Born and raised in the Lehigh Valley, Matt Millen is a former college football All-American, four-time NFL Super Bowl champion, and NFL executive, currently serving in a leadership role at Valor.
Matt is a Penn State University alumnus who went on to play in the NFL after he was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in 1980. During his 12-year NFL playing career, Matt played for the Raiders, San Francisco 49ers, and Washington Redskins. He won a Super Bowl with each of those teams, including two with the Raiders. Following his professional football career, Matt worked in broadcasting for CBS, Fox, and NBC. He left broadcasting in 2001, when he was named CEO and General Manager of the Detroit Lions. Matt would later return to broadcasting following his time in Detroit, working for ESPN, the NFL Network, and currently Fox’s Big Ten Network.
Marcus brings nearly two decades of experience leading, building, and advising high performing teams in the US Army, academia, and intelligence and special operations communities. After two deployments as an Airborne Ranger qualified Infantry Officer, he served as an Assistant Professor at the United States Military Academy at West Point before concluding his active-duty military career as a Strategist at the Defense Intelligence Agency. In his role as CEO he is responsible for the strategic integration and growth across the Valor portfolio of companies.
He holds a BS from the United States Military Academy, where he was a member of the football team, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He is married to his beautiful wife Courtney, and they have four children.
Coming Soon...
Matthew Potter is a Lehigh Valley native from Nazareth, PA where he currently resides with his lovely wife Erica Potter and his three beautiful daughters, Isabella, Abigail, and Naomi. Matt is a Lafayette College alumni and former Division 1 athlete. Matt loves spending his free time with his family and his church where he serves as an Elder. Matt & Erica support various community & non-profit organizations including but not limited to the Eastern Pennsylvania Down Syndrome Center, Cornerstone Counseling Ministries, On Mission Sports, Nazareth Education Association Foundation, Bethlehem Christian School, and multiple youth race teams.
Matt has held various leadership positions in Sales Management and Recruiting within Fortune 500 insurance companies and has also been the founder or co-founder of multiple award-winning companies. Matt holds property, casualty, life, accident, fixed annuities, and health insurance licenses and has a proven track record with almost two decades of service in both the public and private business sectors of the insurance industry.
Currently, Matt serves in the role of President for the privately held management services company, Valor Group Limited (doing business as The Advisor Network) where he is also part of the ownership team. In this role Matt is responsible for the daily operations of Valor Insurance, Valor Realty, and Valor Merchant Services. Matt also sits on the strategic leadership board for Valor Investment & Planning as well as Valor Life & Annuity.
Matt is presently a member of the National Producer Council for Travelers Insurance, Safeco Insurance, Donegal Insurance, and Hanover Insurance.
After completing a Princeton University undergraduate and receiving his J.D. from the Seton Hall School of Law, Matthew practiced for several years at one of the largest regional law firms in New Jersey. Matthew then served as in-house counsel for the Olympus Corporation of the Americas and the St. Luke's University Health Network before opening his own private practice. Matthew now focuses primarily on transactional matters for his clients, handling real estate matters, business law matters, and estate planning.
Apart from his legal work, Matthew is also the pastor of a local church in Easton, Pennsylvania where he spends much of his time serving the congregation and preaching. Matthew and his wife Leslie have four children, who constantly keep them on their toes.
Hannah Ricker grew up in Whitehall, PA and attended Whitehall Coplay school district and is a Lehigh Valley resident. Hannah graduated from Lafayette College in 2016 and played Division 1 field hockey, representing the Leopards all four years. She was named captain her senior year, first team All-Patriot Tournament Team, 2nd Team All-Patriot League, and 2nd Team All-Mideast Region. During her 14’,15’ season she was named to the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll. Hannah is also in her third season coaching varsity high school field hockey within the Parkland School District. She enjoys teaching youth girls about the sport and seeing them transform as a player which she finds very rewarding. In her free time, she likes to spend quality time with her family and friends. Hannah also enjoys cooking different types of cuisines.
Hannah has her license in property and casualty insurance. She has been in the industry since graduating from Lafayette College. She has background as an Account Manager where her responsibilities were mostly servicing commercial clients. Presently, Hannah is the Management Coordinator for the management company, Valor Group Limited. In her role, Hannah maintains the various team schedules, oversees the benefit plans for the companies, tracks critical client data and monitors Independent Contractors relationships.
