This is your life – and you’ve worked hard to build it. The professionals at Wood Gutmann & Bogart Insurance Brokers (WGB) concentrate on helping successful individuals and families protect themselves against the unthinkable.
Because we have helped so many clients with unique and exceptional personal insurance needs, we understand how to structure the most comprehensive protection at a competitive premium. We represent the top carriers in the industry; carriers that understand and specialize in this complex market for personal insurance.
You can expect more from WGB’s Private Client Services team. More insight. More risk management. More services.
*Available at certain policy levels
Executives, celebrities, politicians and athletes of California’s golden coast are among Lisa Doherty’s loyal clientele. She has earned her clients’ trust by living up to a guiding principle: “Always deliver what you’ve promised.” That philosophy now drives the entire private client services division at WGB, a business unit that Lisa has been building and growing since 1998.
Lisa enjoys developing relationships and solving problems for her clients through a collaborative working style that has made her a key advisor for many successful individuals and families. She takes a holistic approach to helping clients complete their financial picture by protecting their assets. She does so by working alongside their other advisors, including wealth managers, financial advisors, private bankers, trust and estate planning attorneys, custom home builders and luxury realtors to ensure that clients have no coverage gaps.
Clients in areas from Silicon Valley to San Diego trust Lisa to insure their expansive luxury estates, their multimillion-dollar jewelry collections and their fine auto fleets. Outside of California, Lisa has earned the trust of clients across the nation and abroad. By studying each client’s unique needs, she is able to recommend risk mitigation strategies that perform well in both domestic and international insurance markets.
She has earned the Certified Advisor of Personal Insurance (CAPI) professional designation, which qualifies her to advise highly successful clients with complex risk management needs. The CAPI program was created by the Aresty Institute of Executive Education at the Wharton School, in conjunction with the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies. Lisa was one of 40 brokers selected for the inaugural class. Lisa is also a member of Provisors executive peer network.
Not many homeowners in the historic French Quarter of New Orleans emerged financially whole after Hurricane Katrina. However, Lupe Erwin's client did, thanks to meticulous planning on Lupe's part. From vineyards to estates, from yachts to private aviation, Lupe has been managing risk for successful and accomplished families across the nation for more than 25 years.
Lupe has skillful expertise in single family office structures, complex residential construction, and domestic staff employment practices, making her an indispensable resource for families with very complicated risk profiles. She also has deep experience in securing coverage for private art collections and regularly provides expert witness testimony for insurance litigation involving fine arts and collections.
Lupe routinely lectures on the principles of risk transference at the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California Irvine, where she is an advisory board member at the school's Center for Investment and Wealth Management.
With all her impressive professional accomplishments, Lupe’s personal dedication to helping her community is what truly sets her apart. She serves on the board of directors for several respected non-profit organizations, including the Segerstrom Rising Leaders Council; FosterAll Los Angeles; and Orangewood Foundation, focused on the needs of emancipated foster youth. Combining her professional clout with her love for helping others, Lupe says one of her proudest moments was securing a corporate scholarship that provided a four-year college education for a deserving young foster girl.
Lupe has earned the Certified Advisor of Personal Insurance (CAPI) professional designation. The CAPI program was created by the Aresty Institute of Executive Education at the Wharton School. This rare certification qualifies insurance professionals to advise highly successful clients with complex risk management needs.
Nikki Brown has two decades of experience developing personal insurance strategies for affluent individuals and family offices with sophisticated needs. Often working closely with her clients’ other advisors, such as wealth managers and estate planners, Nikki creates highly customized insurance solutions for her clientele across the greater Los Angeles area and adjacent areas, including Orange County.
Nikki’s hands-on approach goes far beyond just an annual policy review. While it is common for insurance advisors to attend asset inspections, Nikki has been known to make multiple visits to the site of a client’s luxury estate, during the construction process, to ensure safety features are installed as the home is being built. She has also worked with appraisers and collectibles experts to see that art, jewelry and other personal collections are properly safeguarded, even monitoring the installation and climate control for a valuable series of paintings. It’s this attention to detail that has allowed her to save clients significant money on insurance coverage through strategic risk mitigation. In the process, she has developed a very loyal clientele, often working with multiple generations within the same family.
