Meet Our Staff
I want to welcome you to the Farmers AgencyPoint® here in the Inland Empire of Riverside, California. As the AgencyPoint® Director, I have been extremely fortunate in working with such a great staff. Every member of our office is highly knowledgeable, informative, and approachable in providing answers to any of your agency questions as well as with all of Farmers' many products and services. Give us a call today - we are here for you!
Elias Ruiz, AgencyPoint Director
Elias is a graduate of New Mexico State University and began his career with Farmers in 1994 as an Auto Claims Representative. In a short time his hard work, dedication and strong leadership qualities led to several management roles with the company. He held positions as Branch Claims Manager, Claims Service Center Manager, and Senior DM for Independent Agents. Elias came to the Riverside AgencyPoint in 2010, leading the team as the AgencyPoint Director.
Justin Valenzuela, AgencyPoint Manager
Justin started his career with Farmers in the Las Vegas Claims Office in 2005. Over the next 3 years, Justin held various positions in Claims including: APD Special Claims Representative, APD Supervisor, Claims Administration Manager and Pacific Zone Process Improvement Manager. After his time in Claims, Justin moved over to the California Inland State Office where he held the Position of Commercial Wholesaler. In 2009 & 2010, Justin was the top Commercial Wholesaler in the Company in regards to Commercial Gross Written Premium. After a short stay in Fresno as Division Marketing Manager, Justin was appointed to his current role of AgencyPoint Manager at the Riverside AgencyPoint. Justin has worked on numerous Farmers projects including: 2010 Pacific Zone Topper Club, National Implementation of Service Power for Farmers Auto Claims and the implementation of an improved Auto Claims Staffing Model. Justin was born in California and made his way to Oklahoma, where he attended Northeastern State University and the University of Oklahoma on a baseball scholarship.
Faraaz Siddiqui, Sales Manager
Faraaz began his career with Farmers in 2004 as a Farmers Insurance Agent in Los Angeles, California. While growing a successful and profitable Agency, Faraaz achieved the Blue Vase and qualified for Toppers Club. Faraaz went on to Farmers Financial Solutions in Agoura Hills, California as an FFS Expert to assist Farmers Registered Reps in California, Nevada and Utah diversify their portfolio and grow their income using Financial products. After successfully growing Gross Dealer Concessions at FFS, Faraaz moved on to Farmers New World Life to drive Life Insurance sales in San Joaquin, California and worked closely with many top agents including the Korsgaden Agency. Afterwards, Faraaz was challenged to grow Life sales in the Inland Empire resulting in substantial Life sales in one year of dedicated efforts. In 2011, Faraaz joined the Riverside AgencyPoint as the Sales Manager of the first AgencyPoint Cohorts in California. Faraaz is originally from Canada and educated in Michigan. He enjoys travelling, spending time with friends and family and adding value to every Farmers Agency.
Eric Smith, Sales Manager
Eric started his career with Farmers as Property Claims Representative. Quickly, Eric moved to the sales side of the company as a Marketing Specialist at the New Mexico State Office. Eric joined AgencyPoint in April of this year and loves working hand and hand with agents. In his spare time Eric enjoys traveling, watching sports and spending time with his family and friends.
Erica Fertig, Business Operations Manager
Erica was born and raised in Riverside, California. She attended the University of California Riverside as a Regents Scholar and graduated with a B.A. in Political Science and Business Administration. Prior to joining Farmers, Erica spent eight years in the service and retail management industry. Her strong background in management and customer relations has been an asset to her current role as Operations Manager. Erica is quite the outdoors enthusiast and loves spending time at the lake and off-roading. In her spare time, Erica enjoys mixed martial arts workouts, traveling, and hitting the shooting range.
Rozi Brown, Recruiting Manager
Rozi Brown has been with Farmers Insurance since 2009. She is currently the recruiting manager for the Riverside AgencyPoint. Prior to this role she was an agency trainer and recruiting specialist. Before joining Farmers, Rozi spent many years in the Public Relations and Advertising Industry. Her niche was marketing campaigns that targeted the U.S. Hispanic Market. She is a graduate of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. She is bilingual and bicultural.
