Our Team

Known for creativity, thoughtful analysis, quality execution, and remarkable client service, Pillar International Insurance Advisors is owned, managed and staffed by senior professionals with backgrounds in accounting, law, investments, and insurance. 

Our culture of placing client service first has helped us attract an extraordinary group of professionals and staff committed to a single goal: to serve our clients extremely well.

Our culture of placing client service first has helped us attract an extraordinary group of professionals and staff committed to a single goal: to serve our clients extremely well.

Relationship Team

Rod Bench

Connie Carroll

Karen Dacek

Shannon Hahn

Connor Bench

Client Services Team

Janice Floresca
Operations

Deepa Jhaveri
Underwriting

Kim Latimer
Reporting

Patrick Rosenberry
Operations

Erin Trobough
Underwriting

Rod Bench has been in the wealth and risk management business since 1972. He was the founder and principal of RA Bench, a highly successful financial services organization in Seattle, and managed the firm prior to its sale to USI Kibble & Prentice in 2010.  He previously served as an executive officer of New England Financial and was responsible for the company’s marketing efforts; its product development; and the legal, design and administration teams supporting all employee benefit plans for both retirement and health and welfare plans. In 2016, he joined the group which acquired the individual life and disability insurance business of USI Kibble & Prentice as an equity principal and serves on the management committee of Pillar International Insurance Advisors.

Rod acts as a senior advisor to many family owned enterprises regarding their succession planning and wealth management issues both in the U.S. and abroad. He is also a recognized leader on the design, financing, reporting, and integration of all forms of executive fringe benefit plans; and the structuring of investment and insurance arrangements to meet the financial and reporting requirements of these programs for both private and public concerns.

Rod is currently a trustee and finance committee member for Seattle University, a past trustee for Lakeside School, and a director for a number of industry and charitable organizations. He is a Chartered Life Underwriter and holds advanced designations in Business Tax Planning; Pension Planning and Estate Planning from the American College. Rod and his wife, Mary Jo, reside in Seattle and Napa, CA.

Connie Carroll has over 20 years of experience in insurance planning and advanced underwriting for individuals and corporations. She acts as an advisor to businesses on succession planning, key employee and executive benefit plans. Connie advises families and individuals on estate planning, personal protection strategies, and managing the risk of long-term care. Before joining Pillar International, she was a partner at The Lyman Group responsible for client marketing, business development, and relationship management. In addition, she spent ten years with M Financial Group in Product Development and Sales Support, leading the company’s sales and marketing team. Connie returned to her roots with Pillar International, as she began her career at RA Bench years ago.

Connie is a member of the Association of Advanced Life Underwriting (AALU) and a a member of M Financial Group’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee. She is a board member of Pacific Northwest Insurance Council (PNWIC), an industry group committed to advocacy and fundraising for Provail, a Seattle-based nonprofit organization whose mission is to help people with disabilities fulfill their life choices. She is the President of the Board of Directors for Elizabeth Gregory Home, a nonprofit organization that provides resources and a welcoming refuge for women at risk or in need. Connie has spent most of her life in the Pacific Northwest, attended the University of Washington, and enjoys spending time outdoors and on the water with family and friends.

Karen Dacek has degrees in Politics and Spanish from Miami University (Ohio) as well as a Masters in International Management from the AGSIM (Thunderbird). Karen began her career in life and disability insurance when she joined Paul Revere brokerage in 1991. After three years of serving as an individual disability sales consultant at Paul Revere, she left for an opportunity to lead a new corporate/executive benefits sales division for UNUM Life Insurance. At UNUM from 1995-2000, Karen was consistently within the top 10% nationally of individual sales consultants, and earned the designation of Representative of the Year in 1998. It was at UNUM that Karen honed her knowledge of combining traditional group and individual product lines to help maximize benefits for key executives.

Karen joined RA Bench in 2000 to support the firm’s efforts in disability/LTC sales as well as establish a general agency for long term care products. When RA Bench was sold to Kibble and Prentice/USI, Karen elected to accept a position near her home on Bainbridge Island as a project manager with Clark Construction, LLC. In 2017, Karen joined forces again with her insurance “family” at Pillar International. She focuses her practice on life, disability and long term care protections as stand-alone products as well as within the multi-life, corporate market. Karen lives on Bainbridge Island with her three children and menagerie of animals.

Shannon Hahn

Shannon Hahn has over two decades of experience in the life insurance industry, originally starting her career in technology and agency operations. As a member of the M Financial community since 2004, she traveled across the country to over 60 M Financial Member Firms. Through her travels, she learned the unique aspects of life insurance and was inspired by the entrepreneurial spirit and caliber of M Firms.

Life insurance is complex and Shannon is a risk analyst at heart. She designs individualized plans for professionals, business owners and professional service firms. Her specialties include advanced life insurance planning, underwriting multiple health impairments, complex disability planning and long term care planning for professionals and businesses. Her educational and goal-based approach provides her clients options that fit their unique insurance goals.

Shannon is a graduate of the University of Iowa with a degree in Finance and a member of the University of Iowa Alumni Association. She is a proud member and mentor of the Professional Women’s Club of Chicago. As an advocate for the insurance industry, Shannon travels to Washington, DC, each year on behalf of the Association of Advanced Life Underwriters (AALU) and is a member of The American College Alumni Association. Her current professional licenses include the Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU®) designation, FINRA Series 6 & 63, Illinois Life/Health, and 12 additional state insurance licenses.

Planning for decades is an important aspect of Shannon’s family life as she has a younger sister with special needs. She lives in Barrington, IL, with her husband, two children and puppy.  In her spare time, she can be found at the local hockey rink supporting her kids or on the golf course.

Connor joined Pillar in 2020 after spending the previous nine years as a commissioned officer in the U.S.  Navy. Connor is a graduate of the Lakeside School in Seattle, and holds a Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics from the United States Naval Academy and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA.

The Pillar team is available to answer questions or to discuss benefit needs. Please feel free to contact us directly:

(206)736-0500 | contact@pillarintl.com