Meet the Leadership Team

Patrick Dessauer is president of the West Region at McGriff. He manages frontline production, recruiting, team development, financial modeling and forecasting for the West Region, which includes Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri , Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Oregon, Texas, and Washington.

Dessauer has worked in the insurance industry for over 34 years and held various roles, including administrative manager and regional operations officer.

He earned his bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University.

Robert Drew is president of the South Region at McGriff. He manages frontline production, recruiting, team development, financial modeling and forecasting for the South Region, which includes Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia,  New York and Tennessee.

Drew has worked in the insurance industry for over 30 years and held various roles, including producer, construction leader and president.

He earned his bachelor’s degree from Auburn University.

John Haase is president of the East Region at McGriff.  His primary responsibilities include frontline production, recruiting, team development financial modeling and forecasting for the East Region, which includes Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

John has worked in the insurance industry for 40 years and has held various production and leadership roles.  He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut. 

Rachael Yelverton is Director of Strategic Projects at McGriff. Her primary responsibilities are leading our digital strategy, shaping line-of-business market strategy and development, and execution of market strategies across the Small Business and Personal Lines divisions. 

Yelverton has worked in the insurance industry for over 20 years and held various roles, including corporate insurance specialist, account executive, ServiceNow service manager and director of business development for Small Business and Personal Lines.

She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia.

Crystal Sanderson is National Director, Strategic Partnerships & Placement at McGriff. Her primary responsibilities include carrier relations and coordinating our national placement strategies.

Sanderson has worked in the insurance industry for over 24 years and held various roles, including agency executive and National Director, Small Business and Personal Lines.

She attended the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

Mike Breedlove serves as national sales and growth leader for McGriff. His primary responsibilities are to oversee the strategic direction of McGriff’s middle market segment through sales and placement and coordination with the McGriff specialty practice groups. 

Breedlove has worked in the insurance industry for over 34 years and held various roles, including regional president and national property and casualty sales leader.

He earned his bachelor’s degree from Concordia University.

Patrick Maguire is the specialty practice group national director for McGriff.

Maguire has worked in the insurance industry for over 16 years and held various roles, including producer and energy practice leader.

He earned his bachelor’s degree from Marist College and master’s degree from Vanderbilt University.

Dusty Cahill is co-national director of the McGriff Executive Risk Advisors division. He helps manage the strategic direction of the Executive Risk Advisors division and the placement and servicing of many of McGriff’s largest and most complex clients.  

His expertise includes directors and officers liability, employment practices liability, fiduciary liability, errors and omissions insurance, crime, and kidnap and ransom. 

Cahill earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia. 

David Sellars is co-national director of the McGriff Executive Risk Advisors division. He helps manage the strategic direction of the Executive Risk Advisors division and the placement and servicing of many of McGriff’s largest and most complex clients.

Sellars has worked in the insurance industry for over 27 years and held various roles, including senior vice president, producer, senior financial and professional liability practice leader, and executive liability broker.

Sellars earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Georgia.

Jed Skeete is senior executive vice president at McGriff. His primary responsibilities are to actively engage with geography leaders to drive growth in our Employee Benefits business as well as advocating for our Employee Benefits broader national initiatives. Jed has worked in the insurance industry for over 39 years, with the last 28 at McGriff. He has held various roles including prior national practice lead of the original McGriff, Seibels & Williams. He earned his bachelor's degree in finance and marketing from the University of Texas.

Matt Whitley is the national director of data enablement at McGriff. His primary responsibilities include working closely with key line-of-business and technology partners to evaluate current prioritization and development processes to maximize value generation through internal and client-facing applications and solutions.

While new to the world of insurance, Matt has spent most of his career leading product development teams and managing enterprise digital information. He has held various leadership roles including ADS services manager, head of retail digital product management and senior director of digital banking and digital account opening.

He earned his bachelor's degree in accounting from North Carolina State University and completed his MBA at University of North Carolina, Kenan Flagler Business School. 

Milton Smith is the national director of surety at McGriff. His primary responsibility is to lead McGriff’s surety operations and drive overall growth of our surety practice. 

Smith has worked in the insurance industry for over 28 years and held various roles including senior underwriter and senior vice president.

He earned his bachelor's degree in finance and marketing from the University of Alabama. He holds the Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) and Construction Risk and Insurance Specialist (CRIS) designations.

Rodney Ledford serves as the national director of personal lines & small business at McGriff, where he manages main street and premier segment personal lines, the McGriff Sales Center, McGriff’s small business segment, and small business carrier relationships.  With 19 years of experience in the insurance industry, Rodney has held previous small business-focused roles, including underwriter, field sales executive, and VP in national accounts. He earned his bachelor’s degree in management and society from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and holds the Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) designation.

Camille Martinez serves as the head of human resources at McGriff. She is responsible for leading McGriff’s HR team, HR strategy, organizational design & development, performance enablement, and employee relations. With over 15 years in the insurance industry and over 25 years in human resources, Camille has held previous HR-focused roles including HR business partner for Crump Life Insurance Services, teammate relations manager for Truist, and Sr. HRBP for Truist Insurance Holdings. She earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Utah.

Leo Genders serves as the head of technology at McGriff. He is responsible for overseeing the application development and technology management teams. With over 30 years in the insurance industry, Leo has held previous roles including VP/Software Engineering Senior Director at TIH, VP/Chief Information Officer at Western Reserve Group Insurance, Senior Executive Customer Advocate at Guidewire Software, VP/Director of Application Delivery at Westfield Insurance, and Chief Information Officer at Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. He earned his Bachelor of Science in computer science from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.