Our Team

Dawn Fairbanks

President

Dawn Fairbanks started Dawn Fairbanks Insurance Services in 2006, having served as a partner in a previous agency since 1999. In 2019 she was pleased to transition the business to Carman and Fairbanks Insurance Services, Inc. As an independent agent, she represents the interests of the client. Dawn is a leading producer of small business health benefits and senior and individual plans, in the Bay Area and beyond.

Dawn holds California insurance licenses in Life and Health as well as in Property and Casualty. Her expertise ranges from Employee Benefits to working with Seniors and individuals, and in providing workers compensation to her clients. She is a member of the National Association of Health Underwriters (NAHU) and a member of the local chapter, Golden Gate Association of Health Underwriters (GGAHU).

Coming from the midwest out of college, Dawn followed her brother’s footsteps to California in 1972. She is a graduate of Hiram College, Hiram, Ohio. She has lived in the Berkeley-Oakland area since 1976. She is quite proud to say her son Thomas is her partner in business, having followed both his parents’ footsteps in the health insurance field.

Prior to working in insurance, Dawn taught in the Berkeley and Albany Unified School Districts from 1985 to 1999. During those years, she taught 1st and 2nd grades, held the position of site union rep, lead in curriculum development, worked with PTA and multiple site committees. This adds up to many years of providing service to the community, in both the public and private sector. Service is the operative word, as it sums up Dawn’s commitment to her insurance clients.

In her free time, Dawn has enjoyed riding her horse, Pepper. Pepper is now happily retired to pasture, but Dawn gets out now and then for a trail ride. Dawn also loves to ski Tahoe, swim, hike the Bay Area hillsides, and she loves live music (especially jazz). An avid reader, she’s been in a book group for about 20 years.

Thomas Carman

Account Manager, Group Sales Executive

If you’ve ever had a conversation with Tom Carman, you’ll know right away he enjoys helping clients. As a new agent in 2013, he learned the pre-ACA industry and then immediately became our Affordable Care Act expert on staff. There were complex transitions for group and individual clients to absorb and process, and he patiently guided people through them over the next three years. Since then, Tom has become the Account Manager in charge of all new group sales. He oversees small group client services, and is a full partner in the business. He thanks his parents for teaching him about being an ethical agent, focused on client needs first.

Tom grew up in Berkeley, and is a graduate of St. Mary’s College High School. He went on to C.U. Boulder where he received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in 2007. After growing up playing Little League baseball, Varsity baseball in high school, and NABA adult baseball league, Tom dropped his glove and bat in 2010 and picked up a set of golf clubs. If you ask him about his golf game, he isn’t shy about talking about it and currently hovers at a scratch handicap. Along with his colleague and friend Evan, Tom is a member at Berkeley Country Club and will happily invite you out for 18.

Evan Wrenn

Lead Account Manager

Evan Wrenn is a Lead Account Manager, passionate about providing great service to clients, whether that means helping someone understand the difference between a deductible and an out of pocket maximum or helping an employer understand how much they should be deducting from an employee’s paycheck.

He grew up in Berkeley, graduating from Berkeley High School in 2003. After a short stint at NYU, he went on to get his Bachelor’s degree in Economics from San Francisco State University.

Evan has strong skills in mathematics and prior to his 2014 start in the insurance industry, he used those skills to earn his income as a math tutor and professional poker player. If you ask, he’d love to tell you about his poker exploits. These days, he applies those skills to building spreadsheets and helping clients make cost/benefit analyses. He’s an expert in navigating the enrollment guidelines of each of the major insurance carriers and also has strong knowledge in COBRA administration.

Outside of the office, Evan is an avid golfer as a member at Berkeley Country Club (he’s working on getting down to a single digit handicap, wish him luck!) and a super-fan of the Golden State Warriors and the NBA in general.