FirstBest Adds Board Members, Creates Advisory Board

Lexington, Mass. — FirstBest Systems Inc. has named insurance industry veteran William Jenkins and investor Michael Toporek to its board of directors. In addition, the firm has created a strategic advisory board (SAB), which extends and advises the FirstBest board of directors and executive management team. Leonard C.G. (Geoff) Smith and Steven Friedman have been named to the SAB. Headquartered in Lexington, Mass., FirstBest Systems was formed in 2006 with seasoned leadership and funding from NextStage LLC, a private equity firm.

FirstBest's founders are former executives of BEA Systems, partners of NextStage, and entrepreneurs, including John Belizaire, chief executive officer; Joseph Pilkerton, chief operating office; and Julian Pelenur, chief technology officer. Joining the co-founders on the board of directors are William Jenkins and Michael Toporek.

Jenkins is a chartered property casualty underwriter and currently vice president and chief information officer of Penn National Insurance, with more than 30 years of insurance industry experience on both the brokerage and carrier sides. Toporek currently is a managing general partner of Brookstone Partners, a private equity firm he co-founded in 2003 after more than a decade of investment banking experience with Fortune 500 companies.

Source: First Best Systems Inc.