Joseph Ricker was born and raised in Delaware County, PA, and graduated from West Chester University. He moved to the Lehigh Valley after joining the Valor Family and still resides there with his wife, Hannah Ricker, and their son Luke. Joe loves spending time at home with his family, working around the house and being involved in his local church.
Having a job since the age of 15, Joe had worked part time through high school and college, both in the food industry and as a contract painter. In his professional career, Joe has been in the insurance industry since graduating from West Chester. He is licensed in both Property and Casualty Insurance as well as Life, Accident and Health. In his current role, Joe leads all service efforts for Valor the Advisor Network and its underlying companies. Joe and his team serve to enhance the experience for every client, broker, and carrier, while empowering the Valor culture through integrity, discipleship, and innovation. His primary responsibilities include providing access and support to all members of the Valor Network through carrier appointments, licensing, and technology.
He played a variety of sports, all his life, but his true sport was always hockey. Joe is an avid Philadelphia Sports fan, proudly representing the colors for his Phillies, Sixers, Eagles and Flyers. Growing up twenty minutes away from the sports complexes in South Philadelphia, Joe was able to attend multiple games throughout his life. Whenever the opportunity arises, he enjoys catching a game with his family and friends either on TV or at the stadiums. In his leisure time, Joe enjoys playing Xbox, listening to his vinyl records, and reading his favorite fantasy novel series’. Joe remains physically active in sports and exercise, whether it be playing pickup hockey or his weekly gym schedule.
Danielle LaBelle grew up in Hunterdon County New Jersey and currently resides in Bethlehem Township Pennsylvania with her husband Rich, their son Luke, and step-children, Mikayla and Shaun. Danielle graduated from Kean University in 1999 with a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting. After college, Danielle interned and worked for Chubb Insurance Company for eighteen years in various accounting and finance departments until the birth of her son Luke in 2017.
Some of Danielle’s job responsibilities at Chubb included preparing annual and quarterly statutory financial statements for Chubb’s insurance subsidiaries, analytical review of underwriting data, preparation and review of annual and quarterly U.S. GAAP financial statements and financial analyst for international subsidiaries within the Strategic Planning and Budgeting department.
Danielle started working part time at Valor Group in January 2018 as a Financial Analyst. In addition to day to day bookkeeping responsibilities, Danielle is responsible for the monthly Commission Statements, payments to independent contractors and various projects. Danielle attends Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church and has been active with the youth group program. Danielle enjoys reading, games, puzzles and traveling.
Yolymar Maisonet-Rivera grew up in Puerto Rico and moved to the Lehigh Valley in her High School years, graduating from Louis E. Dieruff. She started her career in the talent acquisition industry focusing on recruiting and administrative support. Yolymar joined the Valor team to find the top Insurance Brokers, Financial Advisors, and Real Estate Agents. Her years of recruiting and administration have served her well in learning this role.
Yolymar spends her free time with her dog Hershey and family, reading non-fiction books, outdoors activities, watching tv shows, and working out.
John is a lifelong resident of Delaware County with over 30 years of experience in the insurance industry. In that time, he has worked with several major carriers. His agencies have garnered many national awards in recognition for both outstanding customer service and sales. He has recently sold his agency and relocated to the Poconos. He has decided to partner with Valor Insurance in order to take advantage of the changing market place and leverage the strength of the Valor team. He sees an opportunity to work with a market leader who is committed to service and growth.
John is licensed for property, casualty, life and health insurance in Pennsylvania , Delaware and New Jersey. He specializes in meeting the needs of his clients while using a variety of products and services. He finds joy in forming real relationships with his clients on order to meet their goals and budget. He will also be working with the Valor team to recruit and onboard new team members.
John is married to his wife of 37 years, Georgene and has three children. In his spare time he enjoys fitness training and enjoys spending time with his family.
Coming Soon...
Cheryl Nemec grew up in Warren County, NJ where she still lives with her husband and two children. Cheryl graduated from Cedar Crest College in 2004 with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics. After college, she started her career in the financial services industry focusing on administrative support and banking. She spent twelve years in various positions within the Asset Based Lending field, working with loan administrators, bank representatives and auditors to coordinate the best customer service for clients.
Cheryl recently got her property and casualty license and joins the Valor Team to assist the brokers with the commercial clients. Her years of customer service and administration have served her well in learning this role. Her responsibilities also include document compliance for all brokers and acts as Executive Assistant to Valor’s President.
