Our Team

Executive Team

Chuck Howarth CPCU
Chuck Howarth CPCUPresident & Founder
Chuck Howarth (CPCU) is president and founding partner of The Howarth Group, an insurance claim consulting firm based just outside Nashville, Tennessee. Along with his business partner, Denis Rowe, they assist businesses and homeowners throughout the Southeast with their property claims.

Mr. Howarth has almost forty years of experience in property insurance claims. He started out working for State Farm and soon advanced to a management position responsible for training their claims adjusters. After almost ten years of learning the claims business from the inside, Mr. Howarth decided that he would be much happier using the knowledge he gained to help policyholders navigate through the difficult claims process. He’s now been assisting property owners as a public adjuster for almost four decades. Additionally, Mr. Howarth has been an Appraiser for twenty-five years and has found that utilizing the “Appraisal” provision has been a wonderfully effective tool for resolving claim damage disputes, particularly in Alabama where public adjusters are not licensed.

Besides being a Rule-31 Supreme Court approved mediator in Tennessee, Mr. Howarth is also a WIND Certified Appraiser. He has been a Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) since the mid-1980s and is recognized as a qualified expert in property insurance claims, having testified in hundreds of property loss cases in state and federal courts throughout the Southeast.

Mr. Howarth has served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Public Insurance Adjusters (NAPIA) and is past president of both the Tennessee and Florida Associations of Public Insurance Adjusters.

Mr. Howarth is originally from Florida and his wife of forty-two years (Ann) is from North Carolina. They have four children ranging in age from 10 to 38 (Mark, Dori, Amy, and Maddix) and two grandchildren. He and his wife Ann served as directors of The Royal Family Kid’s Camp in middle Tennessee, a weeklong summer camp designed specifically for abused and neglected kids between the ages of 7 and 11. Mr. Howarth is a very experienced pilot (with almost 2,000 hours logged) and enjoys a round of golf whenever possible.

Denis Rowe AIC, SPPA, PCLS
Denis Rowe AIC, SPPA, PCLSVice President & Partner
Mr. Denis Rowe AIC, SPPA, PCLS is Vice President and Partner in The Howarth Group. Mr. Rowe has been involved in property insurance claims for over twenty years and is a licensed public adjuster in Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Growing up in Kansas with his eight brothers and sisters his family had two devastating fires to their home. That experience gave him a unique perspective that today fuels his drive to ensure that all victims of a property loss get a fair and full settlement.

He has earned the following designations:
Associate in Claims (AIC)
Senior Professional Public Adjuster (SPPA)
Property Claims Law Specialist (PCLS)
Mr. Rowe spends a considerable amount of time utilizing his accumulated knowledge reviewing estimates, policies, declaration pages and engineer reports.

Mr. Rowe and his wife of 34 years (Nancy) reside in Franklin, TN. They have two sons, Colin and Conor (who works with the company) plus a new daughter-in-law (Bernadette). When not working Mr. Rowe is an active member of his church (with a particular interest in missionary work in Africa and India), a booster for Pearl Cohn High School in Nashville and past treasurer for the Tennessee Chapter for Ducks Unlimited. An avid reader his other interests are rooting for the University of Tennessee football and basketball program and playing golf.

Dori Howarth
Dori HowarthPartner
Ms. Dori Howarth, a partner in the firm, has worked for the company for almost thirteen years. Besides managing the office she is also one of The Howarth Group’s most experienced estimators having travelled all over the southeast appraising the damage to property caused by fires, tornados, hailstorms and hurricanes.

She is in the process of obtaining her Associate in Claims designation (AIC). She loves pizza, salsa dancing, college football, scuba diving and the beach. She is the owner of the official company mascot, a tiny Australian shepherd named Bay.

Claims Specialists

Hank Stoppelbein AIC, SPPA
Hank Stoppelbein AIC, SPPAVice President, Commercial Claims
Originally from Charlotte, NC Hank graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Hank moved to the Nashville area in 1985 and helped start the Nashville Business Journal. Soon thereafter he began his work with Young Life Nashville (a non-denominational Christian outreach ministry to high school students). For thirteen years he served as Director of Development and Area Director. Soon afterward he began his career in property claims consulting working with a local public adjusting firm.

His rich understanding of residential and commercial claims for almost twenty years is born out of hands-on experience and continuing education. Hank realizes that our clients are typically overwhelmed with the claims process and so he will spend whatever time is necessary to make sure they receive all the benefits their policy affords them. Hank has earned his AIC (Associate in Claims) and SPPA (Senior Professional Public Adjuster) credentials, thereby placing him in the top 1% of all adjusters nationwide.

He spends his“down time” with his wife Merrill and their four daughters at their home in Franklin, Tennessee. Hank and Merrill both continue on as active supporters of Young Life. Their home is always full of teenagers in need of a coke, a pizza, or some timely advice. When time permits you can find Hank enjoying a round of golf, writing songs, strumming his guitar, playing with his two grandkids, and pulling for the Tar Heels.

