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People moves: IMT adds Hanraads and Cook to Global Risk & Benefits Practice. July 16, 2026 IMA Financial Group has expanded its Global Risk & Benefits leadership team with the appointment of two national practice leaders, strengthening the firm's ability to support multinational organizations seeking coordinated strategies to address risk, employee benefits and compliance across international operations. IMA hired Simone Hanraads as Global Risk Practice Leader for Property and Casualty and Dana Cook as Global Benefits Practice Leader. Together, they bring more than 30 years of combined experience leading insurance and employee benefits programs for organizations with operations worldwide. Hanraads is based in IMA's Pasadena, California, office. Cook is based in the Kansas City market. Hanraads has more than two decades of experience helping multinational organizations navigate complex property and casualty risks. Most recently, she spent 12 years with Lockton's Global Practice, where she led global insurance programs for clients operating across multiple countries. Cook has 30 years of industry experience, including 15 years aligning multinational organizations' employee benefits strategies with business objectives and local market requirements. Most recently, she served in a global leadership role at Lockton, where she was co-chair of client services, overseeing service delivery for clients in the West. IMA continues to invest in the future of its Global Risk & Benefits practice through its curated Preferred Partner model, which provides coordinated service and local expertise in more than 100 countries, and IMA Global LAUNCH, a professional development program that prepares the next generation of global risk and benefits professionals through hands-on experience, coaching and international collaboration. Was this article valuable?

IMA sues Howden over alleged Pacific Northwest team raid. * by Gavin Souter IMA Financial Group has sued Howden and one of its former executives, alleging they orchestrated a raid on IMA's Pacific Northwest marine insurance team and poached clients as part of a broader effort to expand Howden's U.S. operations. In a complaint filed Monday in the U.S. District Court in Portland, Oregon, Parker, Smith & Feek Insurance LLC, IMA Financial Group Inc. and IMA Inc. v. Alexander Hamilton, Howden US Services LLC and Howden US Specialty LLC, IMA alleges that Mr. Hamilton, its former Pacific Northwest marine practice leader, breached contractual and fiduciary obligations by secretly working with Howden while still employed by the brokerage. According to the lawsuit, Mr. Hamilton met with Howden executives during an IMA-funded trip to London in January and later helped coordinate the resignations of six additional IMA marine practice employees. The departures represented more than 60% of IMA's Pacific Northwest marine practice, the complaint alleges. IMA alleges Mr. Hamilton and Howden then solicited IMA clients. The brokerage says that at least four clients, who collectively account for hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual revenue, have since moved their business to Howden. The complaint alleges that Mr. Hamilton breached confidentiality, nonsolicitation and other provisions of his employment contract and that Howden intentionally interfered with those agreements. The lawsuit is one of several similar legal actions filed by rival brokerages, including Marsh, Aon, Brown & Brown, Alliant and Willis Towers Watson, alleging that Howden established its U.S. retail operations last year through coordinated team lift-outs and client solicitation. Howden has denied wrongdoing in several of those cases and has settled others. June 19, 2026

IMA Financial sues former advisor and rival EPIC over alleged client poaching. He quit "effective immediately" - then ten clients followed him out, his old firm says. A Wichita brokerage says a departing advisor diverted its clients to a rival while still being paid by the firm. Now it's suing both. IMA Financial Group filed suit on June 5, 2026, in federal court in Kansas against former employee benefits advisor Ryan Gino Giannini and competitor EPIC Insurance Brokers & Consultants. The complaint says Giannini quit "effective immediately" on May 5, 2026, and alleges he ignored the 30-day notice period his contract required. That notice period is the heart of the case. IMA says Giannini signed a non-solicitation agreement on April 1, 2021, promising "at least thirty (30) days advance written notice" before leaving. During those 30 days, the agreement says, he would "continue to owe a fiduciary obligation and a duty of loyalty" to IMA - a duty to put the firm's interests first. He did the opposite, IMA alleges. About a week before quitting, the filing says, Giannini called at least six clients, told them he was leaving, and gave them his personal contact details. According to the complaint, he told the clients he wished to keep in touch and that there was more to come soon. EPIC, which IMA calls a direct competitor, is accused of inducing and supporting the moves. The complaint describes Giannini as "a covert agent for EPIC" who acted as "a double agent" after resigning - collecting pay from both firms, IMA alleges, while shifting accounts. The tool for that shift, familiar to any brokerage, is the broker of record letter, which tells a carrier who controls a client's coverage. IMA says the change notices came fast. On May 21, 2026, "the floodgates opened," the filing says, with five clients switching in one day. One told IMA, according to the complaint: "we have switched brokers to Epic (with Gino)." IMA says it lost ten clients during the notice period - business it describes as worth "hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost annual revenue," and many of them higher-revenue accounts. Against EPIC, IMA claims tortious interference, saying it notified the firm of Giannini's contract on May 13, 2026, and that EPIC's lawyers "acknowledged awareness of the Agreement" days later but kept him on. IMA also alleges EPIC agreed to cover Giannini's legal exposure, and that the two share a law firm. IMA's four counts include breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, tortious interference, and a "faithless servant" claim seeking to recover the pay Giannini drew during what IMA calls his period of disloyalty. It wants damages, an injunction, and a jury trial. None of this has been tested in court. Giannini and EPIC have not filed a response, and no court has ruled on any of IMA's claims.