About Us

Tim Kanter – President

2024 will be a milestone year for Tim, as this year he will celebrate his daughter Megan’s 20^th birthday, he and his wife Angela’s 25^th wedding anniversary, and his 30^th anniversary in the insurance industry. He got started in insurance as a junior in high school when he was hired as an assistant to an insurance agent. Since then, he has worked for major insurance carriers in underwriting, customer service, and sales. This experience gives him a unique perspective when it comes to finding answers and products that will work best for his clients. Tim also serves as the president of California Agents and Health Insurance Professionals (CAHIP), which is California’s arm of the National Association of Benefits and Insurance Professionals (NABIP) – an organization that works to ensure all Americans have access to high-quality, affordable healthcare. He is passionate about helping people find the right insurance plans, installing ceiling fans across the globe, and helping support worthwhile causes like Free Wheelchair Mission and Children’s Hunger Fund. Tim enjoys spending time with his family, backpacking in national parks, throwing a dart at a map and then traveling there, and committing to too many things. A few years back, Tim achieved his childhood dream of becoming both an insurance agent and a ninja, aka “Insurance Ninja,” when he earned his black belt in To-Shin Do (pronounced ‘toe-sheen-doe”). Today, he enjoys training with his daughter Emma, who is a formidable opponent. Tim is a native Californian who lives with his beautiful wife, daughters, and “all their pets” in Ventura County.

Dana Turner – Managing Partner

Dana has been in the insurance industry for over 35 years and started her agency, Dana J. Turner Insurance Services, Inc. in 1993. In 2021, she decided to merge with Get Benefits to be an even greater resource for her clients. Prior to counselling people through insurance renewals and benefit terminology as an agent, Dana was a licensed psychologist and counselled some famous patients in Beverly Hills! She loves her clients and views them as her extended family. She’s been married to her wonderful husband Cordell for 28 years and has a 23-year-old son, Ethan, and his dog, Bolt, who are not quite ready to move out, despite the occasional prodding… She is also a parent to her 4-legged Pomeranian, Boingo. Though this adorable family member is significantly older than Ethan at 105 years old (15 in human years), Boingo is never encouraged to move out. Originally from Queens, New York, Dana speaks fluent “intimidating New Yorker” and uses that language to help make sure insurance carriers are taking good care of her clients. In her spare time, she loves camping (in a motorhome!), fishing (she once caught and released a 150 lb Marlin!), and shooting champagne at people (long story). In addition, she loves music, going to concerts, and raising and releasing Monarch butterflies into the wild!

Shane Canter – Vice President

As a child growing up, Shane did not always know what he wanted to do, but he was sure he wanted to work with people due to his outgoing personality. Seeing that his grandfather and mom both were in the insurance industry, it was fate that he would follow a similar path. Shane began his insurance career right here at Get Benefits back in 2010 as a telemarketer. After 3 years on the phones, he ran away to expand his insurance knowledge and develop an appreciation for driving in traffic on the 405 freeway. When the former worked but not the latter, Shane returned to Get Benefits and since has become a master of all things insurance; and shooting Nerf guns. When he is not putting in long, long hours at the office, he can be found playing slow pitch softball, building his repertoire of bathroom humor, hiking or mountain biking with friends and family, eliminating most any opportunity for free-time by adding something new to his calendar, and relaxing with his wife Jenn, son Easton, daughter Sienna, and dog Duke. Shane loves being creative which is clear at his home where he is always building, improving, or fixing what he breaks.

Susie Ellis – Operations Manager

Susie grew up in the Conejo Valley and when we tell you she is very good at blowing up bugs, making people cry, and creating thunderstorms, while images of Disney villains may come to mind, let us assure you that Susie only excels at this because of her experience as a visual effects animator. Some time back, she left that world to work with humans and now enjoys the opportunity to share her fun, kind, and eager spirit by helping others in the animated world of insurance. Susie is outgoing, witty, creatively sarcastic, and often a total extrovert. She makes friends everywhere she goes, including the grocery store! Her little, though crazy-tall-for-his-age, son is very close to her. They have 3 adorable dogs – Courage the Cowardly Dog (afraid of houseflies), Pippi Dogstocking (the strongest 7 pound dog in the world), and Gracie (aka Gracecar – she’s super-fast). Susie’s favorite people in the world are her son and her five siblings and their significant others. She’s very close to all of them. They’re her favorite people in the world. She LOVES family get-togethers! She also loves to sing along to a wide variety of music. If karaoke was a sport, she would be its star. She loves to “improve” lyrics to songs and singing random lines when they fit into a conversation. In her spare time, she also writes young adult novels, currently about time travel with ghosts. Spooky!

