Marilyn Brodie, Life & Health Insurance

Marilyn became a licensed life insurance agent in December 2004 and since then she has been an independent broker. Marilyn’s educational background is in the area of Operations Management. Marilyn worked in the high-tech manufacturing and software industry, where she managed and implemented software in Canada and internationally. Since becoming an independent insurance agent, she believes that clients are better served when she can represent the different insurance companies and give he best available insurance products and rates. She is a highly knowledgeable agent that cares greatly about the experience of her clients while going through the process of acquiring insurance protection for themselves and their family.

Dave Dhiman, BBA, Life & Health Insurance

Dave Dhiman has over 10 years of experience in the financial services field. He is well versed in individual products such as insurance (life, disability, critical illness) and investments (RRSPs, TFSAs). Dave works with many companies, including small and medium sized businesses, implementing group benefit plans. Dave holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Simon Fraser University. He started his financial services career with a different agency, but quickly realized that his clients were best served by the versatility and flexibility of a broker. In his own words, he often shares with clients that knowing the products he recommends will make a difference in helping his clients through their most difficult times. This has been one of the most rewarding experience for Dave as an advisor.

Darren Koch, BA, Life & Health Insurance

Darren really enjoys what he does as an independent financial advisor, allowing him to stay at home and help raise his two girls while his spouse continues her professional career. He started working as a career agent with a fraternal benefit society but after almost 10 years there he decided to become an independent financial advisor so that he could offer his clients a full range of products from the best companies. He has been with IDC Insurance since 2006 and anticipate being here well into the future. When you have a conversation with him you will quickly discover that he cares about helping people get the right insurance for the best price. He earned two undergraduate degrees in business administration and political science which enable him to help you solve any insurance problems that you might have.

Nadine Halverson, CFP, Certified Financial Planner

Nadine has been a CFP since 1998. She was registered with the Investment Dealer’s Association for 5 years while specializing in placing and managing investments for high net worth clients with one of Canada’s leading investment firms. In 2005 Nadine got licensed as an insurance agent and then continued on acquiring additional licences in the provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario. Since becoming an independent insurance broker in 2006, Nadine has been a valuable insurance agent servicing IDC Insurance’s clients in both the family and small business markets as well as many of her own clients.

Markus Deutsch, BA, Life & Health Insurance

Markus is all about serving his clients. Gord, a client from Stratford, ON, summed it up very well. “Markus was extremely kind and courteous when we spoke and explained everything to be easily understood”. Markus was a financial advisor in Austria and Germany before emigrated to Canada where he has embraced this career choice. He has been an advisor with IDC Insurance since 2007. Clients benefit from his vast experience in the areas of life, living benefits (disability and critical illness coverage), investments and private health insurance. Markus’ personal goal is to help clients reach theirs. He wants to help solve their unique insurance challenges and provide protection strategies for any unforeseen events that may affect his clients. He enjoys the flexibility of being able to work from home so he can be there for his 3 children and supporting his wife’s career.

Torrie Fonda, CHS, Certified Health Specialist

Torrie returned to the insurance industry after raising her family over 25 years. When she was an Administrative Assistant, Torrie developed her attention to detail and identified client needs for life and living benefits coverage. After acquiring her life insurance license in 2008 she went on to obtain the Certified Health Specialist certification in 2010. Since joining IDC Insurance in 2011, Torrie has honed her skills and broadened the shelf of insurance companies. Finding the best options for you and your family are her focus. Delivering a new insurance policy to her clients gives Torrie great satisfaction. “We don’t have a crystal ball to tell the future” and “get your insurance before you need it because when you need it you may not get it” are often echoed in conversations with Torrie. Torrie lives an active lifestyle and encourages others to live a well rounded and balanced life.

Christine Binder, CFP, Life & Health Insurance

Christine is a highly trained insurance advisor with IDC and has over 25 years of experience in the industry. Her main focus is to help Canadians protect their most important asset which is their ability to earn income. She chose this career after her experience working as an investment advisor where she witnessed many clients and their families go through severe financial difficulties after experiencing the illness, disability or death of a family member.

Using her vast experience and insurance knowledge, Christine is able to help individuals, families and business owners, properly assess these income risks and put the most effective and economical plans in place by helping clients select coverage from all the major Canadian insurance providers. When working with Christine, she will help her clients mitigate their financial risks and plan for a secure future while handling all of the implementations to get proper insurance plans in place. Once the plan is arranged, Christine is always available going forward, to help her clients with any financial questions they may have or to adjust their insurance plans when circumstances change.

During her free time, Christine enjoys travelling, scuba diving, hiking and listening to live music with friends and family.