Cheryl spends her free time with her family. Her son is in Boy Scouts of America, working towards his Eagle Scout in the next couple of years and plays soccer for our town’s recreational team. Her daughter is involved in American Heritage Girls where Cheryl is also on the leadership team and she has played soccer and field hockey for the recreational teams. Cheryl also homeschools both of her children and is active in our homeschool co-op. She is also actively involved with her church, Vine Church, where she assists the leadership team with administration functions.
Kim was born in Harlem, NY and raised on Staten Island, NY. Kim currently lives in Bethlehem Township with her husband Gerald, son Elliott and daughter Karrington. Her oldest son Gerald has flown the nest.
As a Network Financial Analyst at Valor, Kim generates the commission detail for our Valor Insurance Broker Partners and Brokers. Kim also oversees key brokerage reports and works closely with Valor’s in-house Accountant and Financial Manager.
Prior to joining the Valor Family, Kim worked at Chubb Insurance for 34 years. While having several different positions at Chubb, her most recent position before her departure was as a Financial Analyst. This included responsibility for mailing out the commission payments for Chubb Insurance Solutions Agency (CISA), answering brokers calls and emails and doing the research if they had questions about their commission. In addition, Kim paid all the agency bills and managed licensing for the entire CISA team as well as the agency.
Kim enjoys playing board games, crossword puzzles, reading thrillers and mysteries. Kim is a season ticket holder to Freedom High School football where Kim was the Football Booster Club president for 10 years. Kim enjoys the Friday Night Lights with a host of friends who are known as the 30 Yard Line Crew. In addition to following Freedom Football, Kim is a Philadelphia Eagles fan! This is a household rivalry as her husband and oldest son are New York Giants fans. The neighbors love hearing the sounds coming out of the house when The Eagles play The Giants.
Kim is thrilled to be part of the Valor Family!
Lydia grew up in Texas, Tennessee, Illinois, and Pennsylvania. She attended Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA where she received her degree in Interior Design and Fashion Merchandising with a minor in Business. After working in the fashion industry for several years she transitioned to more of the financial side of business. Lydia and her husband, Eli, moved to Richmond, VA to help his parents run a successful family business and has since worked with several other companies. She has worked in finance since 2010. She enjoys finding solutions to difficult puzzles and working with others to keep everything running efficiently. They have two amazing sons who keep them busy and their lives full of laughter. They are very active in their church and love traveling and getting outdoors.
Thaddeus Howland grew up in Bethlehem, PA and still resides in the surrounding area. Thaddeus attended Freedom High School and graduated in 2021 and is currently working towards his higher education at Southern New Hampshire University. Throughout his time at Freedom, he wrestled for all four years, placing varsity for each.
Thaddeus is licensed in property and casualty for Pennsylvania and strives to assist clients in every way possible. He specializes in managing reports for the purpose of retaining clients and improving work efficiency.
Thaddeus started his professional career in late 2019 where he worked in the fast-food industry. He quickly became a team manager for his store and learned valuable business ethics and procedures. His role there entailed managing team members while pulling reports and creating valuable action plans. Those previous teachings will be carried with him throughout the end of his professional career. Thaddeus enjoys going on walks, reading and spending time with family and friends. He is currently working towards becoming more active in his church, Vine Church, where he currently attends.
Helen A. Paredes was born and raised in San Juan Puerto Rico, dancing to the Bomba y Plena and listening to the singing of the coquis at night. Graduated from Juan Ponce de Leon high school. Had her first job as a bartender in Mizumi sushi and Asian cuisine restaurant, serving for 4 years, that’s how she discovered her passion to give a good customer service to the clients
Prior to Valor, Helen worked in a healthcare company as a liaison between patients, hospitals and the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey to determine patients’ eligibility for coverage of Medicaid and/or Charity Care. Working with patients to accumulate income information, prescreen and calculate documents to apply to the state for medical assistance. Customer service was provided both in person and over the phone, were she succeeded in giving a great service to the patients.
Helen enjoys dancing, exercising, listening to any kind of music, to read romantic novels and loves watching horror movies. Helen is currently leaving in Nazareth PA with her fiancé and is very thrilled to be part of the Valor family.