Nicole Wilson – Manager – Account Management Team

Nicole, a Bay Area native, has a deep passion for both dancing and writing poetry. She has a creative spirit, so her artistic expression doesn’t stop there. She also enjoys painting, though so far, painting doesn’t enjoy her. She loves singing as well; so much so, that at least twice now she’s led a big part of our office in a rousing sing-along! We’re considering going pro; “Nicole and the GBIS singers!” Something about Nicole that often surprises others is that she is a twin. She has a fraternal twin brother who she sometimes tolerates. She once read that a twin can feel pain when the other twin is hurting so she will occasionally pinch herself to see if he reacts. Regardless, Nicole enjoys borrowing his daughter for days or weeks on end, spoiling her, filling her with sugar, and then sending her back home. One important part of Nicole’s life is her faith. She is a Jehovah’s Witness and sometimes spends weekends going door to door and doing volunteer work. She enjoys spending time with her friends who have similar interests. She has been Vegan for 4 years for both health reasons and to help the environment. To support her in this endeavor, many of us here have committed to only eating food from vegan animals. Nicole loves dogs, and has a toy poodle name Mia. Mia and Nicole sometimes dance and sing together. Well, Mia is still learning the singing part …

Debbie Dreese – Sr. Account Manager

Debbie has been with Get Benefits longer than any other employee and is pleased to provide excellent customer service to our clients. Her joy comes from knowing that most of her four “adult” children have finally flown the coop. Her best friend is her dog Romeo, which is evident in the way the two of them hatched a plan to somehow convince Tim, not a dog lover, to allow Romeo to be the office mascot. In fact, all 10 pounds of Romeo is likely the first Get Benefits team member you’ll encounter if you stop by our office. Debbie is a second-generation Californian, and it shows in her interests – camping, helping animals, reading, sewing and wearing t-shirts with animals on them. She loves helping others and unlike most humans, she also loves driving to LAX. And if that wasn’t enough, she pet-sits everything from large dogs to small snakes. She is the official animal lover at Get Benefits.

Kelli Ramirez – Sr. Account Manager

Kelli has been in the insurance world for over 20 years. Her interest began in her first insurance job working at a general agency where she learned many of the ins and outs of insurance. She enjoys this because it gives her an opportunity to help people understand this confusing and ever-changing industry, all while not even putting on her phone headset! She loves animals and loves hanging out and playing with her pitbull that she adopted from the Camarillo Animal Shelter. #whosavedwho Kelli has been vegan for over 10 years, but makes up for this by buying chips and salsa for the office. She likes to hang out with friends for Taco Tuesday, eating tacos Tuesday through Monday, going to the movies, crafting, hiking, bike riding, roller skating, eating tacos on Wednesdays through Tuesday, researching about nutrition and the benefits of eating healthy, and eating tacos. Mostly though, Kelli just loves to relax and eat tacos.

Luis Avalos – Account Manager

Luis has been in the insurance industry for over 15 years, including working for a well-known insurance carrier in small group membership, broker support, underwriting, customer service, and sales. His extensive knowledge allows him to make a customer feel at ease when discussing their insurance needs. He loves serving others and to that end, has built wheelchair ramps at the homes of those in need. When he is not working, he enjoys meal prepping and is big on searching what foods are good for the mind, body, and soul. As we watched him eat a donut the other day, we felt encouraged that they, too, must be good for the mind, body, and soul. Thanks Luis! At one point he was a Wellness Coach so if he says donuts are ok, we believe him… He was a Vegan for a little over a year and is working his way back to only eating a plant-based lifestyle. Donuts are from plants, right? He currently considers himself a Pescatarian, but enough about religion. When Luis is not working he loves to hike, work out, and spend time with his son, family, and friends. He loves board games and having game nights! He has trained in Boxing, Aikido, Kenpo, and Krav Maga.

