OUR MANAGEMENT TEAM
Lucas J. Quaccia, CLU®, ChFC®, CLF®, RICP®
Managing Partner
A native of Oakdale in California’s Central Valley, Luke graduated from Stanford University with a degree in Economics. Following that, he played baseball in the St. Louis Cardinals farm system for three years. He joined New York Life in 2000 as an agent in the Stockton GO in California. After qualifying for Executive Council three times, Luke transitioned into his role as Partner in 2003, earned Senior Partner in September 2008, and was promoted to Managing Partner of the Chicago North Shore General Office in February 2009. In May of 2015, he was able to return home to lead the Central California General Office in their next chapter of growth.
Luke loved the autonomy the career of the agent provided him and the impact that he could have on the families he served. As the Managing Partner, he has the same kind of impact on the agents he hires and develops as well as the Partners whose management careers he helps to launch. In addition to a desire to help people, Luke believes that keys to success at the New York Life are a passion for winning, being coachable, and the ability to adapt rapidly.
Luke resides in Fresno and has been married to his wife Michelle for 23 years after meeting her in Peoria, IL. They have four children Grace, Jack, Joseph, and Brianna. In addition to being actively involved in his church and coaching his kids, he enjoys time with his family, traveling, and mentoring.
“You must have a passion to continually get better. A coach of mine at Stanford used to say that a player was either getting better or getting worse, but no one ever stays the same. This career as well as life is a direct reflection of that.”
Kyle Carano
Partner
Kyle is a native of Fresno, where he attended Herbert Hoover High School and CSU Fresno on a track and field scholarship. After completing his education, Kyle worked for Costco Wholesale for 12 years while also coaching track and field at Fresno City College.
Kyle began his career with New York Life in December of 2015 as he aspired to impact families and business owners in the field of financial literacy. He went on to qualify for two consecutive Executive Councils in 2016 and 2017 and made the decision to move into management as an associate partner. Kyle enjoys seeing his success through the lens of others, as he has always gravitated towards a coaching role. As the son of a small business owner, he knows that success does not come easy, and that it requires both hard work and integrity.
Kyle and his wife, Allison, have called Fresno home since they married in 2014. The couple has three children: Christian (11), Austen (9) and Makenna (7). The Caranos love spending time together as a family and enjoy traveling and following sports.
Sean Allen
Associate Partner
Sean grew up in Fresno CA and attended Clovis West High School, Fresno City College and earned a bachelor’s degree from California State University of Fresno in Business Management and Organizational Leadership, as well as earning a certificate in Entrepreneurship. After college, Sean became a professional baseball umpire. He worked 11 years in the MILB, competing in the following leagues: Arizona League, Pioneer League, Midwest League, California League, Colombian Winter League, Texas League and finished in AAA with the Pacific Coast League.
Sean triggered his career with New York Life in June of 2022 as an agent after finishing his D-1 college baseball season. He made Executive council in his first year and earned the Class Leader award. Sean continued as an agent in the fast-track program and earned New Associate of the year in 2023 and has now made the switch to Associate Partner. Sean enjoys the process of selecting, hiring, training and developing agents and managing a team.
Sean is married to Kristin whom he’s known for 25 years. They have a daughter Rylee and a son Jack. They live in the Riverstone Community in Madera and continue to call the Central Valley home. The whole family enjoys professional sports and the outdoors.
Michael Oliphant, CLU®, ChFC®, FSCP®, CLF®, LUTCF®
Director of Development
Michael Oliphant is the Director of Development for the Central California General Office of New York Life. Michael began his career in the insurance and financial services industry in 1991 with MetLife. In 1996, joined New York Life as an agent in the Visalia sales office qualifying for Council every year until 2001 when he joined the management team as the Sales Development Manager. In 2007, he took the opportunity to become a product consultant for the company and supported various product offerings and company initiatives.
In 2017, Michael rejoined the Central California General Office as the Director of Development. His main responsibilities are new agent training and support in the field by meeting with agents and their prospective clients.
Michael continues to be a student of the business and has earned his CLU®, ChFC®, FSCP®, CLF® and LUTCF® designations as well having his Series 6, 63, 7 and 22 securities licenses. Michael resides in Visalia, Ca with his three children, Jared, Riley, Kyle and his Boston Terrier, Daisy.
Shiva Pourvakil
Director of Agency Standards
Shiva began her career in the Financial Services Industry in 2006 as a Financial Advisor in Fresno, CA. Shiva’s innate leadership skills combined with her attention to detail led her on a fast-track path to leadership roles within the Financial Industry. This included being an Office Manager for a top producing Financial Services Firm. She was later promoted to the District Advisor’s Office Manager with responsibility of supervising the employees within the district as well as providing operational resources to the agents. In addition, Shiva had the pleasure of leading an Office of Supervisory Jurisdiction (OSJ) as the Vice President of Operations and the Supervisory Principal for several years for another Financial Firm before joining New York Life in 2016.
As a result of her strong and extensive background in leadership, compliance, operations, and sales, Shiva has become an integral part of our General Office and the Management team.
Shiva currently holds FINRA Series 7,63,66, and 24 Licenses, as well as California and Texas Life/Health/Variable Annuities Licenses. Shiva’s educational background is in Science, Nursing, and Arts. English is Shiva’s 4th learned language. She has a deep passion for all animals and has been involved in rescuing, healing, and finding forever homes for each of them.
Vicki Vang, ALMI
Service Leader
Vicki’s career with New York Life began in 2015 at the Santa Clara General Office as a new business representative. In June 2016, Vicki began participating in the Field Service Leadership Development Program, which enabled her to learn all General Office Processes and contributed to her promotion to Senior Representative in 2017. In January 2019, she was promoted to Service Leader for the Reno General Office and re-developed the framework of Service and contributed her leadership skills to the new growth of the Reno General Office. In April 2020, she transitioned to the Central California General Office as the Service Leader back in her hometown Fresno. Vicki graduated from the University of California, Riverside, with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and an EMBA with California State University of Fresno.
*Council is an annual company recognition program based on agent production from July 1- June 30.