Lin W. Lan is the founder of Pacific Pioneer Insurance Group (PPIG) and has served as President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairwoman since its formation.  Ms. Lan has spent over 40 years in the insurance industry and has earned the C.P.C.U. designation, as well as other industry accolades and numerous awards. Her career in insurance started as an independent broker/agent selling insurance policies to Chinese restaurants and other Chinese-American businesses in Southern California. She founded Unico Insurance Agency, Inc. in 1980. 

In 1984 Lin formed UCA General Insurance Services, Inc. (UCA), as a Program Manager. Lin envisioned UCA General as a path for small agencies like hers to gain access to Preferred Markets that were harder to come by for immigrant owned agencies like hers. Lin developed her own programs for Restaurants, Small Grocers, Condo Associations, Hotels/Motels, and Shopping Centers among others, and hand selected brokers for exclusive access to UCA. UCA set territories in Northern California and into the contiguous western states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah.

As UCA grew, Lin added a specialty division to help her producers place risks that didn’t fit UCAs strict underwriting guidelines. She contracted with the top specialty carriers for her classes of business, and added a Workers’ Compensation division as well.  In 2003 Lin formed a new entity Pacific Excess Insurance Marketing, Inc. (PE) and eventually spun it off as an independent GA/Wholesaler in 2009.

Lin continues to play an active role in the management and day-to-day business of PPIG and shows no signs of slowing, even when many of her peers have long retired. Ms. Lan works diligently to bring PPIG new programs and opportunities and is a driving force of our incredible growth over the decades through hard and soft markets alike.

Barry Colburn, Director of Marketing. Barry began his insurance career in 1987 at Cigna, then on to Chubb, and then to Balboa Insurance.  For several years at Balboa he managed claims offices in Honolulu and Pittsburgh. Barry wanted to return to Southern California so in 1997 he joined Precision Risk Management as an auto claims adjuster. He was shortly promoted to manager and built the subrogation department from the ground up. He then took over as the manager of the personal auto unit for Pacific Pioneer Insurance Company for the next 3 years. In 2004, Mr. Colburn turned his attention to marketing, first for UCA General and then for Pacific Excess. In 2012 he was named Director of Marketing for Pacific Pioneer Insurance Group and is responsible for our in-house marketing and advertising development, as well as industry representation with an emphasis on broker relationships.

Juli Queen, E&S Underwriting Manager. In 1984 Juli was brought on by Ms. Lan as UCA’s first employee and was our first Underwriter for Preferred Programs for the next nine years. As UCA General grew, in 1993 she was asked to lead the underwriting of UCA’s Excess & Surplus Lines Division.  This division later became Pacific Excess Insurance Marketing, Inc. when it was spun off from UCA as a separate entity.  Juli has been with the Pacific Pioneer Insurance Group for over 40 years and her wealth of knowledge and experience in commercial lines from Preferred to Specialty has been immeasurable to PPIG.

Joanne Jackman, WC Manager.  Joanne joined Pacific Excess in 2021 after several decades underwriting Workers’ Compensation with various carriers and agencies.  She began her insurance career in 1986 as a Workers’ Compensation Assistant Underwriter and moved up the ranks in various positions for different organizations over the years. Joanne’s knowledge of the industry and specialization in Workers Compensation makes her a valuable MVP as our current WC Underwriting Manager.