Leadership Team Bios
William Buell
Chief Executive Officer
William C. Buell is our Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Buell joined Advantage as Chief Executive Officer on April 20, 2022. Prior to Advantage he was a senior executive at the consumer financial technology companies Better.com and Koalafi. Previously Mr. Buell was the Chief Operating Officer at FirstKey Business Lending and Managing Director at FirstKey Mortgage where he ran the business lending group and was a partner on the new product development team from 2015 to 2019. Mr. Buell was a Managing Director at J.P. Morgan Securities and an Executive Vice President at Countrywide Securities. Mr. Buell has experience with regulatory compliance matters, contract negotiation and structure, settlement, process, claims and litigation, as well as in technology design and oversight. Mr. Buell holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from The University of Texas at Austin.
Zaida S. Rucabado Fuxench
Chief Financial Officer
Zaida S. Rucabado Fuxench is our Chief Financial Officer leading all financial activities which includes accounting, financial reporting, controllership, financial planning and analysis, audit, tax, capital planning and treasury. She joined Advantage in January 2019 as Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer. Prior to joining Advantage, Zaida worked as Director of Financial Reporting at Triple-S Management Corporation (NYSE: GTS). Zaida started her career at PriceWaterhouseCoopers in 2002. She worked for PwC for over 14 years both in Puerto Rico and the United States, reaching a Senior Manager position. Zaida is a licensed CPA (Puerto Rico) and earned her BBA in Accounting and Finance from the University of Puerto Rico.
Eric Schneider
Chief Investment Officer, Advantage Insurance Inc.
Eric Schneider is Chief Investment Officer of Advantage Insurance Inc. and he is CEO of our subsidiary BasePoint Capital LLC (“BasePoint.”) He is also CIO and CEO of BasePoint Advisors LLC. Mr. Schneider acquired a controlling interest in BasePoint in January 2020 and became its Chief Executive Officer at that time. Prior to acquiring BasePoint and becoming its Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Schneider was Co-Managing Member and Portfolio Manager of OCO Capital Partners LP, an investment adviser in New York City. Prior to co-founding OCO Capital Partners, Mr. Schneider was a portfolio manager with Omega Advisors, Inc. from 2011 to 2018. At Omega, Mr. Schneider was Co-Head of Structured Credit Investments, where among other responsibilities he oversaw Omega’s participation in BasePoint commercial financing transactions beginning in 2015. Mr. Schneider joined Omega in 2011 from Morgan Stanley, where he was Executive Director and Head of CLO Trading at the time of his departure. Mr. Schneider joined Morgan Stanley in 2004 where he began his career in credit investing and commercial lending. He holds a bachelor’s degree Cum Laude with distinctions in his major from Yale University.
Hugo Cordova
Head of Business Development, Life Insurance
Hugo Cordova joined Advantage in March 2018 to serve as a Client Services Manager. Hugo is responsible for all aspects of our Life Insurance policy issuance as well as for client relationship management and business development in Puerto Rico. Hugo started his career at Banco Santander in Puerto Rico in the Management Trainee program. He worked in the Commercial Lending Department and as a Branch Manager. In 2010 he was hired by Aon to provide Insurance Management Services to international insurers in Puerto Rico.
Hugo is a licensed CPA in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. He earned his BBA in Accounting from the University of Sacred Heart in Puerto Rico. He currently serves as the President of the Puerto Rico International Insurers Association.
Eduardo Colón
President, Advantage International Bank Corp.
Eduardo Colón is President of Advantage International Bank Corp., (“AIBC”), a private commercial bank intended to serve the needs of specialty insurance companies and their private clients. AIBC commenced operations on January 1, 2016. Eduardo has over 30 years of experience with leading banking, securities and non-bank financial services companies. Prior to joining Advantage in 2015, Eduardo was the Chief Operating Officer of Citi International Financial Services, a broker dealer subsidiary of Citibank. He has also been First Vice President of Corporate Banking of SunTrust Bank, Senior Vice President, Treasurer and Head of Corporate and Commercial of Scotiabank Puerto Rico, President of BBVA Securities Puerto Rico, Senior Vice President and Head of Capital Markets and Trading of Santander Securities and Vice president and General Manager of Chase Securities Puerto Rico. Eduardo earned his BBA from the University of Puerto Rico, Cum Laude and his MBA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Liam Fleming
Managing Director, Business Insurance
Liam Fleming is Managing Director of Advantage International Management (Cayman) Ltd and is primarily responsible for our captive insurance business in the Cayman Islands.
Liam has over 13 years’ experience in the captive insurance industry in Cayman having worked in Assurance Services with KPMG, Cayman Islands and two of the industry’s leading providers of captive management services prior to joining Advantage. Liam’s experience includes working with single parent health care captives, large reinsurance captives and both homogenous and heterogeneous group captives.
Liam is a qualified Chartered Accountant being a Fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland and a member of Cayman Islands Institute of Professional Accountants.
Claire Hutchinson
Senior Account Manager
Claire Hutchinson is a senior account manager for Advantage Insurance and has seven years of experience in the financial services sector, having worked in Assurance Services with PwC, South Africa, and Baker Tilly (Cayman) before joining Advantage Insurance. Her work experience includes banking, hedge funds, and captives domiciled in Puerto Rico and the Cayman Islands.
