Bill joined GBU in August 2018. He has over 30 years of executive leadership and consultative experience, serving in positions such as Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Financial Officer at major life insurance, annuity, and long-term care insurance carriers, including Penn Treaty, Prudential, Provident Mutual and Covenant Life. Mr. Hunt has also served individuals and families as a financial advisor through his affiliations with Pillar Wealth Advisors, 1847 Financial, and North American Life Plans. He specialized in a broad range of financial planning activities that focused on the growth, protection, and optimal distribution of client wealth.
He began his career with the big eight public accounting firm, Touche Ross, which is now part of Deloitte and Touche. Throughout his career, he has provided useful empowering leadership and mentorship to hundreds of insurance professionals. He has dedicated his career to serving and protecting the financial interests of others.
Bill graduated from St. Joseph University’s Bachelor of Sciences curriculum in Accounting and earned his MBA from Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania.
Mark started at GBU Financial Life as the Chief Financial Officer in September 2021. Mark has over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry. Mark started his career in 1992 at Coopers & Lybrand LLP, which later became PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, where he audited insurance companies, banks, and employee benefit plans. After working in public accounting for nine years, Mark worked at Cigna for a year before becoming the Controller and later Chief Financial Officer at Penn Treaty, a long-term care insurance company. Mark also was the President of his own accounting consulting company for ten years.
At GBU Financial Life, Mark is responsible for all financial aspects of the company, including external reporting of financial results, investments, business intelligence, internal audit, and enterprise risk management.
Mark graduated from Temple University with a Bachelor of Science curriculum in accounting.
Lesley Mann is the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at GBU Financial Life. As CMO, Lesley is responsible for developing and implementing GBU Financial Life’s marketing, product, and distribution capabilities. She champions the GBU mission to provide superior portfolio products and services to grow the member base while enhancing their quality of life.
Lesley brings over 25 years of financial services experience with a focus on Insurance & Annuity marketing and distribution. Prior to Joining GBU, Lesley served as the CMO and Head of Distribution for Knighthead Annuity & Life, where she was a founding leader who drove the growth of the company to over $2 Billion in assets under management. Before Knighthead Annuity, Lesley spent 20 years with Prudential Financial in many capacities. Her most recent role was the SVP, Relationship Management for Prudential’s annuity business, where she was responsible for the management, business development, sales, and marketing for the firm’s 300 institutional clients. In that role, she grew sales from just under $10 billion a year to over $21 Billion, becoming the largest distributor of annuities in the industry.
As a senior executive, Lesley’s passion is around growing, developing, and evolving businesses while leveraging the strengths that already exist in the company. She works to understand the culture, the business framework, and people, which has shaped her determination to build high performance and successful organizations. Lesley holds a B.A. In Economics & Political Science from Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA.
William (Wil) Lombardi is an accomplished executive with over 20+ years in the financial services sector, known for his forward-thinking approach and proven ability to drive organizational growth through comprehensive, transformative initiatives. He excels at leveraging data-driven insights to unify leaders across various business units, ensuring alignment with corporate values and customer needs for long-term impact.
Wil has held senior positions at Citi, Raymond James Financial, USAA, and most recently, Northwestern Mutual. In his leadership roles, he has overseen Service, Operations, Corporate Solutions, National Sales, and Corporate Real Estate. At Northwestern Mutual, Wil led the company’s Service and Operations function, which included New Business, Servicing, Claims, Investment Operations, and Shared Services. He led the company’s service strategy, integrating all service and operations components into a cohesive unit that supports over 5 million clients, 19,000 advisors, and their service teams, alongside partners in Product, Underwriting, Marketing, and Career Distribution.
Prior to Northwestern Mutual, Wil held various leadership positions at USAA, overseeing Corporate Real Estate & Workplace, Retail Strategy and Operations, National Sales & Service for Investments & Life Insurance, Bank Operations, and Property and Casualty Omni-Channel contact centers, as well as back-office fulfillment.
Before entering the financial services industry, he proudly served in the United States Marine Corps.
A native of New York, Wil graduated from Rollins College with a bachelor’s degree in international business and economics and later earned an MBA. He has served on several boards, including CORENET Global, CASA of San Antonio, and various local educational and sports advisory boards. He has also been an executive sponsor for Military Veterans Resource group, Accelerated Black Entrepreneurs, and Hispanic Women Leaders of Tomorrow.
Antoinette Blair serves as the Head of HR and Compliance at GBU Financial Life. In her role overseeing compliance, she develops, implements, and monitors GBU Life’s compliance framework. As Head of HR, her responsibilities include managing and overseeing employee engagement, recruitment, policy, and procedures, as well as implementing processes that foster professional growth.