Christa Landes is a single mom of 5 and has been a resident of the Lehigh valley for over 20 years serving its community in various ways. She has volunteered with the Bethlehem Police department’s Faith and Blue program assisting in community outreach events and actively serves at Graceway Community Church where some of her duties include leading in worship, teaching in children’s church and guiding a small group. Her passions are serving her church family, cooking and singing/worship.
Christa has spent most of her professional career in customer service. She started at an ambulance billing company where she assisted clients in data collection, data entry, billing, and claims. She then transitioned to a local health insurance agency specializing in Medicare where she acquired her accident, life, and health license. She loves being able to educate clients on how their insurance worked as well as advocating on their behalf.
Since joining the Valor family, Christa has made a tremendous impact to the team. In her current role, Christa works directly with customers of Valor Insurance and serves as a point of contact regarding all service-related matters. She is very excited for the opportunity to work with this amazing team!
My name is Didanyiri Cruz (Didi) for short, I was born and raised in the Dominican republic is the city of Santiago. At the age of 12 I moved to Allentown, PA with my dad and my siblings. I graduated from a small charter school in Allentown in 2020 where I learned English as a second language and made some lifetime friends. I am currently pursuing my associated degree in business administration at Lehigh Carbon Community College, my goal is to graduate by the fall of 2023 and possibly transfer to a 4-year school to obtain my bachelors.
I’ve been working in various places since the age of 14, my first summer job was at Dorney Park and Wild water Kingdom where I stayed for 3 seasons then moved on to different places like fast food restaurants like chick-fil-a, nursing homes and even a warehouse and a gym after high school.
When I’m not at work or school I enjoy spending time with my little brothers and nephews, they really like playing video games and going to the park to play basketball which is how we spend most of our time together. I also just got my first dog a few months ago so training, going on walks, and teaching her new tricks has become a part of my routine. My favorite hobby now is baking my favorite childhood desserts from my home country like flan, quesitos and pastelillos
Anna was born
raised and worked in Ukraine but later moved to Philadelphia in 2017. In early 2019, she received Property and Casualty license and started working in an insurance field. She really enjoys serving her clients and protecting their families. Prior to her insurance career, Anna already had a lot of experience and education under her belt. In 2008, she graduated from the National Law University of Kharkov where she obtained her Bachelor's degree in Financial Science. A year later in 2009 she followed up to receive her Master's degree. In 2012 she graduated from the Law University of Dnipropetrovsk receiving her second Master's degree in Judicial and Criminal Justice. While living in Ukraine Anna worked as an economical lawyer for 8 years. In her free time and most of all, Anna loves going horse riding and traveling.
Mara Cannella grew up in Montrose, Pennsylvania and currently resides in Robinson Township Pennsylvania with her husband Dustin and their dog Rya. Mara graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2019 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree with dual majors in Accounting and Finance. While in college, Mara was a member of the Pittsburgh Women's Rugby Football Club (PWRFC). PWRFC is a club level sport at the University of Pittsburgh's Oakland campus competing in the Allegheny Rugby Union (ARU) at the D1 collegiate level.
Mara began her professional career working for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) beginning as an intern in her Junior year of college. She continued to intern with PwC until she graduated from college at which point she accepted a full-time position as a tax associate working in their Wealth Management Tax Services division. While working at PwC, Mara was responsible for ensuring Fiduciary tax compliance for trust companies, Brokerage, and Custody operations. Mara's responsibilities included managing a book of 1200 trust accounts, answering client calls and emails, researching tax implications and questions from clients, calculating quarterly tax estimates, creating tax projections to assist in planning, preparing Form 1041 and 5227 tax returns, preparing Form 1099, responding to notices from the IRS and various State taxing authorities. During her time at PwC, Mara was promoted to Senior Tax accountant and began reviewing the work of associates in their preparation of tax returns, estimate calculations, and notice responses. After her time at PwC, she began work at Citrin Cooperman as a senior tax accountant where she gained experience in tax compliance for high net worth Individuals, estates, and trusts.
Mara is currently in the process of studying to become a Certified Public Accountant and is excited to begin part-time work with Valor while she pursues her CPA. Outside of work, Mara enjoys attending Steelers, Penguins, and Pirates games in Pittsburgh with her husband Dustin. She also enjoys playing Pickleball, cooking, puzzles, board games, card games, and spending time at her local dog park with Rya.