Claire is a qualified accountant being a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants, Cayman Islands Institute of Professional Accountants, and she is a CFA Exam Level III candidate.
Stuart Jessop
Chief Underwriting Officer, Life Insurance
Stuart Jessop joined Advantage in 2005 as a financial controller and today he is responsible for all life and business insurance underwriting functions. Stuart currently serves as our Chief Underwriting Officer. Prior to joining Advantage, Stuart worked at Coutts & Co. and at National Westminster Bank. He began his career as an auditor at Ernst & Young.
Christina Kindstedt
Managing Director, Business Insurance
Christina Kindstedt joined Advantage as Senior Vice President in 2017 after spending 14 years with Willis Towers Watson where she built and led its Risk Retention Group (“RRG”) Practice. She previously worked as a financial analyst at TD Bank before joining Willis. Christina has expertise in a broad spectrum of captive and alternative risk transfer mechanisms in many onshore and offshore domiciles. Christina manages client projects from initial conceptual discussion through feasibility and implementation stages and subsequently is involved in operational management.
Christina has an undergraduate degree in Finance and she holds an MBA from University of Vermont. In 2021 Christina was elected to the Board of Directors of the National Risk Retention Association (“NRRA”) the preeminent trade association for RRGs. For many years she has served on the Legislative Committee of the Vermont Captive Industry Association (VCIA) and NRRA’s Governance Affairs Committee. She also serves on the Conference and Membership Committees of VCIA and NRRA. Christina is a frequent speaker at conferences hosted by VCIA, NRRA, Captive Insurance Companies Association (CICA), Montana Captive Insurance Association (MCIA), and the Physician Insurers Association of America (PIAA.) She is a published author of articles in industry journals such as Risk Retention Reporter, Inside Medical Liability, and Contemporary OB/GYN.
Christina’s diverse clientele range from traditional insurance companies and privately held enterprises to Fortune 500 companies which include Chinese companies due to her native fluency in the language.
Andrea Mugglestone
Account Manager, Business Insurance
Andrea Mugglestone is an Account Manager for Advantage and has over 6 years of experience in the financial services sector in the Cayman Islands, having worked in Assurance Services with PwC, Cayman Islands and captive management services before joining Advantage. Andrea’s experience includes working in banking, hedge funds and reinsurance captives.
Andrea holds an undergraduate Bachelor of Commerce degree, Postgraduate Diploma in Taxation and a Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting, from Rhodes University, South Africa.
Andrea is a licensed Chartered Accountant being a member of both the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Cayman Islands Institute of Professional Accountants.
Mónica Pérez
Associate General Counsel
Mónica Pérez is our Associate General Counsel and Head of Client Services. She acts as an advisor to multiple insurance companies, for corporate matters and regulatory compliance while managing life insurance policy issuance and policyowner services. Monica joined Advantage in April 2016 a Client Services Manager. Mónica started her career at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York as an Operations Analyst. She worked with the Legal Aid Society of Puerto Rico and the Department of Consumer Affairs (DACO) as part of a legal aid clinic while attending law school full time. Mónica is admitted to practice law in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the U. S. District Court for Puerto Rico. She is also a licensed notary public in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Mónica earned her BSBA in Finance from the University of Puerto Rico. She holds a Juris Doctor, Magna Cum Laude from the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico School of Law.
Sherry Ricker
Vice President, Senior Client Service Manager, Business Insurance
Sherry Ricker joined Advantage in 2018 and serves as a Vice President. She is responsible for the day-to-day management of a portfolio of captives. Sherry’s responsibilities include acting as a liaison with regulators, shareholders, board of directors and other stakeholders; ensuring compliance with corporate governance and internal control standards; management and accuracy of captive financial activity, including annual audits, actuarial studies, tax filings, and integration of results in consolidated parent financial statements; and development of new and existing business relationships.
Sherry has over 15 years of captive experience. She held management positions at Willis Towers Watson and Marsh’s Captive Solutions Group. She worked as a Risk Finance Manager for ServiceMaster, and she has 8 years of public accounting experience. Sherry is a faculty member for International Center for Captive Insurance Education (“ICCIE”) and currently serves on their Board of Directors and finance committee.
Sherry is a Certified Public Accountant (Vermont) and a member of the Vermont Society of Certified Public Accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. She also holds the Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA), Associate in Risk Management for Public Entities (ARM-P), and Associate in Captive Insurance (ACI) designations.
Bernice Rodríguez
Head of Client Services
Bernice Rodríguez joined Advantage in October 2016 to serve as Client Services Manager for our Life Insurance division in Puerto Rico. She started her career at Popular Insurance LLC where she worked in the Legal and Compliance Department and in the Commercial Title Department. Bernice also worked with Reichard & Escalera LLC in areas of Litigation and Labor and Employment Law. She earned her B.S. in Communications from the University of Puerto Rico and holds a Juris Doctor, Magna Cum Laude from the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico Law School. Bernice is admitted to practice law in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the U. S. District Court for Puerto Rico.