One trend Nikki has watched very carefully over the years is the continual push toward carrier consolidation. “I strive to make sure my clients aren’t affected by rate changes or a decline in customer service resulting from carrier mergers and acquisitions.”
Throughout her career, which includes several years at Marsh and Willis Towers Watson, Nikki has earned key professional certifications including Certified Insurance Service Representative (CISR) and Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC). She is currently working on her Certified Personal Risk Manager (CPRM) designation. Her free time is spent traveling, scuba diving and hanging out with her kids.
Chris Morales specializes in working with highly successful and accomplished families to protect their valuable assets and future earnings. He also collaborates closely with personal wealth managers, attorneys and other professionals who manage the business affairs of Southern California’s busiest families.
From personal estates and luxury auto coverage, to investment properties and residential apartment complexes, Chris has two decades of experience creating highly tailored asset protection plans. He says that many clients are unknowingly uninsured or underinsured, so he also turns a critical eye toward any gaps in liability coverage that would leave their future income at risk in the event of a claim.
Having started his career at a small agency, Chris learned to service his accounts on every level, viewing himself as a problem solver for the long-term clients who return again and again for all their insurance needs. Now at WGB, Chris is backed by a team of support professionals who deliver comprehensive service to his clients.
Chris has earned the Certified Advisor of Personal Insurance (CAPI) professional designation. The CAPI program was created by the Aresty Institute of Executive Education at the Wharton School, in conjunction with the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies. This rare certification qualifies insurance professionals to advise highly successful clients with complex risk management needs.
Ksenia Muench enjoys working collaboratively with the private clients who trust her to insure their homes, vehicles and valuable collections against undue risk. “Many affluent individuals don’t notice when it’s time to take their insurance coverage to the next level,” she says. “I can explain how we’re going to mitigate their risk in an appropriate manner.”
Ksenia began her insurance career as a product management analyst for the property and casualty division of First American Financial Corp. Her experience in designing and analyzing insurance products provided her with a strong foundation for understanding personal insurance coverage and identifying risk. However, Ksenia is a true “people person” at heart, and she soon discovered that a client-facing role was the right career move for her. Her attention to detail and client-centric approach are just a few personal qualities that are highly valued by the affluent individuals and families she advises. From property coverage to cyber fraud insurance, Ksenia develops highly personalized risk management plans to fit her clients’ specific needs. “Building an open relationship is key to creating the right plan,” she explains. “I like to listen carefully to each client, and develop a plan that’s tailored for them.”
Ksenia holds a master’s degree in business administration from Pepperdine University and a master’s degree in linguistics from Chelyabinsk State University in Russia. She recently earned her Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation.
With three decades of experience in personal insurance, Arnie Taylor has worked both as a Prudential agent and as an independent advisor. For twelve years, he directed the $3.5 million personal lines business at a boutique brokerage in Orange County, where he developed a detailed methodology for assessing clients’ risk. “With thorough worksheets and my own fine-tuned process, I can match a client’s needs against eight or ten insurers who are vying for the business,” he says. “And in the long run, if it’s in their best interest to stay with their current insurance carrier, I’ll advise that.”
If he hadn’t found his calling in the insurance industry, Arnie says he might have been a history teacher. But sharing knowledge is still at the heart of what he does, since his goal is not to act as a salesperson, but to educate clients about their personal risk. He is adamant about writing policies only with A+ rated insurers, because he prides himself upon knowing that clients are covered when a claim arises.
Arnie specializes in lines of coverage including life, long-term care, and kidnap and ransom insurance. He also has deep experience with property coverage including home, luxury auto, aviation and marine insurance. In fact, he insures approximately 50 yachts for his clients just docked in Cabo San Lucas, alone. Arnie is a Registered Financial Consultant (RFC) and a Certified Senior Advisor (CSA).
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