®) and carries the following Financial Services Designations: CFS, CIS, CFF, CES, CAS and CTS. In addition, he holds Series 7, 24 and 66 registrations as well as Life, Health, and Variable Life and Annuity licenses.
CFP® | CLU®
LIFE SETTLEMENTS
James Dawson is the Director of Life Settlements for our partner, Valmark Financial Group. He is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the life settlement business. This includes establishing and implementing new processes and procedures, directing and facilitating the sale of policies from the initial offering through the formal case submission and acting as an escalation resource for complex and technical life settlement issues. He works to find ways to simplify the life settlement transaction process and improve efficiencies. Above all, Mr. Dawson is passionate about delivering the best possible experience for our clients. Mr. Dawson earned a BBA in Financial Planning from the University of Akron, graduating Summa Cum Laude. He also holds Ohio Life, Health, Accident and Variable licenses, Series 7, 24 and 66 registrations and is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional and Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU).
MBA
CHIEF UNDERWRITER
Chris Bottaro is the Senior Vice President of Insurance for our partner, Valmark Financial Group. He is responsible for the vision, strategy and execution of life insurance marketing, underwriting, new business, and inforce insurance solutions. In this role, he partners with advisors and insurance carriers to help make the life insurance process simpler and more efficient for clients. He has a technical risk assessment background and spent the first 12 years of his career in various underwriting production and leadership positions at Lincoln Financial Group in Hartford before relocating to the Twin Cities to join Valmark in February of 2015. He has an MBA from the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts, a BA in Economics from Boston College, and holds Series 6 and 26 registrations. Mr. Bottaro is a member of the Twin Cities Association of Home Office Underwriters, Brokerage Underwriters Forum, the Minneapolis Leadership Roundtable and sits on multiple insurance company advisory boards.
CASE MANAGEMENT
CONCIERGE SERVICES
As a New Business Technical Lead for our partner, Valmark Financial Group, Jamie Block is part of the Concierge Services team. Her responsibilities include helping to coordinate and process applications directly from our clients with our insurance carriers. Mrs. Block earned BAs in Creative Writing and Business Administration, with a focus on Marketing and Management, from Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. She holds a Minnesota Life Insurance Producer’s license as well as ALMI and ACS designations.
