We are excited to welcome Billy DeBuys, former attorney and business owner, to our team as vice president in the Employee Benefits Practice.
Billy comes to us after an impressive legal career serving as a workers’ compensation litigator for privately held companies such as Georgia-Pacific, Buffalo Rock, Drummond Company and Rockwood Casualty Insurance. His experience as a commercial business owner in the Birmingham area is a perfect fit as well, since we focus on privately held companies headquartered in Alabama and the Southeast.
“As a former business owner, Billy understands first-hand what it takes to serve our clients with the excellence and passion they require and expect,” says President Paul Barber. “While Billy will be focused primarily on caring for our employee benefits clients, his deep workers’ compensation acumen will also contribute to our consulting around related coverages in our Property & Casualty Practice.”
According to our Benefits Practice Leader Cooper Johnson, “We’re proud to add Billy to our team. The combination of his legal background and experience working with HR professionals will add value to our benefit clients.”
Before joining us, Billy spent nearly eight years as a litigator with Starnes Davis Florie, one of the largest litigation firms in Alabama, and several years leading Apollo Roofing, a commercial roofing contractor based in Birmingham.
“Transitioning to the risk management industry – and in particular to an employee benefits consulting role – is a natural progression of my interests to solve complex problems for business leaders across Alabama,” says Billy. “Both Valent Group and our parent company, EBSCO Industries, are well respected in the insurance and benefits space; add to that the internal culture they foster among their team, and I’m honored to be a part of the Valent family, making a difference in our community together.”
DeBuys earned his Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Samford University in 2010 and his Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in business administration from Washington and Lee University in 2005. Originally from Mountain Brook, he’s invested his career in the Birmingham area.