Matt Munowitch – Account Manager

Matt was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, and while he moved from there long ago, the thrill of 100 degree plus temperatures and losing pennies by the dollars, still calls him back for regular visits. He grew up working on fishing boats, and was going to pursue that as his career, until he entered the banking industry, which in its own right is a little bit fishy. He worked in banking for 5 years, until his brother asked him to work on a fishing boat with him. At this point, you may be asking yourself… which came first, the bank or the fish? In this case, it was neither, because he met his wife and left the fish-banking or fishbaking industry. He has always enjoyed helping people, both through charity and through his work, so he decided to work in customer service so that he could help as many people as possible. He has a 7-year-old son, who always keeps him on his toes. One of his goals in life is to own every free polo shirt ever made – as long as it has a random logo on it. He loves being a part of the Get Benefits team.

Sarah Breitzman – Account Manager

When Sarah tells us that she enjoys being active, one might question how slowly walking in a circle, occasionally stopping, and then standing perfectly still while people clap fits with that description. Nevertheless, Luma and Ranger, her two Dalmatian show dogs, love to join her for that particular activity. While it’s pretty cool to know someone with fancy dogs, we can’t promise that the dog show that follows the Macy’s Day Parade will gain any new viewers. Afterall, it is still just dogs walking their humans in a circle… Sarah and her husband, Greg, were born and raised in Illinois and moved to California in 2008. Coming from a city famous for deep dish pizza, Chicago dogs, and Italian beef sandwiches, it comes as no surprise that Sarah loves cooking and eating. Though with two growing boys at home, Spencer (8) and Elliot (5), as time goes by, she will likely find herself doing more cooking than eating. Most of her favorite things to do involve the outdoors, such as hiking, camping, rockhounding, birding, beach walks, and watching sunsets. One day she would like to realize her dream of having a mushroom-themed restaurant with her husband, who’s a pretty fungi… See what we did there?

Alex Romero-Perez – Advisor

Alex was raised in Oxnard, California. One of his favorite things about Oxnard is how close it is to the ocean. He loves the beach and going in the water. When he’s not at the beach, he enjoys hanging out with his friends and family any chance he gets. He’s a big basketball fan, but specifically loves the Los Angeles Clippers. We’re not sure if that means he actually likes the Clippers, or if it just means that he doesn’t like the Lakers… Either way, he’s bound to be challenged about his chosen team by at least one person in the office. And while he may love basketball, his favorite sport is UFC. He really got into watching grown adults smack each other around while at his local Walmart buying Christmas gifts on Black Friday. He figured watching that level of rage would be much safer from his living room, tuned into UFC, and was hooked. He considers himself a Potterhead and is a huge fan of the Harry Potter books and films. He’s been in the insurance industry for just 3 years, but has already grown and learned so much. He’s excited and ready to help everyone he can.

Justin Sullivan – Advisor

If you’ve ever wondered what a German/Simi Valley accent sounds like, look no further. Justin spent half his childhood on the mean streets of Ebing, Germany, and the other half in the sunny and windy city of Simi Valley. Though he’s had more years in the US than in Germany, he speaks fluent German and entertains us regularly with words we don’t understand. But he assures us they’re all flattering words. Family is important to him, so he makes it a point to try to head to Germany every year to visit family. He grew up playing football, basketball, and golf, though his real passion is snowboarding on any mountain he can find. Some of his other hobbies are dabbling in graphic design projects and photography. When he was a bit younger, he went to Coachella every year, but as he’s gotten older, he’s really cut back… to every other year. He just thoroughly enjoys getting together with friends and listening to live music. He has been working in insurance for the last 10 years, and really likes being able to help out clients with their insurance needs. He enjoys explaining coverages and the nuances of plans. Helping someone understand their policy and make the best decision for themselves truly makes his day.

Jerry Weaver – Advisor

Jerry is from Modesto, California, where he played football as a lineman for 10 years, and played “try not to die” in the 150 degrees outside temperature that Modesto is known for. In high school, he worked with his hands a lot, including auto shop, wood working, and – his favorite – welding. Jerry participated in Future Farmers of America, where he answered trivia questions and fixed engines. Because of his passion for farming, Get Benefits recently instituted a new company policy that no overalls are allowed on Casual Fridays. He moved to Southern California in 2009 and has stayed in the Ventura County area ever since. He and his wife Jana enjoy cooking together, hiking together, fishing together, camping together, off-roading together, being outside together, and being inside together; basically, they enjoy spending time… you guessed it… together. They have two cats named Sassy and Mortie, and a 5-foot-long corn snake named Herbie. Jerry decided to work in insurance because he loves helping people and making sure that they get the best care possible.

