Our Team

Lou Moreno, Senior Vice President, Corporate Counsel, Branch Manager

Lou Moreno has been providing business and insurance counsel and advice to Architects and Engineers for over 14 years. For the past 11 years he has been doing so as General Counsel and Senior Vice President of Professional Practice Insurance Brokers, Inc. He is a licensed attorney and insurance broker specializing in the delivery of professional liability risk management services to large architecture and engineering firms. As the lead insurance broker and advisor to some of the U.S.A’s largest A/E firms, he has developed a particular expertise in the placement and management of project specific insurance programs for large commercial, mixed-use, and residential projects with construction valued from $20 Million to over $ 750 Million (including hard-to-place risks like condominiums and hotel-condos). He is also in-house counsel to Heffernan Professional Practices Group. Prior to joining PPIB, he was Corporate Counsel and Assistant Corporate Secretary for the Western Region of Law Engineering and Environmental Services, Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. Moreno is a graduate of the University of Houston and received his law degree from Loyola Law School in 1992. He is currently admitted to the California State Bar, writes and lectures often on risk management topics of interest to the A/E community, and sits on the ACEC-CA Business Management and Insurance and BPELS Committees and is an active member of AIA, AIA-CC, PSMA, ACEC, ACEC-CA and AEPronet.

George DeWalt, Senior Vice President, Branch Manager

George DeWalt has been servicing the design community as a practicing attorney and insurance broker since his graduation from UCLA Law in 1973. For the past 20 years, he has been with Professional Practice Insurance Brokers having served as President for 10 years. His background includes being a Claims Vice President for Design Professionals Insurance Company (DPIC), a carrier specializing in Design Professionals. Mr. DeWalt was a Litigation Partner in two large law firms in California also specializing in Design Professionals and construction related litigation. Mr. DeWalt graduated from Whittier College with a B.A. and Masters Degrees. He is currently a member of the California, Washington State and Missouri State Bar. He has lectured and conducted loss prevention seminars to a wide variety of Design Professionals all across the United States. He is a member of AE ProNet, ACEC, PSMA and an honorary member of the California Geotechnical Engineering Association.

John Feeney, Assistant Vice President

John Feeney has designed, sold and underwritten insurance on a senior level basis for 30 years including; professional
liability, director’s and officer’s liability for a variety of specialized industry groups on a regional and national basis. His
experience addresses the full spectrum of broker-client services, such as developing strategies to:
• Achieve client goals
• Analyze benefits offered by insurance company products-services
• Identify external business and contractual threats
• Pursue risk management-containment options
• Adjust strategies to changing conditions
Former employers where John serviced client interests include: Aon, Swett & Crawford, Firemans Fund, Shand Morahan, and Catlin USA, an affiliate of Lloyds of London.
Professional/Advisory - He is a longstanding member of the Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS); of which he currently is a Northern California Chapter Steering Committee member. He has lectured at continuing trade association educational functions, such as the Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriters (CPCU), PLUS and the Risk Insurance Management Society (RIMS).
John is the co-author of Law & Risk Management (2000ed) a 700-page professional designation course manual for the Building Owners & Managers Institute (BOMI), an affiliate of Building Owners & Managers Association (BOMA).

Young Suk, Vice President

Young Suk joined Heffernan Group in March of 2009 as Vice President in the Professional Practice division. Prior to joining the Heffernan Group, Young was a producer and commercial lines manager at Professional Practice Insurance Brokers (PPIB), a subsidiary of Hilb Rogal & Hobbs (HRH) which later became Willis-HRH. Young brings over 15 years of insurance experience with his expertise ranging from Architects & Engineers to Healthcare Professionals. For past 10 years he has focused his career in specializing in products and services for design professionals.
Young is a devoted husband and father of three. He resides in Irvine, CA with his lovely wife Mia, and three fun loving children Thomas, Kristen and Kaitlyn.