EXECUTIVE TEAM

Larry joined Merchants Bonding Company in 1989 and currently serves as Chairman of the Board and President. He is a member of the executive committee of the Surety & Fidelity Association of America (SFAA) board of directors, a Trustee of the SFAA Foundation, and a member of the board of directors of NAMIC Insurance Company (NAMICO), where he serves on the Investment Committee and the Corporate Governance Committee. He is also a board member of the Greater Des Moines Partnership, a United Way campaign volunteer, and a board member of the Hoyt Sherman Place Foundation.

Larry served as Chairman of the Board of the SFAA from 2018 to 2020 and President of the SFAA Foundation from 2022-2026 and now serves as the Foundation's Immediate Past President. He is a past board member of the Master Builders of Iowa Associate Council, past President of the Board of Directors of Youth Homes of Mid-America, and past Chairman of the National Association of Independent Sureties. He is a graduate of Purdue University.

Elisabeth joined Merchants Bonding Company in 2023, after serving as Chief Financial Officer for three operating units of W.R. Berkley Corporation. Elisabeth was Chief Financial Officer at GuideOne Insurance until 2021, after more than a decade in various strategy, innovation, and finance roles at Thrivent Financial in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Elisabeth began her career at Ernst & Young, working in both Des Moines and Minneapolis. Elisabeth serves on the Board of Trustees of EveryStep and as President of the Luther College Alumni Council. She earned her B.A. at Luther College in Accounting, Economics, and Spanish and obtained a Master of Business Administration degree in Strategy and Finance from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. Elisabeth is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA). She is a member of the Iowa Society of CPAs (ISCPA) and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and is active in the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC), Surety and Fidelity Association of America (SFAA) and Women in Surety (WIS).

David Hewett is a senior surety executive with more than 30 years of experience in underwriting, portfolio management, construction finance, and risk strategy. As Chief Underwriting Officer at Merchants Bonding Company since 2021, he is responsible for underwriting strategy, portfolio quality, risk selection, and disciplined growth.

In his career, David has been focused on building profitable, resilient books of business through rigorous financial analysis, thoughtful risk segmentation, and a strong understanding of contractor performance across market cycles on both the carrier and brokerage sides of the business. He has extensive experience evaluating construction companies ranging from emerging contractors to organizations with more than $10 billion in annual revenue, with particular expertise in liquidity, leverage, backlog quality, geographic expansion, operational execution, and loss prevention. David also maintains a strong interest in data, analytics, and emerging technologies that can improve underwriting precision, portfolio visibility, and risk-adjusted returns across the surety industry.

Jason joined Merchants Bonding Company’s Contract Underwriting department in 1998 and has held several positions leading to his current role as Senior Vice President, National Contract Surety Leader. He was appointed a member of the Executive Committee in 2021. He is a member of the National Association of Surety Bond Producers, serves as the Vice Chair of the Surety & Fidelity Association of America’s Contract Bond Advisory Committee and is active in the National Association of Independent Sureties (NAIS). Jason is a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa.

Jim joined Merchants Bonding Company in 2004 to lead the Commercial Surety department as Assistant Vice President. Currently he is the Senior Vice President, Commercial Surety. Prior to Merchants, Jim was with Western Surety and CNA Surety. He serves on the Surety & Fidelity Association of America’s (SFAA) Commercial Advisory Committee, Compliance Commercial Sub-committee, and Fiduciary Commercial Sub-committee lead. Jim has also been an instructor at the National Association of Independent Sureties (NAIS) Surety School. He has lectured at the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business Vaughn Institute and addressed the National Association of Secretaries of State on surety bonding. Jim represented the surety industry on the Iowa Supreme Court’s Guardianship and Conservatorship Reform Task Force from 2015-2017. He attended the University of South Dakota.

Steve joined Merchants Bonding Company in 1995 as a Contract Underwriter, later holding the titles of Senior Contract Underwriter and Assistant Vice President. He joined the Claims department in 2012, became Vice President, Claims and was appointed to the Executive Committee. In 2021, Steve assumed a new role as Senior Vice President leading our Specialty Solutions division. He serves on the Surety Claims and Government Affairs committees for the Surety & Fidelity Association of America. Steve is a graduate of Luther College.

Melíssa Harden joined Merchants Bonding Company as Chief Marketing and Communications Officer in 2025, bringing more than 15 years of experience driving market growth and customer-focused transformation.

Prior to joining Merchants, Melíssa served as Vice President and Group Director of Search Intelligence at Digitas, where she led multidisciplinary teams and partnered with Fortune 5 clients to develop forward-looking strategies in an evolving AI-driven search and commerce landscape. She previously held senior leadership roles at intentX and Meredith Corporation, where she built and led SEO-driven editorial and commerce teams. Earlier in her career, Melíssa founded and scaled FoxChase Digital and served as Digital Marketing Director at Blue Compass.

Melíssa earned her Bachelor of Arts in English, with a focus in English and Latino Studies, from Iowa State University. She is a recognized thought leader and frequent speaker on digital strategy, search intelligence, and practical AI transformation.

Brad joined Merchants Bonding Company in 2014. Prior to joining Merchants, he served as Senior Director of Sales & Marketing Technology Delivery at Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Iowa and as CIO at GeoLearning, Inc. Brad has held numerous technology and business leadership positions in organizations ranging from start-ups to large enterprises.

He is an active member and former board chair of the Technology Association of Iowa. He also serves as Technology Executive in Residence for TAI, providing leadership and education to Iowa’s technology industry. Brad is active in the community through his board service with Goodwill of Central Iowa. He is a graduate of the University of Iowa.

Jay joined Merchants Bonding Company in 2015 as Assistant Vice President, Claims. In 2021, Jay was appointed Vice President, Claims and a member of the Executive Committee. Prior to joining Merchants, Jay practiced law at a Des Moines-based firm in the construction and surety industry.

Jay serves on the Board of Directors of the National Bond Claims Association (NBCA), a member of the Surety & Fidelity Association of America (SFAA) Surety Claims Advisory Committee, and the American Bar Association (ABA) Fidelity & Surety Law Committee. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Kansas and his Juris Doctor from Washburn University School of Law.

Stacey joined Merchants Bonding Company™ in 2018 and quickly made a positive impact on Merchants’ strategic associate growth initiatives. She serves on the Diversity & Human Resources Committee of the Surety & Fidelity Association of America and is actively involved in several other human resources leadership groups.

Stacey graduated from Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois, with a B.S. in Human Resource Management and later earned her M.S. in Organizational Development from Iowa State University.