Our Team
Rand Williams
Managing Partner
rand@thesoringroup.com
919-719-5375
Rand has more than ten years of experience in the employee benefits arena and is the visionary with regard to Healthcare Reform, Benefit Admin and HR IT Solutions, and ACA Compliance services. Rand brings a combination of youth and experience to The Sorin Group. Prior to becoming our managing partner, he worked with a family-owned local employee benefits firm for seven years, and he has been in the industry since graduating college in 2005. He takes a business consultant’s approach to employee benefit program design, implementation, and ongoing support. He would insist that The Sorin Group not be called “insurance brokers” or “insurance agents” because our holistic approach provides clients with solutions that produce bottom-line results and help them achieve their unique goals. This can be accomplished with a customized and consultative process using employee feedback, creativity, and improved efficiencies, all while remaining compliant with the ever-changing laws. This process allows for improved employee retention, satisfaction, and productivity that is directly related to an employee’s benefit package and the ongoing support we strive to provide. Rand is a Raleigh native and a graduate of the College of Charleston where he played on the golf team and competed against many of today’s PGA tour players. His wife Katherine owns a local fitness and wellness studio called CORE in the downtown Raleigh area. Rand and Katherine have a 2 year old son “Jack” and their daughter “Kate” joined them in early August 2016.
Ed Williams
Advisor
ed@thesoringroup.com
919-719-5372
Ed brings 35 plus years of experience in the industry to The Sorin Group. He has spent his entire career in insurance brokerage and financial advisory consulting. His primary focus has always been helping business owners and HR with their employee benefits, insurance, and executive/ownership benefit needs. Ed enjoys working with closely held companies and family owned businesses where he can develop a long term relationship with multiple generations of ownership and management within a business. His experience, personalized approach, and knowledge as it relates to executive planning and business continuity make him a valuable resource for The Sorin Group clients. Ed graduated from Wake Forest University and grew up in North Carolina. He is married with two boys.
Rod Garnas
Consultant
rod@thesoringroup.com
919-848-7770
Rod is a seasoned consultant/broker with more than 25 years of employee benefit experience. Rod’s approach is to “sit in the chair” of the decision maker and analyze the benefit package from their side of the deck and consult from that vantage point. Rod looks at the big picture of health care reform and helps decipher how decisions made today will affect the client in the years to come. Rod was previously CEO of Empire Insurance Services and merged his agency with The Sorin Group in 2010. Rod, a graduate of Iowa State University, and his wife Kim have a son Reynolds. His interests are flying, running and reading.
Ed Thompson
Consultant
edthompson@thesoringroup.com
704-562-2831
Ed comes to The Sorin Group with a broad background of more than 30 years in employee benefits. He joined his father’s insurance business shortly after graduating from Wake Forest University. After the company was acquired, Ed chose to expand his horizons by working on the carrier side for several years. During that time, more and more of his employer clients had a greater interest in brainstorming with Ed about the broader picture of managing their employee benefits rather than just discussing one or two facets of the program. It was then that Ed realized his true calling was in consulting. Few things make Ed happier than sitting down with an employer and finding out about his or her background, the mission of the company, the culture of its staff, and the goals that management has set in order to attract and retain the best employees. With Ed’s wide range of knowledge and ability to think outside the ubiquitous box, he especially thrives when given the opportunity to provide unique and creative strategies within self-insured programs. These strategies and solutions are intended to accomplish the employers’ goals of providing well-rounded benefits to employees while still reversing the proverbial cost curve rather than just bending it. Raised in northern Virginia, Ed has called North Carolina home for 20 years. He and his wife have two daughters and live in Pinehurst with their Great Pyrenees rescue.
John Geddie
Consultant
johng@thesoringroup.com
919-848-7770
John’s insurance career started in 1998 right out of college with the MassMutual Financial Group. Three years later he formed Glenwood Benefit Advisors, an employee benefits brokerage, and merged this business with The Sorin Group in July 2011. Working with small and mid-sized businesses, John excels in listening to clients’ objectives and frustrations and developing creative, problem-solving strategies that address their needs. John is a graduate of North Carolina State University with a B.S. in Accounting and lives in Raleigh with his wife and twin boys.
Gary Roscoe
HR Advisor
gary@thesoringroup.com
919-791-8448
Gary offers 30 years’ experience in HR/Compliance, serving a wide variety of industries and company cultures. This experience has culminated in helping companies develop the HR strategies and skills to make better hiring decisions; keep employees satisfied with their work life; improve supervisors’ ability to manage consistently, communicate effectively, and exhibit the care that enhances morale, productivity and your bottom line—all while keeping an eye on compliance issues.
Lynne Goodman
Account Manager
Lynne@thesoringroup.com
919-719-5373
Nancy Sodano
Account Manager
nancy@thesoringroup.com
919-719-5371
Ashley Lucisano
Account Manager
ashley@thesoringroup.com
919-719-5380
Mary Stein
Account Manager
mary@thesoringroup.com
919-747-6993
Christa Sturdevant
Special Projects Manager and Open Enrollment Coordinator
christa@thesoringroup.com
919-249-9661
Christa is by far the most educated team member at The Sorin Group. Prior to joining us, Dr. Christa Sturdevant obtained her B.A. in Molecular Biology and a B.S. in Corporate Finance with a concentration in Marketing from Lehigh University. Shortly after, she earned her Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from UNC Chapel Hill and spent two years in the lab working for Duke University in AIDS research before becoming a mother in 2014. You might ask what her background has to do with employee benefits and the answer would be absolutely nothing. Christa realized her biggest passion was to be a mother but she also wanted to pursue rewarding work with flexible hours which was very difficult to obtain in the lab/research arena. We immediately realized that her diverse and impressive background combined with her business and people skills would make her a great asset for The Sorin Group. Christa assists our clients with data analysis and benchmarking behind the scenes, HR systems and Benefit Admin IT system implementation, and overall open-enrollment coordination and support. She also assists with helping clients customize, implement, and manage wellness programs tailored to their organization’s unique goals. Christa and her husband Dan live in Raleigh with their daughter Elsa Claire who is now two years old.