Lori Augustyniak 
President
Lori was born and raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana, so yes she’s a Hoosier by heart. Lori is a graduate of Indiana University and started her career as a Certified Public Accountant, (CPA). Lori moved to Florida in 1989 and has never regretted it. She began her insurance career back in 1996 with Nationwide Insurance. At Nationwide, Lori spent four years as an Agency Manager and then another four years as a business consultant. Finally tired of travelling and being away from her family Lori purchased the Gehrich Agency in 2004. Her first year as an agent, there were four hurricanes in six weeks – welcome to the agency world!
Lori is happily married with three children (all girls) and three dogs (two girls and one boy). Her husband insisted on having at least one more male in the house.
When Lori is not busy running the agency she enjoys spending time with her family going to Disneyworld or snow skiing in Colorado.
In addition to her CPA license Lori also holds the CIC – Certified Insurance Counselor designation and is a Dale Carnegie graduate.
Connie Lehman
Senior Protection Specialist
Personal Lines
Connie joined the Horizon Team in May 2006. Connie was born and raised in Bradenton, Florida attended Manatee High School and MCC now the State College of Florida. Connie started in the insurance industry in 1984 and has worked in both the agency side and company side of the business.
Connie is currently enrolled in the CSR Mastery program where upon completion she’ll earn her CMSR (Certified Master Service Representative) designation and as if one designation is not enough Connie is also working towards her CISR (Certified Insurance Service Representative) designation.
Connie is married with two grown children and three beautiful grandchildren.
Connie enjoys family outings to Theme Parks, the beach, Camping, Fishing, Concerts and Road Trips. She loves to cook and watch a good movie. Connie attends church with her family. Overall she loves being around her grandchildren as they are such a joy to be with and so amazing to watch as they respond to new adventures.
Erin Fleeman
Senior Protection Specialist
Personal Lines
Erin joined Horizon Insurance in August of 2006. Erin actually got her first taste of insurance while still in high school when she worked at the Ernie Gehrich Agency. Erin started in insurance in 1990. She took a break from insurance to obtain her bachelor’s degree from the University of Central Florida. Erin was born in Englewood, Colorado and moved to Florida in 1985. In May of 2008, Erin successfully earned her CMSR designation (Certified Master Service Representative) by enrolling in the year-long intense training program. The CSR Mastery training is a international training program. Upon completion of the course Erin received the wonderful news that she had finished as one of the Top Ten in her class. Erin enjoys evaluating client’s needs and finding them the right insurance protection.
Erin is married with one wonderful daughter. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with family, playing soccer and golf.
Erin is also a Sushi Fanatic!!!!
Terri Kerrigan
Protection Specialist
Personal Lines
Terri joined our team in November of 2010. She was born and raised in Florida. Terri has been in the insurance industry since 1990 and has seen a lot of changes occur during that time. Terri began her insurance career working for an agency and then decided she wanted to know how the other half lived so she went to work for a major insurance company. After completing a year of service with that organization Terri made the decision to return to the agency side as that was the best fit for her. She feels that this experience provided her with the ability to understand both sides of insurance but allows her to better assist clients on a personal level.
Terri currently holds a Certified Professional Insurance Associate (CPIA) designation and a Certified Master Service Representative (CMSR) designation. She is also working towards obtaining the Certified Insurance Service Representative (CISR) designation.
Terri is married to an amazing husband and together they have two wonderful sons. During her free time, she enjoys traveling with her family.
Terri is based in our Port Charlotte office and is available to assist all of our clients with their protection needs no matter where you live.
Sheryl Everard
Protection Specialist
Personal Lines
Sheryl joined Horizon Insurance in June of 2011. She was born in California relocated to New Jersey when she was seven, where she graduated from Vineland High School in 1983. Sheryl relocated to Bradenton, FL in October 1984, where she began her career in the insurance industry. She left the industry for a short time to pursue other passions only to find that insurance is her true passion. Sheryl loves helping clients protect what is important to them. Sheryl is honored to return to the insurance industry with such an outstanding company.
Sheryl obtained her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Central Florida in Entomology. She is currently pursuing her MBA from the University of Phoenix.
Sheryl is married with two Basenjis (one male and one female), one male African Grey Red Factor parrot, and one male tom cat.
Sheryl enjoys traveling, reading, and spending time with her family.
Tom Getz
Life and Health Agent
Tom was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana and moved to Florida in 2006 with his wife of many years (30+). That’s also when Tom joined Horizon Insurance to handle the life and health division. Tom brings a diverse background in Insurance and sales experiences over the past 35 years and has worked all over the country. Tom is well versed in both life and health insurance and enjoys helping people protect what’s most important to them and their families..
Tom and his wife have four children and 10 grandchildren. They both enjoy cooking, sports plus the wife greatly enjoys her flowers and gardening which keeps Tom pretty busy as well! And of course Tom and his lovely wife enjoy spending time with their diverse family.
Ken Prachar, Jr.
Protection Specialist
Commercial Lines
Ken was born and raised in Rahway, New Jersey, and moved to Florida in the summer of 2005. Ken joined the Horizon team in October of 2008. Prior to his joining the team, he was in the construction industry for over 15 years as an operating engineer. A spine injury made it necessary for him to make a career path change, and after some guidance from friends in the insurance industry, set out to achieve his General Lines 2-20 license ON HIS OWN! A year later, license in hand, he came to Horizon and never looked back. Ken is also a commercial landscaping professional, and also demonstrated proficiency in the kitchen, as he was a line chef in a few fine dining establishments in New Jersey.
Ken is happily married with one beautiful daughter, 2 dogs and 1 cat.
After office hours, Ken spends as much time with his family as he can, and is also a girls’ fastpitch travel ball coach. This year he has joined the coaching staff at Lennard High School for the upcoming girls’ fastpitch season. In the event that travelling around the southeast for softball tournaments doesn’t eat up all of his free time, you can most likely find him on his boat, prowling the flats of Tampa Bay.
Ken draws on his experience in the commercial world, and because of this, understands the ins and outs of many types of businesses better than the average commercial agent.
Jules Jessup
Agency Administrator
Jules was born in Melrose Massachusetts and resided there for 35 years before moving to Florida. She has been in the insurance industry with over 21 years of experience. Jules received her Certificate in General Insurance and Accredited Adviser in Insurance designation. Jules is married and has three children. In her free time, Jules teaches dance and loves to go to amusement parks.
Side Note: Lori first meet Jules back in 2005 when Jules taught dance to Lori’s three daughters. As fate would have it a couple of years later Jules was looking for a job in the insurance area and found Augustyniak (Horizon Insurance) in the Chamber of Commerce Directory. It’s funny how things work out!
Amanda Wilson
Director of First Impressions
Amanda was born and raised in Bradenton, Florida and graduated from the University of South Florida December of 2008 with a Bachelors degree in Criminology. Amanda is the daughter of two loving parents and a doting grandmother who live almost across the street from her in Bradenton, Florida. In her free time, Amanda likes to play a variety of video games and read a good book. She is a second degree black belt as well as a certified Taekwondo instructor!
Amanda started working for Horizon Insurance in March 2011 as the Director of First Impressions and loves getting to meet all of our clients!