Meet Our Team

Cy Smoller

Cy, a graduate of Chelsea High School (1946) and attended NYU before serving in the Army, served as manager of the Winthrop branch of the Metro Credit Union while founding Smoller Insurance Agency in 1953 on Atlantic Ave. in Boston. In 1976 he moved the agency to 335 Boylston Street, Newton, MA where it still stands today.

Community service and engagement was very important to Cy. He served as President of the Temple Reyim Brotherhood, as Co-President of the Temple Reyim PTA with his wife Jo-Anne, the Board of Directors for Metro Credit Union and Wollaston Credit Union, President of the Winthrop Rotary Club, Board member at the Brookline, Brighton, Newton Jewish Community Center and Vice President of Camp Bauercrest as well as an Honorary Life member of the Bauercrest Board.

Cy was all about family and service. He built his practice on knowledge, trust and making those with whom he did business feel like family. He always preached “anyone could get an insurance license, but to be successful, one must be responsive, compassionate and available to service clients in need.” This lesson was passed on to his children, Mark & Judy, his grandchildren Billy, Rachel, Ian & Sam, and his great-grandchildren, Gabe, Emma & Sophie. For as long as the family continues to grow and expand Smoller Insurance Agency, Cy’s legacy teachings will live on!

Fun Fact: Cy was the captain of his high school basketball team

Mark Smoller

Mark, a graduate of Newton South High School and UMass-Amherst, started his insurance career in 1977 selling life insurance for State Mutual of America. He stayed with SMA from 1977-1994 during which time he was Inducted into the State Mutual Hall of Fame for averaging a sale a week for 10 years and became a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) in 1984. Mark then moved to Penn Mutual from 1994-1996, where he was awarded the agency leader in policies written in 1994.

Following in his father’s footsteps regarding community service and engagement, Mark was a volunteer coach for soccer, basketball, baseball and softball in Needham for over a decade. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the old Brookline, Brighton, Newton Jewish Community Center, where he was the Membership chair. He is currently the Chairman of the Board at Metro Credit Union, a Board he has sat on since 1999. Mark was President of the Camp Bauercrest Board of Directors for 15 years, a Board he first was elected to in 1987 and currently serves as an Honorary Lifetime Past President.

His philosophy is to “give back”. Both in the community and to his clients. “It’s about engagement and availability…lessons passed down to me by my dad…and a lesson I’ve passed on to my children, Billy and Rachel.

Fun Fact: Mark served as Chancellor of his fraternity, Tau Epsilon Phi in 1976.

Billy Smoller

Billy Graduated from Needham High School in 2003 and UMass-Amherst in 2007 with a BA in Sports Management. After spending 15 months at Metro Credit Union in their management training division, he decided to join the family business in January of 2009. Since that time, he has helped in tripling the size of the company and bring a modern feel to its throwback style.

Starting as young as 14 years old, Billy has always been an avid volunteer in the community. It started with umpiring Needham Little League and refereeing Needham St. Joes basketball games, and then graduated to coaching. Like his father, grandfather and great-grandfather before him, Billy has served on the Board of Directors at Camp Bauercrest for the past 10 years, chairing a number of committees.

Billy is a very family and relationship-oriented person. When you become a client at Smoller Insurance, you become part of the family. His goal is to always make the members of the Smoller Insurance family feel heard, safe, and welcome.

Fun Fact: Billy Co-Hosted a short-lived radio show on Money Matters Radio

Lovelynn Ivey

Lovelynn, a California native, has over 20 years’ experience managing companies. She has owned her own business, grown small family businesses, and developed profitable divisions of large companies.

Community involvement is also close to Lovelynn’s heart. She served on the boards of Meeting Planner’s International, Association of Bridal Consultants, and Temple Shalom of Newton. Her volunteer work spans from Brides Against Breast cancer, to Mito Action to Medicines for Humanities. She has passed these passions on to her children who volunteer for the Newton Food Pantry, Temple Shalom of Newton and Heifer International.

Lovelynn’s passion for marketing gives her a unique client facing perspective to preserve Smoller Insurance Agency’s culture of doing whatever it takes to help the client feel save. You will find her behind the scenes keeping the agency running smoothly so the team has all the tools they need to assist our family of clients.

Fun Fact: After an early career in dance, theater, and film, Lovelynn became an Event Producer for many years. During that time, she served as the technical advisor on the blockbuster movie “Wedding Crashers” and even plays a wedding planner in the movie.

Danielle Johnson

Danielle is a graduate of Woodstock Academy and Southern New Hampshire University. She began her career in insurance working for Mapfre Insurance as a Personal Lines Producer over 5 years ago and brings a wealth of experience across the personal lines of insurance, offering solutions based on individual and family needs. Danielle has proven herself to be an exceptional resource and ally for all her clients over the years. Her insurance expertise covers the entire New England area, with licensing in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. Danielle joined Smoller Insurance Agency in 2020 and is known for providing top notch customer service no matter what the task is. In the same year that Smoller appointed Traveler’s Insurance, Danielle received their prestigious S.T.A.R. Award (Superior Travelers Agent Recognition). Danielle continues to uphold these high standards in all her work.

