Montage Leadership

Tobias Kennedy

Executive Vice President, Montage Insurance
CEO, Simpolicy Insurance Solutions

Tobias serves as the President of Montage and the CEO of Simpolicy Insurance Solutions, beginning with our firm since 2007. He received his underwriting training from Blue Shield of California. He is a graduate of Loyola Marymount University (LMU) where he studied Political Science at the Center for the Study of Los Angeles. He has received a Certificate of Recognition from the SFVBJ as a nominee for the 2012 and 2013 “Most Trusted Advisor Award” and indeed received the honor in 2015—being named by the publication as a winner of that year’s “Most Trusted Advisor Award.”

Tobias is widely considered an expert in health care reform and been a speaker to several well-regarded organizations including PIHRA, the HRD Network (California Credit Union Association), LA Financial Planners Association, LANSA, SMA’s Legal Update (a special interest chapter of SHRM), Montage’s own My HR Summit Series, a national speaker for a Christian CEO organization ‘Convene’ as one of their Health Care Reform experts, and various Boards of Directors ranging from the Los Angeles Police Credit Union’s board to the Executive team at a major Motel chain. He is OSHA-10 and CalOSHA-10 certified serving clients in both Employee Benefits as well as Property & Casualty, sat on the board of directors for the Staffing Management Association, and as the Vice President of the board for the California Unemployment Insurance Council (CUIC).

Tobias has been employed by Lorman Education Services to conduct 90-minute webinars for their educational content on topics ranging from “Insurance 101” to the specifics of “Level-Funding, Self-Funding and Other Alternatives to Fully Insured” as he is a well-regarded specialist in the field of employee benefits. Tobias was also a guest speaker, asked to share his business principals at the Mountain West Credit Union Association’s CEO Board Chair Summit, and has been featured on multiple podcasts, including “Jerry Learns Business” and Dr. Brandi Stankovic business podcast “The Strategic Hotbox.” In 2023, H.I.T. Podcast, sponsored and founded by Montage, brings its host, Tobias Kennedy in light as an industry expert for Hurman Resources, Insurance and Technology.

Danone Simpson

CEO, MBA, GBDS

Danone Simpson brings over two decades of experience in the insurance industry and her career highlights were outlined earlier in this document. For your account, she will be involved in marketing your pricing—being available to review your RFP, to sit in on strategy meetings, and even to call into underwriters and other contacts in an effort to squeeze that last point or two out of the negotiation process. Additionally, she is involved and/or overseeing all day to day or escalated issues, personally taking any employee claims or other issues that may need her involvement to tip the scales of the outcome. She is available to serve our clients with care.

She is the Founder, CEO of Montage Insurance Solutions with over twenty-five years’ experience in all lines of insurance, as a broker.  Danone has built an agency focused on employee benefit and property & casualty programs for the commercial and non-profit sectors. Under Danone’s leadership the firm has partnered with over 100 carriers in order to find the perfect insurance solutions for their clients. She has built a dynamic Service Program, COBRA & Third-Party Administration Department and My HR Summit training clients on compliance monthly.

She founded a sister company, Simpolicy in 2012 that handles small business, event insurance, travel insurance and Medicare. In 2022, she founded Legacy Heir that manages tenants, and our companies in our building in Calabasas. In 2023, she began the development of a software designed to manage auditing for our clients. Bene App Inc. will launch in 2024 offering these services to our clients, and any employer in need of their auditing capabilities, designed to save employers thousands of dollars and the HR executive hours of time monthly.

Montage Insurance Solutions utilizes Human Resources tools, consulting, wellness campaigns, health fairs, along with our virtual Healthefair and safety initiatives to reduce premium and employee costs.  These programs have proven to be effective in retention and nurturing the health and safety of employees, assisting clients with bringing forth strong employee engagement and cultures.

Danone Simpson understands the challenges of the Human Resources Professional and has established My HR Summit™ a leadership seminar/webinar series and our monthly customized newsletters to educate HR executives and the C-Suite in the ever-changing world of legal compliance and employee management.

Danone has been presented multiple awards in the Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley Business Journals, including being selected in 2021 with a Mentor Leadership award from the San Fernando Business Journal, 2019 as a Most Influential Insurance Broker in Los Angeles LA Business Journal, as CEO of the Year from the San Fernando Valley Business Journal 2018, Trusted Advisor in Insurance and One of the Top Twelve Women Owned Businesses in Los Angeles.  Her agency has been recognized as one of the fastest growing companies and annually as Top 25 largest insurance brokerage firms since 2009 and Employee Benefits Consultants since 2010. Danone was selected by Forbes magazine to be represented in the Women of Power series for Southern California. Ventura Magazine also recognized our firm as a Trusted Advisor in the insurance industry. She has written articles as a C-/Suite Advisor for CSQ Magazine (4 years). Montage is listed as one of the Best Places to Work in 2015-2022. And in 2023 the LA Times and Inc. Magazine named Montage as a Best Places to work. She was a panelist for the LABJ Economic Forecast and Trends in 2017. San Fernando Valley Business Journal Economic Panelists in 2023 & 2024, Diversity and Inclusion Forums, 2017, 2021 and 2022. Montage was recognized for DEI in 2022 by the LA Times. She has written for and been a panelist for The HealthCare Forum, Los Angeles and Fernando Valley Business Journal several times and again in 2019 & 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. In 2022, she was a panelist for LABJ’s Women in Business, as Powerhouse in Business 2023 & 2024. Danone has spoken on a variety of topics at the HRD Network, CA State Board of Equalization’s connecting Women to Power Business Conference, Valley Economic Alliance, Women’s Economic forum, PIHRA, Mountain West Credit Union Association, and other organizations.

She sits on the Valley Village Development Board and was honored as a Founding Member of Women for Wishes for Make a Wish, Haven Hills for Woman of Excellence. She is an active member of multiple insurance associations and has continuously served as a board member for PIHRA District Board (Woodland Hills) since 2009. 

Masters of Business Administration, Graziadio School of Business, Pepperdine University, 2012.

Mark Simpson

Chief Operations Officer

Mark Simpson, Chief Operations Officer at Danone Simpson Insurance Services LLC DBA: Montage Insurance Solutions, brings over thirty years of experience in operations management.

For the majority of Mark’s career, he worked as the Director of Operations in the Property Department at Paramount Pictures. For 29 years, he oversaw productions, overhead budgets, staffing and inventory control for both Television and Feature Productions. He staffed all Key Production and Overhead Personnel in his division, which managed five additional production departments. He simultaneously managed the same division at CBS Studio Center Studios under a five-year management agreement. In addition, Mark was in charge of all marketing and licensing agreements for the advertising on the New York Street at Paramount, strengthening company revenue from a previously untapped source of income.

His last positions have been in the Motion Picture Entertainment Industry and the Financial Investment and Acquisition Industry. Before joining DSI, Mark was in charge of operations at Jackson Motion Picture Rentals for 3 years, in which he handled staffing, scheduling, inventory control and supervised employees. Before Jackson, he was the VP of Operations at Investors Capital Management Group in charge of acquisitions of business and real estate investments, in addition to overseeing Finance, IT, HR and Risk Management.

Mark brings his talent for the management of operations for Montage, Simpolicy and Legacy Heir.

Affiliations, member, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and a member of IATSE.