Our Local Management Team

Jeffrey S. Polunas, MSFS, CLU, ChFC, CLTC Chief Operating Officer & Corporate Vice President

As Chief Operating Officer, I am responsible for the day-to-day operation of the General Office. I joined New York Life in March of 1985. After qualifying for Council, I was appointed as Training Supervisor in the Northern Ohio General Office in 1987. I have also been a Sales Manager/Partner at the Shaker Heights General Office and a Training Supervisor, once again, at Northern Ohio General Office, after a merger of three offices. During 1994, I was on the original committee to rewrite the entire New York Life Training program which has since evolved into NYLIC University. In 1996, I was one of the original  5 Life Consultants appointed for the company and then was appointed Sr. Sales Development Manager in the San Diego General Office in 1998.  Jeff, joined the Greater San Francisco General office in 2008.



Connie L. Vargas, FLMI, ACS, AIAA, AIRC, ARA,
UND Corporate Vice President – General Office Administration

Connie began her career with New York Life in 1977.  As CVP of the Greater San Francisco General Office which is one of the largest operations in the company, Connie’s current responsibilities include the management of the day-to-day operations of the four locations that create the Greater San Francisco General Office.Over the course of her 31 years with New York Life, Connie has had the opportunity to work in four General Offices of the company which has allowed her to bring with her expertise in many areas.  She takes pride in her customer service that she provides to her clients, agents, fellow management and staff. Connie has been married to her husband Tino for the past 31 years.  She is an avid reader and enjoys spending time with her family. 
 

Kinh H. Lam
Senior Partner

Kinh Lam came to the United States in 1979 and opened a successful restaurant in San Francisco. In November of 1986 he joined the New York Life Insurance Company as an agent in the San Mateo General Office. For 5 consecutive years, Kinh qualified for Million Dollar Round Table and earned President's Council 4 times and Executive Council twice as an agent. In May of 1995, Kinh was appointed as a Sales Manager and was awarded the Pacific Agencies Leader Award in 1995 and 1996. In 1999 he won the National Recruiting Award. In 2000, Kinh was promoted to Senior Partner for the Santa Clara Sales Office. Among his many achievements is the Zone Chairmans Award and the Life Trophy award. Kinh lives with his wife Michelle, son Jeff and daughter Natasha in Hillsborough, California.



Agnes Lam
Senior Partner
Agnes joined New York Life in April of 1993 after a successful career in the banking industry as a Vice President. She achieved Executive Council in the first three months of her career and qualified for MDRT and Premier Executive Council every year thereafter. Three years later, she joined the management team and was promoted to Senior Partner in 2007. Agnes recruits and retains quality agents and helps to build a successful office. Among her many accomplishments, she has received the Recruiter of the Year Award,Top 25 Manager Award, and in 2005 finished number 4 in the company. Agnes is very active in the  Chinese American Women Business League of San Francisco, the Chinese Historical Society, Asian Business League of San Francisco and the American Business League.



Ashwani K. Rana
Senior Partner

Ashwani joined New York Life in 1997. In his first two years, Ashwani became a successful agent earning Executive and President's council and a member of the Million Dollar Round table. In 2000, Ashwani became a Sales Manager in our Fremont office and three years later was promoted to Managing Partner of the Central Coast office of New York Life. In 2005, he joined the Greater San Francisco Office as a Senior Partner. Ashwani, his wife Kathleen and their 3 children reside in Pleasanton. Among his many accomplishments are the National Recruiting, LTC and National Agency awards.








Margarita Abadilla, LUTCF
Senior Partner

As Senior Partner of the Greater San Francisco General Office Margarita's experience as a leader is well documented. Married for 21 years, she and her husband, also a New York Life Agent, have 5 children. Margarita earned her Bachelors of Science in Commerce in 1977. She earned her Post Graduate degree from the University Of Ateneo, Manila Philippines in 1980. She joined New York Life in 1999, where she earned Executive Premier Council, MDRT agent in 2002 and earned her LUTCF designation in 2003. In 2001, Margarita became a Partner in the Santa Clara Office and was promoted to Senior Partner in 2008. 





 
Amin H Ladak, CLU
Partner 

As Partner of the Greater San Francisco General Office, Amin's personal experience of over 22 years has been evidenced by his success in the Life Insurance and Financial Services Marketplace. Born in East Africa, educated in England, Amin moved to the US in 1984. Over the years he has earned his Chartered Life Underwriting (CLU) designation, his Series 6,7,9,10,26,63,66 and has been a consistent MDRT Court of the Table producer. Among his greatest achievements has been his work to develop and lead General Insurance Agencies and most recently with Northwestern Mutual Financial Network in San Jose, CA where he earned the General Agency Growth award, Agency Production Award, GAMA IMA Platinum level Award. Amin joined The New York Life in 2008.