Antoinette is a seasoned attorney and compliance professional admitted to the Bar in the United Kingdom, the State of Illinois, and the Bahamas. With over 20 years of legal and compliance experience both domestically and internationally, she began her career as an Assistant Counsel in the Office of the Attorney General in The Bahamas. After two years as a prosecutor, she transitioned into compliance.
Throughout her career, Antoinette has led compliance teams in the insurance and banking sectors, guiding companies through Market Conduct Examinations. She has played a pivotal role in ensuring organizations understand regulatory environments, partnering with key stakeholders to address legislative requirements and implement appropriate controls. Prior to joining GBU, she served as Manager of Compliance for AAA Life Insurance Company and held roles as Legal/Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary for Colonial Group International, a Bermuda-based insurer operating throughout the Caribbean.
Antoinette holds an LLB Degree (Bachelor of Law) from Kingston University, Surrey, England, and a LLM degree (Master of Law in Insurance) from Western Michigan University. She also holds an International Compliance Certification in Anti-Money Laundering and Compliance and also is a certified Risk and Compliance Management Professional.
Lea Ann Hazi has been a member of GBU since 1987 and has served on the GBU Board of Directors for the past 30 years. She is recently retired as Co-owner of Omni Telecommunications in West Palm Beach, FL. Lea Ann attended St. Louis Community College where she focused on computer science. In addition to her tenure on the GBU Board of Directors, she has served on a variety of boards and co-founded a youth ice hockey association.
David Bevins has been attending GBU district meetings since he was an infant and has served on the GBU Board of Directors for three years. He is a practicing attorney at Rhoades McKee PC and attended law school at Wayne State Law School in Detroit, MI. He has served on numerous boards, in addition to his tenure on the GBU Board of Directors.
Joseph Bilecki has been a GBU member since GBU merged with Sokol USA in 2013 and has served on the GBU Board of Directors since 2018. He is currently a lawyer that attended law school at Duquesne University School of Law. He serves as President of GBU District 4000, has served on several boards in the Pittsburgh areas and has given numerous cultural and educational lectures to many Slovak, Polish and Hungarian cultural organizations.
Christina MacKellar has been a member of GBU since 1975 and served on the GBU Board of Directors since 2014. She is currently an Executive Sales Underwriter at The Hanover Insurance Group in Howell, MI, and the Fraternal Secretary for District 630. Christina attended Central Michigan University where she majored in Business Management and German.
David Pringle has been a member of GBU since 2007 and a member of the GBU Board of Directors for the past 12 years. He has served as an officer and auditor for District 2000 and acted as an advisor to the GBU Board of Directors from 2007-2010 as a result of the ULS/GBU merger. David was recently appointed Shenango Township Real Estate Tax Collector just prior to his retirement from Kirila Contractors this year. David is a graduate of Youngstown State University. David majored in accounting and minored in economics and marketing.
Frank Bria is a senior vice president and treaty account executive at Gen Re, a Berkshire Hathaway Company, where he is responsible for strategically growing and maintaining Gen Re’s relationship with clients across the country. Before assuming his current role, Frank served as an assistant general counsel in Gen Re’s Corporate Legal Department, leading internal investigations, managing complex litigation and designing and implementing global compliance programs.
Frank started his legal career as a federal law clerk to the late United States District Attorney Philip R. Martinez of the Western District of Texas. He then returned to his home state of Connecticut, where he practiced at Day Pitney as a commercial litigator and member of the Government Investigations Practice Group.
Frank received his B.A. from Amherst College and his Juris Doctorate from Boston College Law School. Frank resides in Connecticut with his wife and sons. He is active in his local community. He serves as the Eagle Scout coach for Troop 70 in New Canaan. He also has a long history of serving on nonprofit boards focused on addressing the educational needs of underserved children.
John is an energetic, vibrant insurance and financial senior executive with a passion for building and developing long-term relationships and profitable business. He has built relationships with some of the most prominent insurance industry leaders and carriers in the world. John attracts top talent and develops high-performing teams.
John has over 38 years of public accounting and management consulting experience serving both public and non-public clients within the financial services and insurance sectors. Clients ranged from startups to Fortune 50 on a range of engagements within audit, advisory and tax as well as corporate governance, strategy and mergers and acquisitions, due diligence, new business development, talent management, enterprise risk management and internal audit. His insurance clients include all elements of the insurance market, including property/casualty, life and annuity, health payers/providers, reinsurance and related brokers, agencies, program managers and affiliates.
John’s primary focus at Grant Thornton when he joined in 2011 was to develop and build a robust vibrant insurance industry practice with full audit, advisory and tax capabilities. The insurance industry practice today is one of the largest global and national industry practices at Grant Thornton.