Joy Anastacio – Administrative Specialist

True to her name, Joy loves to spread joy and laughter in the office. She is a mixed race of Spanish, French, Chinese, and Filipino, making her a true melting pot. She loves to cook gourmet dishes, and she is an excellent painter. She also enjoys hiking, stargazing, picking up interesting looking pebbles that look like leaves and leaves that look like pebbles, and rescuing animals that need help. In fact, she even rescues insects that need help, whereas most of her coworkers need rescuing from insects. While she claims she can live without WiFi, Joy loves to stream movies and TV shows. She has two sweet boys and a furry child, which is her Syrian hamster. During the pandemic, she produced 15 podcast episodes, in order to help others be motivated and happier, and her podcast made it into the top 250 Apple Podcasts in the Philippines and Spain! Working on that podcast opened a door for Joy to be a speaker for a fundraising project that provided online learning materials to students. She believes her love of life and people is the reason she found Get Benefits and works here now.

Vercy Mae Omnos – Administrative Specialist

Vercy has worked as a customer service representative for almost 3 years. She received a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering but decided to pursue other areas because she loves interacting with others. Vercy is always ready for a challenge, and as such, you may just find your way across the table from her in a rip-roaring chess match, or being captivated by her as she easily wins a speech contest; which clearly means that “she more better communicator than some more better communicators.” She has always wanted to do a Ted Talk, and she also would like to start her own podcast so that she can use her passion for communication skills. Recently, she began to work in insurance, which took her out of her comfort zone. She loves working for Get Benefits because she has many new learning experiences, and she has enjoyed the transition to working with the rest of the team. Vercy loves to grow personally and professionally and is ready for whatever is thrown at her.

Pam Valera – Administrative Specialist

Pam was born in Manila, Philippines and earned a degree in Administrative Management with Computer Applications and an MBA from Ateneo Graduate School of Business. Pam has a wealth of experience in banking and as an analyst, so she decided her next logical step was insurance. Growing up Pam wanted to learn Taekwondo and how to play the drums. True to her adaptable nature, rather than a jumping spin kick, she mastered the art of spinning in the form of a pirouette when she studied ballet, and rather than banging the drums, she learned to gently tap the keys of a piano. While Pam likes to enjoy a peaceful life, instead she manages a bit of chaos with raising two teenage sons. She loves to travel and has been able to enjoy many places. Her dream is to visit Austria so she can personally see where many scenes of her all-time favorite movie, “The Sound of Music” was filmed. Work-life balance is important and while she has been particularly busy at times, she is sure to set aside time for her passion, which is dancing. Pam lives by the saying “Live and Let Live” and therefore chooses to respect the beliefs and lives of those around her, as long as they’re not hurting anyone else.

Denise Wooster – Administrative Assistant

When you meet Denise, if the first thing that comes to your mind is, “I bet this person can creatively cut out pieces of magazines to form an elaborate ransom note,” you wouldn’t be far from the truth. When you take her favorite hobby, avid scrapbooking, and combine that with her love of mysteries and affinity for TV classics like Columbo and Murder She Wrote, we might have come to the same conclusion. However, when you take her wonderful disposition, love of the Bible, and past career as an elementary school teacher, that whole ransom note thing doesn’t hold up. Denise is a native Californian and has lived in Ventura County most of her life. She loves beach camping, fresh flowers, all forms of chocolate, and floor, table, kitchen, and car dancing. Some of her favorite things to do are travel, play games, and laugh with her daughters, Candace and Jenna, and son-in-law, Rich. Denise majored in both French and English, which helped her excel as a teacher who helped children develop reading skills, while also helping her to perfect ransom note writing in both France and America. Wait… we already dismissed that… Anyway, while her decision to change careers wasn’t easy, Denise is grateful to have her evenings and weekends free, and grateful to be a part of the awesome Get Benefits team.