hree Atlanta-based firms have merged, expanding insurance and financial services for small and medium-sized businesses, with growth plans for 2026.
Partners Risk Services, an independent insurance brokerage in property/casualty, benef
its and life products and formerly known as BWT Risk Advisors, has joined with accounting advisory firm Nichols Cauley and with JGH Consulting, a transactions advisory firm, the companies announced this week.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it included a significant investment from Madison Dearborn Partners, a private equity firm based in Chicago.
Alan Whitman, formerly with the Baker Tilly tax and assurance firm, will be CEO of the combined enterprise. Joe Thompson, CEO of Partners Risk Services, will lead ris
k management and insurance services. Todd Giddens, managing partn
er of Nichols Cauley, will serve as the COO, according to a news release.
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U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley of the District of Massachusetts reported that Brendan Lawler and Lisa Lawler, of New Bedford, were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. In total, through this scheme, federal prosecutors allege that the Lawlers defrauded at least 50 individuals or insurance providers and stole more than $750,000 from insurance providers, premium finance companies and lenders.
According to the Foley’s office, both defendants were previously charged by criminal complaint in August 2025 and will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.
The charges are allegations and the Lawlers are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
According to the charging documents, from March 2023 through March 2024, the Lawlers allegedly solicited and collected insurance payments from BL Insurance’s clients that should have been paid to the clients’ insurance providers. However in many cases, instead of paying the insurance companies what the companies were owed and keeping only the commission, the Lawlers are alleged to have pocketed the full amount of their clients’ payments and used the money for their own purposes, including to make personal purchases and pay off their loans, utility bills, and personal credit card balances.