meet our team of experts
and advisors
Tedd Meyer
Director

Tedd Meyer
Director
Tedd brings more than seven years of experience in proposal development, program management, and process improvement to Newcleus. As Regional Managing Director, Tedd is responsible for engaging new clients, servicing existing clients, providing cutting edge solutions, and refining processes in order to better benefit them.
Prior to Newcleus, Tedd worked as a Sales Associate at Meyer-Chatfield Credit Union Division. Before that, Tedd was a Project Manager at Northrop Grumman, leading management of programs ranging from $50-$100 million, and participated on proposal development for programs ranging from $500-$1,000 million.
Tedd is a graduate of the University of Alabama, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems, and a Masters degree in Operations Management. He is an avid golfer and holds the Series 66, 7, and Life and Health Licenses.
John Moreno
Managing Partner

John Moreno
Managing Partner
John has been serving the needs of credit unions and their members since 1999. His career in the movement began with CUNA Mutual Group as a face-to-face financial advisor. Following that start in the Credit Union industry, he moved to Madison, Wisconsin to work with Members Capital Advisors in the institutional client service, marketing and sales.
After his time at MCA, he re-joined CUNA Mutual Group as a specialist in non-qualified deferred compensation plans and non-703 investments. After leading his division in client acquisition and service for 4 consecutive years, John joined Meyer-Chatfield to bring truly innovative institutional investment and insurance solutions from the large bank market and insurance market to credit unions.
Glenn Smeraglio
Business Development Manager

Glenn Smeraglio
Business Development Manager
Glenn Smeraglio started his financial services career in 1995 with The Creative Financial Group in Newtown Square, PA. He worked specifically with business owners to develop business continuation and estate plans. After seven years honing his craft, Glenn moved on to work with National Life and the Shevlin Group for five years.
In 2007, along with two long time colleagues, Glenn formed Wealth Planning Strategies located in his hometown of Newtown, PA. WPS was a comprehensive one stop shop for business owners and individuals to plan their financial future. Glenn joined Meyer Chatfield in 2016 and helped to create the foundation for the Credit Union Division. As Manager of Business Development, Glenn still uses his specific skills to cultivate relationships and connect leaders in the credit union space to ideas and products unmatched in the industry.
Since 1995 I have enjoyed working with people in finding solutions to their individual financial needs. After joining Meyer Chatfield CU Division in 2016 I have had the pleasure of speaking with and helping leaders of this industry in forming plans that lead to the continuation of strong community values rooted in the credit union space. I have melded my passion for golf and fishing into a way to spend more time with these leaders to further understand their specific future concerns. I have a one grown son and have been happily married to my wife Colleen for 31 years.
Our executive team
Daniel L. Barbaree
President and CEO

Daniel L. Barbaree
President and CEO
Dan Barbaree serves as President of Newcleus, the preferred national provider of benefit and insurance administration formed from the combination of Bank Financial Services Group and Meyer-Chatfield Group. Dan leads the development of the organization by ensuring foundational philosophies and first-class servicing standards remain upheld. His supervision ensures all departments meet their goals in alignment with Newcleus’ vision and the needs of the ever-evolving marketplace.
Dan’s career began as a consultant working with various financial and technology companies in the Tri-State area. He began working at JPMorgan Chase in 2002 and was later appointed as the Senior Financial Manager for the Home Equity and Capital Markets IT businesses, overseeing $150 million in expenses and $350 million in resources. In February of 2008, Dan joined BFS Group as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer where his role played an integral part in the development and growth of BFS Group’s national sales team and back office support in Newtown. In 2013, he was named President of BFS Group.
Dan is licensed for life and health insurance in over 40 States and also holds his Series 6 and Series 63 securities licenses.
Kamel Boulos
EVP, Chief Operating Officer

Kamel Boulos
EVP, Chief Operating Officer
Kamel Boulos is Newcleus’ Chief Operating Officer, responsible for overseeing all aspects of the company’s operations and information technology. A strategic business leader with over 25 years of operations and IT success in financial services, his past accomplishments include improving operational efficiency and delivering innovative technology solutions that drive growth, increase profitability and improve customer experience.
As CTO for Strong Home Mortgage, a non-bank mortgage lender, Kamel enhanced the sales technology that led to the attainment of revenue goals. By streamlining operations, he increased efficiency which enabled rapid company growth.
Prior to Strong Home Mortgage, he was CTO for ClosingCorp where he oversaw the development and management of their proprietary data platform that handled a third of all US residential mortgage applications. Kamel designed and implemented operational processes to provide exceptional customer service and support some of the largest mortgage lenders in the country.
Kelly Gates
SVP, Director of Strategic Marketing

