The Coastal Team

Sim Bridges has been a valuable member of the Coastal Insurance team since joining in 2009. Sim is an expert in community associations by having well over 15 years of experience underwriting these classes of business. Sim began as a production underwriter developing relationships with the retail partners of Coastal and developed into an underwriting manager as support to the Coastal underwriting team.

Sim was promoted to the Chief Underwriting Office of the company in 2023 and then later that year was named one of the Presidents of the company. Our agency partners enjoy working with Sim as he brings creative solutions for their individual insureds. Now as president of Coastal, Sim is working with our carrier partners to use that creativity to bring new product into new territories and expand our product offerings to our existing brokers.

• sbridges@ciuins.com
• (904) 395-5912

Kim is President and Chief Operating Officer. She focuses on business development, sales and marketing, building partnerships with their carriers/ reinsurers and retail agents, program implementation, and identifying business system enhancement opportunities.

She joined Coastal in 2012. She began her insurance career as a commercial underwriter later focused on creating insurance products and program implementation. Kim is a graduate of Florida State University and completed dual degrees in Finance and Risk Management & Insurance. She also holds a master’s in science in Insurance Management from Boston University

In 2017, Kim was named one of Insurance Business America's "Top 125 Elite Women of the Insurance Industry". Kim’s dedication to excellence and leadership is integral to driving Coastal’s mission and future success.

• kbushong@ciuins.com
• (904) 834-4754

Michele is second generation insurance (her mother is also a CPCU) and started her career in the insurance industry when she was 18. She has worked in insurance agencies, a carrier, and now a program manager which has provided her with a wholistic view of the industry, having seen it from all angles. Michele joined Coastal in 2013

Michele has experience both commercial lines as well as personal lines and has technical knowledge in both. Her key talents include a training prowess which proves very helpful to our agency force, as she can very easily and clearly communicate our products and use of our website tools.

Michele is also an instructor for The National Alliance and is a CE-Licensed instructor in all 50 states.

• mortiz@ciuins.com
• (904) 834-4747

As personal lines program manager, Shannon is responsible for spearheading business development and product development of our personal lines programs. With more than 20+ years of experience, she brings a wealth of knowledge related to personal lines risk analysis, policy forms, and agency plant distribution strategy. Shannon is a unique asset to the Coastal team given her country-wide experience with personal lines products to include automobile, homeowners, condominium, scheduled property, umbrella, and dwelling fire. She has found success by building long term agency relationships with key agency partners to promote sustained profitability, aid retention, and maintain underwriting integrity. Her strengths include decisive underwriting action, thorough understanding of policy coverage, and effective communication. Shannon joined the Coastal team in 2023.

• scini@ciuins.com
• 904-861-2890

Alison Strother joined Coastal in 2014 and has over 30 years experience in the insurance industry, encompassing a variety of products and responsibilities. She has worked with a wide-range of small to large premium accounts. Some of Alison’s strengths include risk analysis, agency relationship skills, multi-tasking, and quickly assimilating new products and coverages. Alison has her AU, ASLI, ARM and CPCU designations among others.

• astrother@ciuins.com
• (904) 834-4753

Nick has over 17 years experience working with commercial insurance as an underwriter. His background includes a variety of coverages from property, liability, inland marine, auto, umbrella, crime and professional. Nick also has experience collaborating with agents on renewals to help maintain retention for both the agent and the company.

He joined Coastal in 2015 and his underwriting experience has proven to be a great asset to Coastal and we are pleased to have him on our team, helping to provide high quality resources for your agency needs.

• nsanzotta@ciuins.com
• (904) 395-5910

John earned his Risk Management degree from Florida State University in 2002 and has since gained experience both in retail insurance sales and underwriting/marketing operations on the Program Administrator side.

John joined the Coastal team in 2010 and works with our retail agent principals on strengthening Agency relations and with our carrier partners to build strong, lasting relationships. He is regularly looking for opportunities for Coastal to improve their distribution model and training new Agency partners on our products, underwriting appetite and workflow.

• jcotton@ciuins.com
• (904) 442-2955

Scott joined Coastal in 2017 and has over 20 years experience working in the insurance industry. Since most of Scott’s experience is at the carrier level, his understanding and perspective for growth and loss trends gives him a healthy understanding of risk and what it takes to write profitable business for both Coastal and the agent. Some of Scott’s keen skills include analysis, compliance management, agency relationship building, vendor systems, and state regulations and forms knowledge.

• sancil@ciuins.com
• (904) 395-5913

Alex started her career with Coastal in 2018 by interning in the summer while still completing her degree. Using the skills gained through studying quantitative economics, Alex has proved a great asset in contributing to our predictive analytics tools. A high level of attention to detail and ability to track trending, sets Alex on her path to successful underwriting of our niche business. Alex is also skilled at using a statistical cube to analyze our internal loss triangles and historical loss experience to gain useful insight.

• aunderwood@ciuins.com
• (904) 395-5911

Marianne started her insurance career in 2003 and joined Coastal in 2023. Although Marianne’s specialty has mainly been in the Personal Lines insurance arena, she has honed a wealth of skills relating to supervising, underwriting, training, auditing, rating, agency management and program development. You will find that working with Marianne lends itself to easy conversation, intentional feedback, well researched findings, and studied analysis.

Marianne also values furthering her education and staying on top of industry trends, as you can see from her designation and accreditations listing below. Marianne brings another Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation to our well qualified team here at Coastal.

• mchance@ciuins.com
• (904) 395-5815

Veonca began her insurance career in 2000. With 24 years of expertise, she has managed high-value accounts and agency operations. She has a proven track record overseeing a book of business exceeding $50 million, with a specialization in condominiums and homeowners’ association portfolios. Veonca is skilled in client relationship management, strategic growth, and delivering tailored solutions to meet the complex needs of commercial clients.

Having worked as an agent for 24 years, Veonca brings a deep understanding of what agents need to succeed and effectively support their clients. She has experience in managing and training teams of diverse skill levels, ensuring top performance within the commercial insurance sector. Currently pursuing continuing education, she stays updated with industry best practices, demonstrating a commitment to both professional growth and exceptional service.

• vdelancy@ciuins.com
• 904-799-2718

Denyel started in the insurance industry in 2004 as a CSR and eventually moved to the role of agent for personal lines accounts. In 2012 she transitioned to personal lines underwriting where she worked with her agencies/agents to grow their personal lines book. She also developed and rolled out a self inspection program and worked on automating the underwriting process.

Denyel has recently transition to commercial lines at Coastal and is excited for the opportunity to work with our agents. She is in the process of starting her journey towards earning her CPCU designation.

• dwohlfehrt@ciuins.com
• (904) 428-0633

Heidi has been working with Coastal since 2010. Heidi is extremely efficient in her processing skills and document delivery. Heidi has a tremendous eye for detail and workflow. Heidi is very dedicated to providing our agents with quality and timeliness.

• hgruber@ciuins.com
• (904) 567-3972

Toni has a diverse background on both the carrier side and the agency side of the house, over the course of her 40+ years of experience. She has years of experience with claims, marketing, account management, and renewal underwriting.

She joined the Coastal team in 2009. Our agents prize Toni for her generous and attentive helpfulness.

• arobbins@ciuins.com
• (904) 395-5914