Conor Rowe AIC, SPPA
Conor Rowe AIC, SPPAClaims Specialist
Conor Rowe is a middle Tennessee native who has spent the entirety of his life in historic Franklin, TN. He graduated from the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga with a Bachelor of Arts in History with a minor in Roman and Greek Classics.

Upon graduation, he spent the following year and a half working full time as a top sales assistant at a local stone yard while spending his non-working hours devoted to training on property insurance claims. Conor is a licensed public adjuster in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Georgia.

After three years of intensive studying and testing, Conor earned his Associate in Claims (AIC) credential in 2018 which puts him in the top 1% of all public adjusters nationwide. Following that up in late 2022, he earned the highest accreditation within our industry by attaining the Senior Professional Public Adjuster credential (SPPA). After almost seven years with the firm, he has gained the trust and respect of clients and colleagues alike.

Conor’s outside interests include avidly following The Tennessee Volunteers -basketball and football, the Tennessee Titans, and the Kansas City Royals. When not working, he enjoys hunting and traveling internationally with his wife, Bernadette. Their most recent trip was to Peru to visit Machu Pichu where they revealed to family and friends the expected new addition to their family. That expectancy became reality on January 29th, 2023 when their son entered into this world.

Inventory Specialists

Jeanne Gentry
Jeanne GentryInventory Specialist

Jeanne joined the Howarth Group several years ago after 20 years of working at a major retailer doing loss prevention and inventory management. Her desire to serve her community and to help others led her to her current role as an Inventory Specialist.

Jeanne is native to central Kentucky where she grew up, but has called Spring Hill, TN home since 2005.
Jeanne is married and has 4 beautiful children, 2 boys, and 2 girls. The family loves to be outdoors and enjoys camping and hiking. Jeanne holds a passion for cooking and spends her “downtime” canning and preserving food. She loves to read cookbooks for new ideas and creations, as well as novels that spark the imagination with suspense and mystery.

Outside of her four children, Jeanne has two adopted “fur” babies: Axl, a male boxer, and Aggie, a senior Cattle Dog (Australian Shepard/Blue Healer). They are full of energy and are beloved members of the family.

Rossana Plep
Rossana PlepInventory Specialist
Rossana was born and raised in the “melting pot” city of New Orleans, LA. Prior to moving to northern Alabama in 2017, she lived in Texas and Minnesota. Having much experience with hurricanes and flooding, she is no stranger to the devastation and loss caused by catastrophes. While in Louisiana and Texas, she witnessed first-hand the frustrations of dealing with insurance companies at the very time when people needed their help the most.

Rossana’s desire is to make a difference by assisting people during stressful and unfortunate circumstances. Her background in office administration and internet research paved the way for her to be able to help people on a deeper level. She enjoys her work as an inventory specialist at The Howarth Group because she finds helping families recover from life-changing catastrophe a way for her to walk out her faith in a very practical and rewarding way.

Rossana is married to her high school sweetheart, and they have three sons. She and her family are active in in their local church and community. Her entire family are nature enthusiasts who especially enjoy hiking in the mountains or along one of the local lakes or rivers. She also enjoys vegetable gardening, tending to her flowers, and cooking.

Tamara Woof
Tamara WoofInventory Specialist
While Tamara Woof was born and raised in Southern Arizona, her love for travel has led her to live all over the US. However, in 2007 she found herself settling down in middle Tennessee and calling it home.

Her professional career has been involved in working in human resources and inventory management for a major retail company. She joined The Howarth Group because of her desire to help make a difference in the lives of people who have suffered a catastrophe.

Tamara prides herself on her hard work ethic and family values. She has three adult daughters and three grandchildren (that she loves reading stories to).

An animal lover at heart, after a hard day’s work she and her cat (“Bear”) enjoy watching wildlife pass through her backyard. As busy as life is, Tamara also finds time to volunteer for a local Nashville food pantry and when she goes on vacation you can usually find her down at the beach enjoying the sun, the sand, and the surf.

Amanda Kessler
Amanda KesslerInventory Specialist
Amanda was born in Tucson, AZ but has lived in the middle Tennessee area for over ten years. She recently graduated from Middle Tennessee State University, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in Sociology.

Amanda has a background working in the behavioral health field. Knowing she wanted to work with people and help them through difficult times, she found The Howarth Group.

Amanda and her husband (Brad) live in a rural area just outside of Arrington, TN. When she’s not taking care of their four dogs (Diesel, Leo, Gunner, and Havoc), she and Brad love to travel outside of the United States. Among the places their travels have taken them have been Italy, Greece, and Australia.

When at home she is an avid reader and enjoys hiking around the hills and woods of middle Tennessee.