Navdeep Kalsi, Agency Trainer
Navdeep joined Farmers in 2007 when he accepted a position as an Internal Wholesaler with Farmers Financial Solutions. During his nearly four years, he assisted Agents and District Managers in his territory of several states grow the Life and Financial Services side of their business. Navdeep later transitioned to the University of Farmers as a Facilitator where he taught Agents, District Managers and Employees marketing and sales related courses. He also used his expertise in Financial Services to help develop and deliver the three Life and FFS courses at University of Farmers.
Education is something that Navdeep believes in strongly, and considers himself a lifetime student. In 2002, Navdeep earned his bachelor’s degree from California State University Northridge with an emphasis on Finance and Real Estate. In 2011, he earned an M.B.A. from California Lutheran University Thousand Oaks. He is currently working towards earning his Chartered Financial Consultant (CHFC) designation. In his spare time Navdeep enjoys spending time with family, friends, travelling and attending sporting events.
Marty Bueno, Agency Trainer
Marty is originally from Whittier, CA. He attended Whittier College located in Southern California where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and was a member of the baseball program. Prior to joining the Riverside AgencyPoint, Marty worked at a successful Farmers Insurance Agency for 5 years in the Los Angeles area. Marty looks forward to sharing his agency world experience at the Riverside AgencyPoint to help develop successful agents in the Inland Empire. In his spare time, he enjoys working out, spending time with his family and following the Los Angeles Dodgers, Lakers and USC football.
Lupe Diaz, Life Specialist
Lupe was born in Dallas Texas, and lived in Salem Oregon for the last 23 years. After graduating from Western Oregon State University with a Bachelor of the Arts in Political Science, he became involved in the Oregon Latino Education Project 2000, the Governor’s race 2002, and the Presidential Race 2004 Campaign.
Lupe came to the insurance industry in 2005 as an Insurance & Financial service agent with Country Financial. He left Country Financial in May 2009 to join Farmers Insurance Group as a Reserve Field Manager in Salem Oregon. He moved to California in April 2011 to become the Life & Financial Service Specialist for Riverside AgencyPoint®.
Maria Brown, Commercial Wholesaler
Maria started her career with Farmers in 2002 in the claims office in San Diego, California as a liability claims representative. After spending a few years as the claims rep moved to Mesa, Arizona with Farmers as a liability claims supervisor. After a few years in Mesa, Arizona moved to Riverside, California as a liability claims manager. Started in the sales and marketing team in 2009 as a marketing specialist for the Empire Division and was promoted to the commercial wholesaler position which she currently holds at the Riverside AgencyPoint. Maria has one child named J.T. who will turn 5 years old on Valentine's Day!
Michelle Foley, Marketing Specialist
Michelle was born in Irvine, California and raised in Riverside. She graduated from the University of California Davis with a major in Spanish and a minor in Chicana/Chicano studies. Michelle brings several years of management and customer service experience from the retail industry. Michelle started her career with Farmers as a Marketing Specialist and is looking forward to a long life career with the company.
Ryan Nicole Burns, Recruiting Specialist
Ryan, a native of Detroit, MI., started her career with Farmers in 2005 as a liability claims adjuster out of the Northridge, CA. A graduate of California State University Northridge, Ryan is still an active member of her sorority, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. and she loves traveling and spending time with her new puppy as well as her family and friends. She started with the Riverside AgencyPoint in June and is excited to see what the new chapter in her Farmer’s life has to hold!
Christopher Cagnolatti, Recruiting Specialist
Chris started his career with Farmers Insurance in November 2008. He is originally from Los Angeles, CA and went to Baylor University where he played football and earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management and now resides in Fontana, CA. Chris has been in the sales, marketing, management and customer service arena for over 12 years and is very excited to be a part of the Riverside AgencyPoint. As a Recruiting Specialist, Chris enjoys giving people the opportunity to create something for themselves. Many people never think about insurance as a career, but he has chance to explain the benefits of being involved in an industry that can be seen as building a legacy for themselves and their family. In his spare time, Chris enjoys time with his family, friends and most things sports related.
