30+ Years at Sentinel: Jim Carnevale

In this Sentinel Spotlight series, we're excited to introduce some of our longest-tenured employees! This week, get to know Jim Carnevale, a founding member of Sentinel and current Partner. We asked Jim about his experiences over the past 30+ years, and he shared some great advice for someone starting their career at Sentinel Group.

For someone just starting their career at Sentinel Group, what advice would you give to help them succeed and build a long-term future here? 

The first bit of advice is to let them know they stumbled into a unique firm held in high regard, with deep and broad expertise in various industries. I would tell them to get ‘all in’ every day and learn as much as possible as soon as possible. The more you know, the more you can be helpful internally to your colleagues and externally to clients and prospects and start feeling good about yourself and make a difference. 

We all remember a class or two in high school that for whatever reason never excited us and we could not wait for the semester to end to be done with the class. There is no end date to a career so if you’re not enjoying it, drop the class. When we were in a classroom or with a coach that inspired us, we did not want to end – and it never felt like work.

The industry has changed significantly over the past few decades—what are the biggest shifts you’ve seen, and how has Sentinel Group adapted to stay ahead? 

The number of providers and brokers/agencies in the life and benefits industry has shrunk. Twenty years ago, there were far more medical, dental, life and disability carriers and a lot more independent brokerage firms. Many of those insurance companies have either left the industry, merged with another carrier, or no longer exist and many of the smaller brokerage firms have been acquired by NFP, USI, HUB, Marsh, Brown & Brown, Cross, Hayes, etc. Thus, today we have fewer carriers with larger competitors. 

Sentinel Group remains unique and continues to stay ahead of our competition because of our in-house health and welfare administrative capabilities and our broad retirement practice. Because of these factors, we have the ability to serve the participants better than our competitors.