Built on dependable people and solid service.

My passion is helping people solve financial risks and problems through some type of insurance solution. I'm a people-pleaser and naturally I want to help people. Family has always been important to me. I was lucky enough to grow up in an "insurance business family" — my uncle and father started and grew an agency when I was 6, so the insurance business is really all I have known.

I grew up in Orange City, Iowa (or "Dutchville" as some say) and went to Northwestern College in the same town. After college, I moved to Des Moines. My career started at the Principal Financial Group as an information analyst, then 5 years as a commercial lines underwriter for Continental Western Group, and 11 years as a broker/agent/partner for the Van Engelenhoven Agency, Inc. At the family agency I was able to learn from my dad, Dave.

My agency concentration was on commercial lines, handling a book of business about $2,500,000 in volume — municipalities, a private liberal arts college, bio-tech companies, non-profits and churches, radiation oncology manufacturer, daycares, retail, plastic manufacturers, metal fabricators, car and motorcycle dealerships, truckers, propane dealers, contractors of every size, and agricultural-related accounts including equipment manufacturers, elevators, feed mills and implement dealerships.

In 2011 my family and I moved to Steamboat Springs, Colorado where I opened Yampa Valley Insurance Agency, which is still growing today. In Colorado, a partner and I also owned four restaurants — I performed every job that existed in them. A humbling experience that taught me what every business owner faces.

After losing my dad on November 28, 2021, my wife Ana Proano and I decided to move back to the Midwest to be closer to my mother Marilyn. We chose Sioux Falls and started a new agency: Hammerstone Insurance Group.

I'm licensed in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Washington state, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. I specialize in commercial and business insurance of all sizes and types, personal insurance for families, and supplemental insurance for all needs. I'm an insurance professional that will work hard for you.

— Paul