Ron Garcia, Recruiting Specialist
Ron was born and raised in Southern California. He is a graduate from The University of Redlands with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business and also earned a Management Certificate from The University of Southern California. He joined Farmers in 2009 and previously worked in the retail industry with many years of management experience. Ron enjoys spending time with his three daughters, is heavily involved in their academic endeavors and enjoys watching them play soccer and basketball . He is proud to be part of Farmers and excited to represent the FEMO team.
Ruben Luna, Recruiting Specialist
Ruben is from a small town in Arizona but moved to California to attend the University of Redlands. After school, he worked in retail sales and as a general manager. He also worked as an investigator for a large insurance claims company. Ruben started as a Reserve District Manger for the Farmers Business Development Center in February 2008. In 2009, he became a recruiting specialist at the Riverside AgencyPoint.
Daniel Perez, Recruiting Specialist
Daniel Perez started his career with Farmers Insurance in 2008. He joined the company as an Agency Trainer and most recently he joined the Recruiting department in helping identify Farmers future talent. Prior to joining the Farmers family Daniel attained a degree in Business Entrepreneurship from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. After graduating Daniel built a solid career as a sales professional in the banking industry, skills and knowledge that he was able to bring to his current success with Farmers Insurance.
Julie Anson, Executive Assistant
Julie joined the Farmers family in 2010. She is currently studying for her Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, specializing in marketing. Prior to her career with Farmers, Julie was a Business Operations Manager in retail and brings several years of customer service experience to Farmers. In her spare time, Julie enjoys spending time with her husband Andrew and her two dogs, Zoe and Zaydee.
Sally Fredericks, Senior Customer Service Representative
Sally started with Farmers in 1976. Over the years she has had many different positions including Underwriting, Claims, Commercial, Policy Services, Agency Trainer and Customer Service Representative. In her free time she enjoys her four grandsons, family, church, shopping and most of all her husband of 34 years.
Eric Ramirez, Customer Service Representative
Eric Ramirez was born and raised in California. He has been working in customer service for 8 years and loves working with people. He is a current member at Celebration Worship Center church. He likes spending time with his family and being outdoors fishing, at the shooting range, camping and boating.
Araceli Siordia, Customer Service Representative
Araceli was born and raised in California. She began her career with Farmers AgencyPoint Riverside in 2008 as a customer service representative. Previously, she worked in the mortgage and sales industry for over 10 years. She enjoys spending time with her family, traveling and doing volunteer work with children in need. She is a big soccer fan.
Fernando Zuniga, Customer Service Representative
Fernando Zuniga was born in Mexico and raised in California. Began his career with farmers in 1997 as a Text Processor in the Claims Training Center where he was promoted multiple times.. Fernando worked in the administrative office for 7 Years, spent 1 year in the Med PIP CEO as a Claim Processor, 3 years with the University of Farmers, 2 years in FACT and now holds a position at the Riverside Agency Point. He enjoys spending time with his family and loves sports- especially soccer, basketball and football.
Susan Kelsey, Customer Service Representative
Before joining the team at the Riverside AgencyPoint as a Customer Service Representative, Susan was a full-time student at the University of California-Riverside, where she graduated with her B.A. in History. In her spare time she enjoys cooking, shopping, reading, service with her sorority, and spending time with her friends. She is looking forward to learning and growing within the Farmers Insurance family, and is happy to be of service to those who need it at the AgencyPoint. We are excited to welcome Susan to the Farmers Family!
Erika Siordia
Erika was born in Fontana, California but raised in Corona her whole life. She brings farmers eight years of customer service experience and is proud to be part of the Farmers family team. She plans on expanded her strengths within Farmers and grow within the company. On her free time Erika loves to spend time with her children, family and also watch sports-most of all football. Go Bengals!!!
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