Danielle resides in Connecticut with her husband and daughter and maintains a strong connection within her hometown community. She is involved with various outreach organizations such as the United Way and the Pomfret Recreation committee.

Fun Fact: While in California, Danielle was featured in an episode of “Food Paradise”, a show on the Travel Channel!

Taryn Masse

Taryn was born and raised in New Hampshire and has been in the Insurance industry for four years. She specializes in Commercial Lines and loves getting to know her customers and building relationships with each and every one of them. She has been part of our team since January 2022, what a great way to start off the new year! Though she lives two hours away from our office, she still makes it a point to visit us & see her Smoller family.

When Taryn is not doing insurance, she enjoys seeing her friends, eating Mexican food, and spending time with her Dachshund/Chihuahua mix named Finley. As a dog mom, Taryn is very passionate about all thing’s animals, and participates in the ASPCA Paws Walk every year. This event helps raise funds that provide lifesaving care for pets in need.

Fun Fact: Taryn has lived in both Fort Bragg, CA and San Diego, CA.

Jessica Cosner

Jessica has been part of the insurance industry since 2013. Her roles have included servicing, remarking, and training clients and colleagues on auto, home, and umbrella policies, with experience at both carriers and agencies. She is a friendly, energetic individual who enjoys establishing personal connections and building enduring, impactful relationships.

Originally from Southern NH, Jessica now lives in quiet Central Mass with her husband, three wild and courageous daughters, and two dogs. Passionate about all types of motorcycles and cars, she grew up riding on the back of motorcycles and now has been riding on her own for 8 years. Jessica and her husband enjoy long-distance travel on two wheels in her free time to other parts of the country. Jessica is heavily involved with a motorcycle community for women and is passionate about empowering other women to be brave and step outside their comfort zones doing things they never imagined possible on two wheels.

Fun fact – Jessica and her husband are certified Motorcycle safety instructors who teach the new rider course to incoming motorcyclists!

Sarah Turchinetz-White

Sarah was born in Massachusetts, raised in New Hampshire, and graduated from Dover High School in 2016. She enjoys reading, snowboarding, and spending time with her loved ones.

After a career as a color specialist with her own hair business, Sarah transitioned into the Commercial insurance field and joined the Smoller Family. She works behind the scenes, ensuring that all our business policies are in order.

Since 2018, Sarah has been an active member of the Loyal Order of the Moose. This non-profit organization focuses on charitable efforts for youth, seniors, and the community.

Fun Fact: Right after high school, Sarah and her best friend embarked on a summer road trip, driving coast to coast from New Hampshire to California and back.

Kevin Lezama

Growing up as a first generation of immigrant parents, Kevin knew from a very young age he always wanted to give back and help communities as much as he could.

That is why he became an insurance agent in 2019 at Liberty Mutual! He worked at Geico and then an independent agency before joining the family at Smoller Insurance Agency in 2023. Kevin excels at protecting families, their businesses, and everything they have worked hard for. “To be there for someone in their most vulnerable moments and to assure them that everything will be okay is an indescribable feeling”.

Kevin is fluent in English and Spanish and has a huge passion for traveling! In his spare time, other than traveling, he enjoys going to different restaurants and events around the city and supporting local businesses.

Fun Fact: Kevin is a proud dog dad of a beagle who has dwarfism and alopecia. He is the most amazing dog in the world and is totally spoiled rotten!

Claudia Arambulo

As a Customer Service Representative, Claudia excels at using empathy and compassion while speaking with and helping our clients. She started in the insurance world in 2022, and quickly realized that this is the place she loves to be. Passionate about learning new cultures and languages, Claudia is fluent in Spanish, English, and Italian, and is currently learning Portuguese so she can help the growing number of Portuguese clients we insure. Claudia is passionate about helping minorities and is committed to voluntary work for people in need. She loves traveling and seeing new places and is a dog mom to a cute tiny schnauzer named Kabu.

Fun Fact: Claudia once went on an intercultural exchange to Montana where it was negative 14 degrees! Living in Peru, that was a big change for her!

Valeria Palacios

Valeria is a dedicated bilingual Insurance Customer Service Representative with a passion for helping customers navigate the complex world of insurance. Fluent in both English and Spanish, and with 7 years of experience in the customer service, she is dedicated to helping others with clear communication and understanding. Valeria focuses on continually expanding her knowledge of personal and commercial lines insurance to help our clients and advance her career in this industry. Valeria graduated with a degree in Marketing from Technical Institute Zegel IPAE and has worked as an English teacher creating dynamic classes for young people and adults. She loves to help others and donates dog and cat food to animal shelters as often as she can. 5 years ago, she adopted a stray, Chewbacca, who has never left her side.

Fun Fact: Valerie loves going to concerts and even travels internationally to see her favorite artists such as Taylor Swift.