Cindy C. Ngai
Partner

Cindy Ngai joined New York Life Insurance Company as an agent in December of 2000 in the San Mateo General Office.  Under the New York Life Insurance Company training system, she had great success and qualified for different outstanding performance awards during her years as an agent.  In 2002 and 2003, she qualified for Executive Council.  In 2002 she earned the Life Superstar award and club 21 and Centurion awards.  In addition, in 2004 she qualified as a member of the Million Dollar Round Table and that same year, she was promoted as a Partner in San Mateo General Office.  As a recruiter,she qualified two times as a Pacific Zone Breakthrough Recruiting Winners Award and Outstanding Achievement in Chinese Market Recruiting. Cindy graduated from San Francisco State University and earned her Bachelor degree in Marketing.  Currently, she and her husband, John live in Daly City.




Nhan Q. Nguyen
Partner

Nhan joined the New York Life in 2004 after working as an Software Engineer for 4 years. Nhan, graduated with a BS degree in Computer Science from UCLA in 2000.

As a New York Life agent for 3 and Half years Nhan achieved:

Agent of the year in 2004, 2006 and 2007. Million Dollar Round Table: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007.

Council: President Council 2004, Executive Council 2005, President Council 2006.

 Nhan was promoted to  Partner in Nov 2008, and is married with 2 children and resided in Alameda City.

Lien Bui
Partner
Lien is a partner in the Santa Clara Office. Lien's career started as an agent in 2005 and she achieved Executive Council in 2006, 2007. In 2007 Lien was promoted to Partner and achieved the Top Winner #1 in the Pacific Zone of “Gathering of Eagles Award. In addition, Lien was Pro-rata for Centurion 2007, Pro-rata MDRT Aspirant, 2006 Leader of the class (Class of 2005) Life Stars Individual Life Award 2007, Career Life Producer Award and Career Life Success Award. Lien has a BA degree in Economics, Trinity College, National and State Honoree of the Prudential Community Service Award representing the District of Columbia.

Jack Benary, CLU, CFP, CAP

Edward K Humphrey, MBA, MSFS, CLU, ChFC, CASL, LUTCF
Senior Director of Training

Ed has been with New York Life since 1980. In 1983, Ed became a training manager and is now a Senior Sales Development Manager serving our San Mateo office. Ed graduated from the University of California and has an MBA. He is married with 5 children and is Fluent in both French and Spanish.






J. Whit Sanning, CLU, ChFC
Senior Sales Development Manager

Whit joined NYL as an agent in the Lexington, KY General Office after a career in computer sales. He also served as the Technical Assistance Program Consultant for the Lexington & Louisville, KY, General Offices. He was in Memphis as the Development Manager since 1994, obtaining his Chartered Life Underwriter degree in 1997 and Chartered Financial Consultant in 1998. He has joined the Greater San Francisco General office as a Senior Sales Development Manager, working primarily out of our Fremont Sales Office. A graduate of Washington and Lee University with a degree in Economics, he has been active in soccer, as both a player and coach. He has two children, and lives with his wife in the Los Gatos area

 

Jerry Kwan, CLU, LUTCF
Sales Development Manager

Jerry started his career with NYL as an agent in January of 2001 and was an Executive Council member and MDRT member for 3 ½ years. Jerry was promoted to Sales Development Manager in May 2005. Jerry, his wife and daughter live in South San Francisco. Jerry's passion is to travel the world with his family and working with agents to help them build a successful career with NYL.

Lilwyn Pascua, LUTCF
Development Manager

As a Development Manager Lilwyn helps agents increase their knowledge of Life Insurance and other products. She started her career 7 years ago as an agent in the Santa Clara office. In her career with New York Life, Lilwyn worked within her community and every year achieved the centurion award by placing 100 or more life cases. From 2002 till 2007 she achieve Executive Council. In 2008, she became the Development Manager for the Santa Clara office. Lilywn lives in San Jose, graduated from San Jose State University with a BSBA and has been married for 15 years and has 2 children.






Anthony Conde, CLU, ChFC, CASL, CLTC, LUTCF
Market Development Director

As Marketing Development Director, I am in charge of ensuring that New York Life and its agents are well positioned to market themselves and to maintain our commitment to the communities we serve. Our position of Strength, Integrity and Humanity are the cornerstone of everything we do. We are committed to our communities and to our policyholders. Tony joined New York Life in 2000 in the San Diego General Office, in 2001 was promoted to the Idaho General Office as Sales Development Manager, and then in 2007 to the Inland Empire General Office as Director of Development. In 2008, Tony was promoted to the Greater San Francisco Office as Marketing Development Director and now serves the  Downtown SF, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Fremont Offices.