Aline Barker, Life & Health Insurance

Daniel Burke, Life & Health Insurance

Tyler Vincent, Life & Health Insurance

Kristin Wood, Life & Health Insurance

Lorraine Graham, Life & Health Insurance

John Hill, Life & Health Insurance

Winston Bishop, Life & Health Insurance

Justin Azaria, Life & Health Insurance

Derek Bell, Life & Health Insurance

Kerrie Albert, Life & Health Insurance

Kristi Allan, Life & Health Insurance

Melanie Storme, Life & Health Insurance

Blair MacInnis, Life & Health Insurance

Tyson Budrow, Life & Health Insurance

Geoffrey Greenall, Employee Benefit Management Consultant

Every day I meet Canadians who don’t know much or even anything about the world of life & health insurance. Come to think of it, they usually tell me they don’t even have a plan or lost the one they might have bought years ago. To top it off, they also believe that the only place to get sound financial advice is the bank! My goal is to educate people across the country one by one about what is available to them, as well as the differences between types of plans and the companies that offer them. Working as an independent broker, I am able to source the very best solutions for each and every one of my clients.

Besides having 13+ years of experience in the industry and helping Canadians across the country, I race mountain bikes and enjoy both surfing and snowboarding. While I live in Rossland, British Columbia with my incredible wife and daughter – I also travel across the country to help my clients, so you don’t need to live next door to give me a call.

Gregory Brown, Employee Benefit Consultant

Cara Boston, Employee Benefit Consultant

Aaron Cyr, Employee Benefit Consultant

Zahid Khandwani, MBA, Life & Health Insurance

Zahid is a Master of Business Administration graduate with training in Financial Management. He has spent over 10 years in the banking sector. Zahid became a licensed life insurance agent in 2008 and quickly joined IDC Insurance in April 2009. Since joining our firm he has been the warm and friendly voice of our travel and private health insurance department. He enjoys helping clients finding the best plans possible according to their needs and budget. He has a long list of satisfied clients to his credit who often refer their friends and family members with confidence. Zahid knows his job very well as he can offer competent, honest and sincere services to each client whenever he has the opportunity to do so. As a prospective client, it’s great to know that you will be in a good hand.

Russell Smart, MBA, Human Resource Consultant

Russ is an unusual combination of technical expertise and practical business experience. After completing his MBA at the University of Toronto, Russ went on to study for three years toward a Ph.D. in Marketing. His career path has been anything but theoretical as he has excelled in a wide range of management positions. As an entrepreneur, Russ has built companies as both a master franchiser and franchisee and a successful insurance brokerage. As the founder of IDC Insurance, Russ germinated the idea from his home office as an independent life insurance broker to build this successful company, beginning with selling life insurance via the Internet.

Kevan Penonzek, Insurance Management Consultant

Aaron Mak, Marketing Consultant

David Lam, Inforce Service Consultant

Johnny Le, New Business Consultant

Ben Nguyen, President & C.E.O

Ben Nguyen has served as IDC Insurance’s President and Chief Executive Officer since November 2014. In this role, Mr. Nguyen oversees IDC Insurance’s client experience, digital properties, designs and implementations, technology systems, and our associate agents. On the daily basis, Mr. Nguyen also works closely with the company’s sales, marketing and administration teams. Mr. Nguyen brings over 15 years of sales, marketing, management, Internet and eCommerce experience to IDC Insurance. Prior to acquiring IDC Insurance, Mr. Nguyen was the founder of several other pioneering financial services companies in the areas of mortgage, investment and insurance.

Before entering the financial services sector, Mr. Nguyen spent twelve years at several telecommunication companies where he held various corporate sales and sales management positions from August 1998 to April 2010, including serving as the Sales and Project Manager for a pioneering wireless company.

One of Mr. Nguyen’s past career highlights included the implementation of Canada’s first fourth-generation wireless network during the events of the 2010 Winter Olympics held in Vancouver, BC. Since Mr. Nguyen acquired the company, IDC Insurance has implemented many innovative technology systems to grow and strengthen IDC Insurance as Canada’s premier online insurance agency.

Allianz Insurance, Allstate Canada, AIG, BCAA, CAA, CIBC Insurance, Canadian Tire, Costco, CUMIS Group, Faith Life, Gerber Life, Giraffe & Friends Life, Hartford Life, Investors Group, Knights of Columbus, La Capitale, London Life, National Bank Life, New York Life, Primerica, Reliable Life, Scotia Life, Sears Financial, State Farm Insurance, World Financial Group (WFG), PC Insurance, Standard Life, TD Insurance, UL Mutual, Union Life, Zurich Insurance.

Companies we do not work with often have agents who only sell their own products which effectively prohibiting consumers from shopping for the best rates or coverage.

There are also other providers in the marketplace operating as insurance resellers. These providers sell insurance products by adding a marketing charge on top of the actual insurance companies’ products thus making the premiums more expensive than buying directly. These insurance resellers are automobile or professional associations, grocers, retailers, department stores, hardware stores, mortgage lenders and the banks’ mortgage insurance.

In Canada we have a not-for-profit organization called Assuris, that protects insurance policyholders in the event that their life insurance company should default. Equally important, the Canadian government also regulates life insurance companies requiring them to maintain conservative capital ratios. This kind of conservative capital requirement does not exist with insurance conglomerates in the United States or elsewhere.