Advisory Board Member
Health & Voluntary Benefits Association® (HVBA)

Executive Consultant
Coherent

Don has over 30 years of diverse experience across strategy, finance, product development, distribution, marketing, sales, and operations, focusing on Affinity-based programs. Don has managed or partnered across the many functional areas of the insurance industry and is experienced in working with third-party administrators, carriers, brokerages, and other servicing organizations.

Currently, Don is an Executive Consultant focusing on the Insurance industry for Coherent. Coherent is a start-up organization that originated in Asia and opened its US office in early 2021. Don is engaged in strategic customer acquisition, go-to-market strategies, and developing organizational best practices.

In addition to Coherent, Don is the Managing Director of Biggin Solutions, where he works with organizations within the Affinity and Employer Benefits marketplaces.

Before Coherent, Don was a Vice President with Paychex. Don led Paychex’s insurance and 401(K) business organizations. These organizations include both sales and operational functions. The Insurance unit worked with over 27,000 clients with $250M plus revenue and over $3B of carrier premiums. The 401(K) unit worked with over 80,000 clients with $250M plus revenue and managed over $300B of invested assets.

Don has founded, co-founded, or funded the following organizations:

• Advice2Pay – Co-Founder – Insurtech start-up addressing data interoperability and carrier solutions for positive client experiences with payments for Self-Administered Employee benefits products. Acquired by Transamerica in November 2020.

• Accord – Co-Founder – Insurtech start-up addressing Affordable Care Act employer tracking and reporting requirements to the IRS for health programs.

• Zevo – Minority Owner – Insurtech start-up addressing Employee benefits administration.

• Biggin Solutions – Founder – Consulting, and Brokerage firm focuses on niche Affinity-based programs.

• Triangle Solutions – Co-Founder – Consulting, and Brokerage firm focuses on niche Affinity-based programs.

In developing and scaling these organizations, Don has led many critical activities, including strategic planning, partnership/distribution development, sales, client management, program delivery, and renewals.

Before these opportunities, Don served as Managing Director and President of Employee Benefits for Marsh US Consumer, a division of Marsh & McLennan Companies. In this role, his responsibilities included all aspects of the business, including P&L, growth initiatives for organic and inorganic efforts, Sales, Account Management, Product Development, Strategic Planning, and Partnering for $1.5 + billion in premium placements with his business. In this role, Don led the giant broker-produced Auto & Home book of business for Fortune 1000 Employers in the United States.

Prior to this role, Don was the Chief Strategy Officer for Global Consumer, which included Strategic Planning, Program and Project Execution and Management, and overall business alignment across the globe. Don was responsible for the growth, development, and delivery across the six business verticals; Employers, Associations, Franchise, High Net Worth, Brands, and Business Process Outsourcing. In the facilitation of this role, Don built the Lean Sigma Organization and was responsible for over 400 initiatives annually across US Consumer’s new products, services, and revenues that supported more than $5.5 billion in premium placement annually. These efforts were managed and delivered by creating a streamlined client acquisition model and implementation toolset introduced and utilized globally. In addition to these roles with Marsh, Don was a Director of the Marsh Insurance and Investment Corporation (MIIC) Board.

Don is very active in the community and works for those in need. In 2009 while at Marsh, Don created the Marsh Annual Charity Golf Event; through 2020, the event has raised more than $1,500,000 for local community charities. Don is co-founder of the Des Moines-based 100 Men on a Mission which has created and awarded over $500,000 to local charities in the Des Moines, Iowa, metro.

Additionally, along with his wife, Dr. Jodi Cahalan, Don established the Cahalan Scholarship Fund with Des Moines University and the College of Health Sciences and the Cahalan Scholarship Fund with North Iowa Area Community College to assist with financial aid for students from north Iowa.

Don is a past chairman of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Iowa and START Heart Walk in Des Moines and a past member of the Development Committee for the Des Moines University Glanton Minority Scholarship Foundation and Sacred Heart School Board in West Des Moines, Iowa.

Don graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with his BA in Management, Finance, and Administrative Management.