Kelly Gates
SVP, Director of Strategic Marketing
Kelly serves as SVP, Director of Strategic Marketing for Newcleus. She is a performance-driven strategy and business transformation professional with a record of achievement and strategic leadership in overcoming diverse business challenges. As a strategy leader at Newcleus, she fosters innovation and designs integrated marketing and business growth strategies to support the sales and business development teams. She has 30+ years of experience working with companies of all sizes, from start-ups to Fortune 500, and across multiple industries, including financial services, professional services and high-tech product businesses.
As Project Faculty for The Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania), Kelly mentored teams of MBA candidates who consulted with real-world, paying client companies to identify and resolve their business challenges. She taught undergraduate marketing as an Adjunct Professor at Widener University.
Kelly earned her MBA from Widener and a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing from The University of Tulsa. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the German-American Chamber of Commerce, Philadelphia.
Richard Pearson
EVP, Chief Client Officer

Richard Pearson
EVP, Chief Client Officer
Rich is a graduate of Lehigh University, class of 2003 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Information Systems. He went on to hold positions with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals as the Client Services Support Leader and with The Vanguard Group as a Web Support Specialist.
Rich joined BFS Group in 2006, and has worked in various departments including roles within Design & Analysis, Client Service and Information Technology. In October of 2014, Rich was appointed Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of BFS Group, a role he continued to serve under Newcleus.
Currently, as Chief Client Officer, Rich oversees all enterprise resource management systems, which include Newcleus MINTS, processes related to compliance, new business and benefit plan servicing.
Christopher J. Pezalla
EVP, Chief Product Officer

Christopher J. Pezalla
EVP, Chief Product Officer
Chris Pezalla serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer of Newcleus, a national executive benefits and BOLI/COLI consulting firm.
With his extensive background in life, annuity and investment products, taxation, regulatory compliance, accounting methodologies and actuarial modeling, Chris works with Newcleus’ clients to design, implement, and administer executive benefit plans and financing strategies. He also manages insurance carrier relationships and works to design new products and strategies. For example, our proprietary LINQS+ strategy provides lifetime retirement benefits for a fixed expense, and the Titanium plan transfers the plan liability off the sponsor’s balance sheet and provides the executive more control of their benefits. Being an industry thought leader, recently he has been called upon by the FFIEC to participate in the Emerging Issues Conferences and assist in educating the national banking regulators on bank and credit union-owned life insurance.
Prior to working in the executive benefits and BOLI/COLI space, Chris has worked for three insurance carriers in a variety of actuarial roles including financial reporting, asset liability modeling, product development, marketing, underwriting, and administration.
Having graduated from the University of Minnesota at Morris with a BA degree in Statistics and Economics, Chris received his master’s degree in Actuarial Science from the University of Iowa. He also is a fellow in the Society of Actuaries (FSA), and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries (MAAA). He has his FINRA series 7 and 63, and life insurance licenses.
Our core staff

Jonathan Barnes
VP, Non-Qualified Benefits

Bill Barr
Network Administrator

Shera Brady
AVP, Dir, of System Ops and Project Management

Mike Bruschini
VP, Account Executive

Kevin Burns
SVP, Director of IT

Tara Canniff
AVP, Director of Policy Services

Michael Carman
Account Executive

Melissa D’Amico
Director of Compliance and Agent Operations

Amy Feminella
Director of Engagement

Mark Grant
SVP, Non-Qualified

Sarah Grutka
Manager of Marketing Ops, Events and Hospitality

Yul Hawkins
Account Executive

Amanda Hoffman
VP, Account Executive

Steve Kezel
Jr. Software Developer
Judy Magee
Director of Human Resources

Judy Magee
Director of Human Resources
Judy Magee’s career has spanned many different industries and environments – small start-up to large employers, and these experiences have been key to me being adaptable and ready to help change your organizational culture.
I’ve worked in all different kinds of HR environments – departments of 1 to departments of over 100. I’ve established brand new HR departments, changed departments from transactional to strategic and partnered with leaders to do the hard work of changing a culture and improving employee relations and DEI. I love starting and developing HR teams – I put together great ones!
One topic I am super passionate about – explaining how DEI and HR intersect and the changes every organization can make to reduce bias and develop an inclusive culture by making the systemic changes necessary to bring lasting change.

Dolores Marinucci
Accounting Support Associate

Brian McCracken
SVP, Director of Administration

Karen Reed
Sr. Accounting Specialist

Jill Ricci
Business Development Manager

Andrea Sandlin
Account Executive

Dave Schwartz
VP, Account Executive

Adrianna Stefani
Policy Servicing Associate

Joe Verrecchio
Benefit Design Specialist

Jared Watson
Account Executive

Rachel Wentz
VP, Account Executive
COME JOIN OUR TEAM
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