Company
With Friedmann and Friedmann in your corner, peace of mind is no accident.
Why? Quite simply, it’s our people.
Since 1988, we’ve assembled a world-class team of skilled, caring professionals. Each brings decades of experience across a multitude of insurance disciplines, plus something more: a passion for personalized service and obsessive attention to detail—the little things that protect your success in a big way.
Our focus? Sound planning. Solid exposure assessment. And optimal risk mitigation. All, so you can focus on running your business…and worry less.
At Friedmann and Friedmann, your good night’s sleep, is our job well done.
Management
Laverne Friedmann, President
That you might find Laverne Friedmann hiking the steep hills surrounding her home says a lot about the woman who owns a company with her name on the door. She’s a fighter with tenacity, strength and stamina that belie her years. One who ascended from homemaker to trailblazer in a realm once dominated by men, taking positions at Allstate, Marsh & McLennan and elsewhere, and later founding the Southland’s leading privately held commercial insurance firm.
Yet clients, family and employees see a different though no less avid side of her—an abiding presence with a firm, reassuring hand; quick witted and quick to lend personal attention laced with wisdom won by three-plus decades in the business.
Advising CEOs, donning her famous red boots to teach truckers safe driving, or perhaps celebrating an employee birthday back in the office. Wherever you find Laverne Friedmann, she’s sure to be putting her indelible stamp on what matters most.
She’s a member of the Professional Insurance Agents, Insurance Brokers & Agents of the West, Women President’s Organization and Vistage. She’s active in her industry, the local business community, and her commitment to ending domestic violence through her passionate involvement with Laura’s House. And when she’s at home playing Nintendo Wii® with her ten grandkids, she also wields a wicked air guitar.
Steve Friedmann, Executive Vice President
At first glance Steve Friedmann seems as much a seasoned surfer as a seasoned insurance executive. Perhaps that’s because he is. In fact, in the rare times when he’s not helping safeguard your success he prefers to be in the ocean.
But make no mistake: the minute lights go on in Steve’s office, “toes to the nose” becomes “nose to the grindstone.” Backed by extensive training at Safeco Insurance Company, and his immense knowledge gained from working on complex and sophisticated insurance accounts for the last nineteen years, he uses his vast experience to help Friedmann and Friedmann clients sleep a lot better at night, leveraging a deep knowledge of workers' compensation, professional and executive liability coverage, plus commercial property, cargo, liability and auto coverage.
With Friedmann and Friedmann since 1990, he specializes in executive liability risks, including errors & omissions (E&O), directors & officers liability (D&O), fiduciary liability, fidelity/crime and employment practice liability (EPLI).
Rita Guild – Benefits Managing Director
Between directing financial services at Friedmann and Friedmann, caring for her young triplets, and teaching Sunday school, you could say Rita Guild knows how to keep lots of balls in the air. And her background would tell you why.
Rita’s a veteran volleyball player from a long line of athletes, and has learned to apply the best parts of the game to helping Friedmann and Friedmann clients and staff. She’s supremely confident and brings serious professional skills. She’s always there for the assist. And when the moment comes to put you and her team ahead, she drills it every time.
A refugee from the realm of retail, she spent her early career as a manager, developing her keen sense of how to take care of people. Her résumé reflects over twenty years of experience, including a term as financial services manager at Hilb Rogal & Hamilton (HRH). She joined Friedmann and Friedmann in 1997. But her biggest claim to fame? She’s a service ace—on and off the court.
Gale Abiad – Property & Casualty Managing Director
Gale Abiad holds the honor of being Laverne Friedmann’s very first employee. But when she came aboard in 1990 she was hardly a newcomer, bringing a wealth of insurance know-how and experience.
Nor did she waste time in leaving her famous mark of professionalism, and stamp of compassion, on the many keys positions she’s held at Friedmann and Friedmann. And she continues setting a standard of excellence, both in her dealings with clients and in managing the company’s property and casualty department, where she ensures that policies and procedures support overall production goals.
Away from work, she enjoys hiking, biking, and spending time with her husband and three grown children. Yet even when far from the office—ascending the slopes, spinning down the coast or fixing up a family feast, Gale’s mind is never far from the business at hand: assuring your well-being and peace of mind.
Domina Kellogg – Financial Director and Marine Insurance Executive
Domina Kellogg makes maritime insurance easy as “tasi, lua, tolu.” That’s “1, 2, 3” in Samoan, the native tongue of this cosmopolitan industry veteran, who balances her passion for helping clients with a love of languages and many other far-flung interests.
The tightly-knit Samoan culture prepared her well to work at Friedmann and Friedmann where, between her loyal clientele and close office clan, TLC is what counts. Plus, she’s married with four children, and accustomed to family reunions attended by hundreds. So people skills are second nature to her.
Trained in Property and Casualty (P&C) coverage, she brings over thirty years of insurance experience, earning her credentials at firms such as Marsh & McLennan and Fred S. James. Once employed by a major underwriter for an international tuna fleet, she now specializes in marine coverage (the yellow submarine poster in her office is a dead giveaway).
Outside the office Domina makes authentic hand-crafted Polynesian jewelry, and thumbs her nose at Father Time by kick-boxing three days a week. She’s definitely one you want in your corner.