Brian was born in Rochester, NY.  As a young boy he moved around the Midwest - primarily the Cleveland, OH area and Battle Creek, MI. His family moved to Brea, CA when he was 13. He has been in Southern California ever since and has no plans of moving back.
 
Brian enjoys all outdoor sports and activities including camping and fishing. He loves to listen to music and see movies and concerts. He also builds and flies radio controlled helicopters and planes.
 
His father and mother, John and Ruth Schoonover both live in Banning. Brian's father owned a chain of craft stores (formerly Moskatels, now known as Michaels) and has been retired for 22 years. His mother was a part-time administrative assistant and a homemaker and is retired as well. He has one sister, Nancy, who lives in Hemet.
 
Brian went to high school at Brea-Olinda High School and then went on to attend UC Irvine to obtain a degree in Economics and Statistics. After college he was looking for work in finance when his Aunt referred him to the VP of the State Farm So Cal Regional Office. He started there as a Personal Lines Fire U/W in 1988 and finished as an U/W Specialist focusing on Umbrella business. In 2003 Brian came to PGIA as an underwriter when the specialty program he was working on was phased out. He moved from San Clemente to Valencia to take the position. In 2005, Brian was promoted to Underwriting Supervisor.
 
As the underwriting supervisor, Brian does a wonderful job of balancing between managing the underwriting department and being an underwriter himself. "The best thing about my position at Pacific Gateway is that every day is a different challenge. Right when you're convinced you've seen it all, a submission hits your desk for a risk that you've never seen before. I love the challenge of finding a way to write it that satisfies our carrier as well as our client."