Starkweather & Shepley CEO, CFO retiring

LEADERSHIP CHANGES HAVE been announced at Starkweather & Shepley Insurance Brokerage Inc. in East Providence, involving, from left to right, Larry Keefe, David Soforenko and Nat Calamis, president and CEO. Calamis is retiring at the end of the year, and Keefe will take over as chairman and CEO effective Jan. 1. Soforenko, who has lead the sales  team for the past six years, will become president and chief operating officer. / COURTESY STARKWEATHER & SHEPLEY INSURANCE BROKERAGE INC.
LEADERSHIP CHANGES HAVE been announced at Starkweather & Shepley Insurance Brokerage Inc. in East Providence, involving, from left to right, Larry Keefe, David Soforenko and Nat Calamis, president and CEO. Calamis is retiring at the end of the year, and Keefe will take over as chairman and CEO effective Jan. 1. Soforenko, who has lead the sales team for the past six years, will become president and chief operating officer. / COURTESY STARKWEATHER & SHEPLEY INSURANCE BROKERAGE INC.

EAST PROVIDENCE – After more than 70 years of collective work at Starkweather & Shepley Insurance Brokerage Inc., both the firm’s president and CEO and its chairman and chief financial officer will retire at the end of this year, the company announced.
Nat Calamis, president and CEO, and William McGillivray, chairman and chief financial officer, will retire from the insurance firm at year’s end. Starting Jan. 1 of next year, company veterans Larry Keefe and David Soforenko will take over as chairman and CEO and president and chief operating officer, respectively.
A spokesman said the company would announce a new chief financial officer in the near future.
“Bill and I have worked very closely with Larry and David, and we are proud to hand over the reins to these two great, experienced leaders,” Calamis said in a prepared statement.
Calamis will leave the company after more than 35 years working there, according to the company website. McGillivray has worked for the 137-year-old firm for more than 37 years, according to the website.
S&S Insurance is Rhode Island’s largest independent insurance agency, according to PBN research, with 205 employees. The firm has offices in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Florida.
Keefe, also with 37 years of experience working at the firm, has held several different leadership positions within the organization, most recently executive vice president, according to a press release.
“I am both honored and privileged by this leadership opportunity,” he said in a statement. “Nat and Bill have remarkably positioned Starkweather thoughtfully and fiscally for the future and for our firm’s most valued assets, our clients and our associates. For this, we thank them.”
Keefe says he looks forward to the “continued transition, succession and future,” of the firm.
Soforenko, who with 21 years at the company is the most junior employee of the bunch, has lead the sales team for the past six years. Soforenko says he and Keefe plan to work hard to live up to the quality of their predecessors.
“Larry and I are very fortunate to have been mentored by Nat and Bill, two game changers in the Starkweather legacy,” he said. “We will work hard to match their passion and vision.”

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