Management Team

Brett earned a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Nicholls State University where he was a collegiate baseball player.  Two weeks after graduating college in June 2008, he joined the New York Life Mississippi General Office.  He worked out of the Hattiesburg, MS Sales Office as an Agent.  He received several awards during his time as an Agent: 2008 Career Life Producer, 2009 Best Year Ever, 2010 New Org Associate of the Year, 2010 Life All Star, 2010 Annuity Champion.  He also achieved Executive Council in both 2009 & 2010.

Brett was promoted to Partner in the Hattiesburg, MS Sales Office in April of 2011.  He was awarded Gathering of Eagles in 2012 & 2013, and also qualified for Top 50 Partner in 2014.  By July of 2016, Brett had grown the Hattiesburg, MS Sales Office from 4 Agents, to 25 Agents.

Brett was promoted to Managing Partner of the Memphis General Office in July of 2016.  As a Managing Partner, he qualified for New York Life's Round Table Award in 2018 & 2019.  The Memphis General Office won 3 National Trophies under Brett's leadership.


In March of 2021, Brett was promoted to Managing Partner of the Tampa General Office. Brett and his family are very excited to have the opportunity to come to Tampa!  Brett and his wife Tiffany have two children, daughter Ada and son Witt. 

Sonja Gaiter is a Partner providing sophisticated client services to individuals and families since 1994.  Beginning in Clearwater Florida as a Career Agent, her expertise includes maximizing financial portfolios with insurance plans across the health, life, and annuity categories. Sonja joined The New York Life Insurance Company with a continued commitment in creating financial legacies for her clients and earned the Partner appointment at the Tampa General Office in 2017. Currently, she is responsible for the on-going recruitment and development processes of the Tampa General Office Agents. She strategizes performance analyses with Agents, including the support of specialized case-by-case management training to their encouragement. Sonja is registered with FINRA, holding both Series 6 and Series 63 licenses. She is also a two-year Executive Council* veteran and multi-year sales leader. Sonja Gaiter holds both an MBA in Healthcare Management and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology (with honors) from Saint Leo University.

*Council is a New York Life recognition program based on annual sales production

Leonardo Mateus is a Partner at New York Life. He began his career with New York Life in 2015 as an agent in the Orlando General Office, after holding several leadership positions as a community leader in Colombia, his country of origin, and as a business man in the Music Industry in Latin America, receiving many International Awards. He qualified for numerous sales leaders' awards and achieved Executive Councils in 2016 and 2017*. In 2017 he began a career in the training and development of New York Life agents as an Associate Partner and in 2018 he became a Partner.

Leonardo is a family man, married to New York Life established agent Mayra De la Torre and is blessed with two children; Alejandra, an 18-year-old Honors College student and Sara, an Honors High School student who is 16.

*Council is a New York Life recognition program based on annual sales production

After 10 year of living in Australia, Eric came to Unite States in 2011. Prior to Joining New York Life, he worked with his family in property investment consulting business. In 2015, he decided to look for a business that he can build his own empire. At same year, Eric met Senior Partner, Minh Truong who had tremendous of success with New York Life and decide to join New York Life as agent in Orlando General office, Florida. He quickly launched his career and qualified Executive Council for 3 consecutive years in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

In 2019, Eric decided to move to New York Life Houston General Office and take the next level challenge and became an Associate Partner, in July 2019 he graduated to the role of Partner with Houston team. In August 2021, Eric decided to move to New York Life Tampa office and take new challenge.

As a Partner, he recruits professionals from different background, experience level and industries, to join his team. He looks for candidate who share his desire to continuously grow and to create a better life for themselves and others. Eric is committed to his financial professionals and their success at New York Life. He coaches, Mentors and develops each agent so that they can accomplish their goal in business.

Eric and his wife Camila have a son named Enzo

Curt Eskew, President of Eskew Financial Group has served his clients with their insurance, estate planning and wealth accumulation goals for over 36 years.  As a District Agent with New York Life Insurance Company, Investment Adviser Representative with Eagle Strategies LLC and member of The Nautilus Group ®, he provides financial planning services and investment advice to clients all over the country.Curt received his B.A. in Marketing from the University of South Florida.  He holds a Chartered Life Underwriter degree from The American College and is a Certified Long Term Care Planning Consultant.  In 2005 he served as President of the Agent Advisory Council for the New York Life Insurance Company and is a Lifetime and current Court of The Table member of the Million Dollar Round Table*. Curt has earned the distinguished honor of Chairman's Council member for the last 17 years.

*MDRT is the Premier association of Financial Professionals recognized globally as the standard of excellence for life insurance sales performance in the insurance and financial service industry. 

 Melody Denning began her career with New York Life in May 2003 as an Agency Assistant in the Greater Atlanta General Office. In April 2006 she moved to the New Business department under the High Performance Employee Program. Melody has an Associate of Applied Technology Degree in CIS from Chattahoochee Technical College and Bachelor of Arts degree in Management from Strayer University.  
Melody was promoted to Administrative Manager in the Mobile General Office in September 2008. In September 2010, Melody was promoted to the Tampa General Office as Administrative Manager.  She is responsible for the completion of all administrative and processing functions with respect to new business and related accounting.   As the immediate supervisor of the General Office clerical staff she provides training and guidance.