John Baier began his career in insurance as an Agent with New York Life in 1970, while still a student at Seton Hall University. In 1981, John was appointed General Manager of the Albany General Office and in 1995 John was promoted to Managing Partner of the Bergen General Office. Under John's leadership, both offices more than doubled both in productivity and manpower, resulting in John being the recipient of several national trophies for retention and first year commission increases. John advanced his professional education by earning his CLU®, ChFC®, and CFP® designations, as well as his Masters Degree in Financial Services. In April 1999, the Bergen General Office was merged with the Jersey General Office to form a combined agency known as the New Jersey General Office. The New Jersey General Office is consistently among the top 5 offices within the New York Life system, and is home to a vibrant culture of over 240 Agents, overseen by John and his team of 13 Managers.
Tim graduated from UCLA with BA in Business Economics. After 4 years with Sun America in their investment division, Tim started his Insurance and Financial Services career with New York Life in Los Angeles, California in 1994. After numerous achievements, Tim entered into management in June of 1999. In his first year as a manager, Tim was recognized as a number one Sales Manager for production amongst his class.
In December of 2001, Tim transferred to New Jersey GO to build Korean market. Since then, Tim implemented infrastructures and contributed New Jersey General Office with consistent growth in productions along with number of active agents. Tim was top 25 partners for 3 consecutive years before promoted to Senior Partner in September of 2007.
Puneet Seth, MBA,CLU®,CLTC is a Senior Partner in our General Office. He brings 20 years of experience in the business, 5 of which were in personal production at Million Dollar Rount Table (MDRT) level, the rest in Management with various companies. He has won numerous industry and Company awards for sales, marketing and recruiting. He Lives in East Brunswick with wife Shailja, an agent in our office, and two sons Abhishék & Ishan.
Thevan graduated from Kean University with a BS in Business Administration. He worked for more than a decade as a Manager of Retail Services for the Middlesex County College. His career as an agent with New York Life began in the Bergen General Office (G.O.) in March 1997. During his 10 years as an agent Thevan qualified for Council and Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) all 10 years. He decided to join the New Jersey General Office (G.O.) as a Partner in April 2007. In his two years as a Partner Thevan has followed a commitment of personal and professional growth. His record speaks for it self, as the winner of the Gathering of Eagles 2007, 2008 & 2009, winner of the Top Gun Recruiter award for 2007 & 2008, awarded Most Valuable Player for 2008, T.N.T. Platinum leader for 2007 & 2008 and the G.O. Excellence in Recruiting for 2007 & 2008. Thevan has hired and trained quality agents who is following in his footsteps.
Thevan resides in Princeton, NJ with his lovely wife Ruby and their three children: Surain, Tharani, and Kirrupan.
Sean graduated from The Ohio State University as Honor student awarded “Summa awards”. At the university he majored in finance. He then worked for a corporation for 10 years following graduation as a controller (accountant). Sean started his insurance career in 2005. In 2006 ranked top 10 us ranking as a freshman and 2007 as a sophomore. He was awarded the life founder bronze level in 2006, 2007, and Million Dollar Round Table Member in 2008. Sean joined New York Life 2009.
Michael began his career with New York Life in December 2001 after graduating from the University of Delaware with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management.
During Michael's successful years as a Financial Services Professional with the New Jersey General Office, he has accumulated 4 consecutive Executive Council Memberships and Centurion Awards. He has also qualified for the Million Dollar Round Table in 2005. Based upon his sales achievements, he was asked to join The New Jersey General Office's Management Team as a Partner in June 2006.
Michael has been a member in good standing of the Bergen-Passaic Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, GAMA International and is a resident of Hoboken, NJ.
Vito Spano graduated from Montclair State University in 2002 with aBS in marketing. Upon graduation, Vito completed his internship with New York Life, where he was then hired as a Full Time Financial Services Professional in November 2002. Vito achieved Executive Council in his first 6 months as an agent and went on to qualify for the Million Dollar Round Table, placing him among the top 4% in the Industry. In 2006, Vito was promoted to Partner at the age of 26, making him one of the youngest partners in the company. He was awarded Platinum Leader in 2006 and has been a top recruiter every year. He has earned his LUTCF and CLTC designations. He consistently recruits from almamater, supervises a team of 16 agents and helps manage the #3 office in the company. His retention of hires is north of 50% and was recently ranked top 50 in the country amongst 328 partners. Vito resides in Bergen County with his wife Dr. Lisa Spano whom also graduated from Montclair State University.
George began his career in the insurance and financial services industry more than 20 years ago. After achieving early success in sales, he was asked to pursue a career in management. For the last 9 years, George has been a Partner with New York Life in the New Jersey General Office. He is responsible for recruiting, training and developing Insurance Agents, Financial Service Representatives and Financial Advisors.
In addition to his responsibilities as a Partner, George is extremely involved in the day-to-day activities of the agency and has made a significant contribution to the overall growth of the office.
George is also actively involved in the industry. He is a current member and Past President of the Passaic/Bergen NAIFA. He was also the recipient of this associations Underwriter of the Year award. In addition to this, he is an active member of GAMA.
George is a long time resident of Northern New Jersey where he resides with his wife Barbara and their three children.
Senior Director of Training(732) 744-3714tbabbert@ft.newyorklife.com
Tim joined New York Life in 1983 as an agent in his home town of Columbus, Ohio and qualified for Council in his first two years before joining the management team.
In 1986 Tim assumed the responsibility of running the training program for the Shaker Heights General Office in Cleveland, Ohio.
After spending 8 years in Cleveland Tim was promoted to Training Manager in New Jersey. While in New Jersey, Tim has been active in his local and state NAIFA Associations, including being a Past President of the Union-Raritan Valley Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors and Past Regional Vice-President for the New Jersey Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors.
In Tim’s spare time he enjoys being very involved in his children’s activities to include being a Cub Scout Den Leader and Assistant Baseball Coach.
Senior Development Manager(201) 291-5405rvergari@ft.newyorklife.com
Rachel graduated from the University of Rhode Island as Finance major in 2002. Upon graduation she went directly into the Financial Services Industry as an agent with New York Life for the Boston General Office. Not long thereafter she transferred to the New Jersey General Office where she spent the majority of her time as a Financial Professional achieving Executive Council and Centurion. In April of 2005 she was asked to enter management as a Developer. Rachel is a current member of NAIFA and GAMA, and resides in Monmouth County NJ with her loving husband Shane, and their chocolate lab.
Development Manager(201) 291-5473emontemayor@ft.newyorklife.com
Ellen began her career with New York Life as an agent in 2002. Her experience as an agent included qualifying for Executive Council every year. After 6 successful years as an agent, Ellen joined the management team as a Development Manager of the New Jersey General Office in 2008. She holds a B.S. in Information Systems and a minor in Marketing from The College of New Jersey. She’s a member of GAMA and NAIFA and currently resides in Hoboken, NJ.
Jose brings more than 20 years of experience with developing marketing strategies in the real estate and mortgage industry. Jose has worked for international leading brands in the industry such as; Sotheby’s, Wells Fargo and CENTURY 21 Real Estate, LLC where he has integrated Direct and Interactive Marketing Strategy with a proven record of understanding one-to-one marketing media, modeling, measurement, analysis resulting in efficient and effective marketing programs and delivers high performance with minimal marketing waste.
