Stephen G. Jepson
CEO

Steve recently joined Crown Benefits Group as their Chief Executive Officer and brings with him more than thirty years of experience in the group insurance field.  He began his career with The Prudential as a Group Sales Representative with assignments in the Allentown and Philadelphia areas before managing Sales offices in Columbus, Ohio and Charlotte, North Carolina.  Steve spent four years in Atlanta, Georgia creating the National Accounts Division where he was directly responsible for managing large, corporate accounts such as The Coca Cola Company, Georgia Pacific, NationsBank, Columbia Pictures, and Federal Express.

In December 1994, Steve joined John Alden Health Insurance Company in Columbus, Ohio as their Vice President of Marketing and Business Development and subsequently held similar positions in Charlotte, North Carolina and Orlando, Florida for the same organization.

In October, 1998, Steve moved to Orchard Park, New York to run large group sales for BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York (BCBSWNY). Less than a year later, he was promoted to Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Buffalo Division ($1.2 billion in Annual Revenue) with direct responsibilities over Commercial and Government Sales, Provider Contracting, Quality Improvement, and Medical Management. In 2004, BCBSWNY received "The Turnaround Award" from the BlueCross BlueShield Association in recognition of the company's significantly improved financial performance and overall membership growth. In January of 2005, Steve managed the actuarial and underwriting functions for all of HealthNow, consisting of BCBSWNY and BlueShield of Northeastern New York with over 900,000 covered lives and annual revenue exceeding $2.1 billion.  Finally, in December of 2006, Steve was selected to run the Major Accounts' Strategic Business Unit responsible for all customer contact/operational areas for the company's largest and most prestigious accounts.

Steve received his Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from Villanova University and his Masters in Business Administration from Drexel University.

Paul J. Accardo
President

Paul is the founder of Crown and serves as the President.  Paul has two decades of employee benefit consulting and administration experience.  In addition to being well versed in all types of plan designs and funding arrangements, he is the architect of the company’s service designs and informational systems.  Paul holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from the State University of New York at Buffalo, as well as a Law Degree from Texas A&M, South Texas School of Law.  He is admitted to the bar associations of both Texas and Washington DC.

Dawn Fitzgerald
Vice President of Finance and Administration

Dawn is responsible for keeping the back-office operations of Crown—accounting; payroll; purchasing; administrative support; and human resources, including benefit programs running smoothly and cost-effectively.  She ensures that company controls/procedures are understood and followed by all employees, and that we have the business tools necessary to service our accounts with maximum effectiveness.  She is the point of contact for most of Crown's vendors, and frequently facilitates communication between the firm and its clients as well.  Dawn has 30 years of progressively responsible experience in administrative and financial management. Prior to joining Crown Benefits Group in 2007, she held similar responsibilities at a certified public accounting practice.  A Western New York native, she attended Niagara County Community College and Niagara University.

Tony Tronolone
Vice President of Sales and Marketing

Tony joined Crown in July 2005 bringing almost two decades of experience working locally and nationally in the self-funded and experience rated health care arena.  Being fully versed on issues such as funding alternatives, Rx strategies, stop loss policies, and benefit implementation; Tony has been very successful working with unions, municipalities, private and public sector clients.  His strong belief in educating management and union leaders on the health care industry, results in jointly designed benefit plans that are tailored to the needs of the group as well as the subscribers themselves.  Tony holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration and Marketing from the State University of NY at Buffalo.

Sharon Malone
Medicare Benefit Specialist

Sharon brought years of experience in Medicare and Medicare Part D to Crown when she joined the company in March of 2007.  Her expertise comes from 9 years of Medicare sales & marketing at Health Now (the parent company of Blue Cross & Blue Shield of WNY).  Sharon’s experience working with employer groups, individuals and seminar presentations is a benefit to Crown as many individuals are becoming eligible for Medicare and unsure of what is available to them either on a group or individual basis.  Sharon’s extensive knowledge with all the companies and the different plans available locally and nationally is an asset to the company as we contemplate the Baby boomer years ahead of us.  Sharon is a WNY native, raised in North Tonawanda, a graduate of NCCC.  She currently resides in North Tonawanda with her husband and two daughters.  

As an Account Executive, Christine brings an extensive background in health insurance sales to Crown.  She joined the company in September 2006 after spending five years at Univera Healthcare (an Excellus Company), consistently increasing her role during her tenure.  Prior to Univera Healthcare, Christine worked for 4 years at Randy Shepard and Associates (Warranty Administrators), as an office manager. Christine is a Western New York Native, born and raised in Depew. She attended Villa Maria and Hilbert Colleges and is currently residing in Lancaster with her husband and children.

Hugh Tranum
Director of Southern Tier Marketing

Has been with Crown since 2008 and is responsible for all aspects of services for Crown's Southern Tier clients. Prior to joining Crown he was Executive Director of the Jamestown Area Labor- Management Committee and President of the National Labor-Management Association. He has extensive labor-management and human resource experience. In addition, he coordinates Crown’s workplace wellness/risk reduction employer services. He is responsible for Crown’s on-line health and wellness and informational newsletters. He has a Master’s Degree in Industrial Labor Relations from West Virginia University and additional training in mediation and conflict resolution.

Other staff members include:

Andrea Hilliard, Customer Service
Sherri Teeto, Customer Service