Libby Christman is the Vice President of Risk Management & Safety for grocery retailer, Ahold Delhaize USA. The company operates 1900 retail grocery stores in the US and employs over 200,00 associates in banners: Stop and Shop, Giant Food, Giant Food Stores, Martin's Food Markets, Food Lion, Hannaford and Peapod.

Libby's responsibilities includes self administered claims operations, corporate, retail, distribution and transportation safety and training, regulatory & environmental compliance, business continuity and insurance and captive management. Prior to working for Ahold Delhaize USA, Libby held claims positions, specializing in large loss and catastrophic workers compensation and general liability matters.Libby earned a BA in Economics and Finance from Ursinus College and and MBA from Lebabnon Valley College.

Tony Stompanato Regional Vice President AIG Chicago, IL

Mr. Stompanato is the Regional Vice President of Healthcare claims for AIG, a New York-based global provider of Commercial and Personal insurance services.  He has been with AIG since April 2001, heading up the Midwest region, and has significant claim and management experience within the insurance industry.  The Chicago Region handles Professional and General Liability claims for a wide variety of insureds including large physician groups, hospitals, long term care facilities, dialysis centers, blood centers, radiology groups, and various other miscellaneous healthcare related facilities and practices written on a primary, excess, umbrella, and reinsurance basis.

 Mr. Stompanato is currently responsible for all claim activity for the Chicago regional office which handles claims on a nation-wide basis. In addition he oversees the healthcare-related losses written by AIG/Lexington in the London market. Mr. Stompanato holds licenses in all 28 states that require such qualification.

Tim Roth is a partner and the Practice Group Manager of Gallagher Sharp's Transportation Group and a member of the firm's General Litigation group.  Tim’s practice focuses on the representation of trucking companies and their drivers following major truck accidents and includes engaging in 24/7 rapid response to truck accidents.  He defends motor carriers, drivers and their insurers throughout the State of Ohio in claims and lawsuits involving wrongful death, personal injury, property damage, and cargo claim liability.  He also serves as National Counsel for a number of his trucking clients and has litigated trucking cases in a multitude of state and Federal jurisdictions across the country.  Tim is listed in the 2021 edition of Best Lawyers in America® for Transportation Law.  

Larry is the founder of Andros Risk Services, an insurance consulting firm. He has been the president of two MGAs, has held senior roles at AIG, HCC, Marsh and ACE, and has been an insurance attorney at law firms in New York and Boston. His books, “Claims Made and Reported – A Journey Through D&O, E&O and Other Professional Lines of Insurance,” “D&O 101: Understanding Directors and Officers Liability Insurance – A Holistic Approach” and “Professional Lines Insurance: An Oral History,” have been widely praised by, among others, Warren Buffett. Larry is a cum laude graduate of Villanova University and Boston College Law School.

Larry was Mr. Universe in 2008, 2010 and 2013 (he was cheated by the Russian judge in 2014.) He has addressed the U.N. General Assembly on the topic of, “How D&O Insurance Can Fight Climate Change” and has visited the International Space Station via a rocket he made out of spare bicycle parts. Larry’s main hobby is hacking into world leaders’ personal email accounts, and he can give you Vladimir Putin’s cell phone number if you ask nicely. He was also Elon Musk’s tutor in college and can speak 72 languages.

Ron is a Managing Director with the Legal and Claims practice group at Aon Financial Services Group and has over two decades of experience in the insurance industry. Prior to joining Aon, Ron was at The Hartford as Vice President and Chief Claims Officer of The Hartford Financial Products Claims Unit. In this role Ron managed the departments responsible for all claims on business produced by Hartford Financial Products including our Large Commercial, Middle Market and Errors and Omissions clients. Ron's teams had responsibility for the management of claims tendered under Corporate Directors and Officers Liability, Employment Practices Liability, Financial Institutions Errors and Omissions and various other professional liability insurance products.

Prior to joining The Hartford, Ron was at Chubb for 17 years and was most recently Vice President and Specialty Claims Manager at the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies. In his various positions Ron has built and developed strong teams, established claims handling best practices and audit guidelines and conducted operational studies aimed at identifying areas for improvement as well as efficiencies. Before joining Chubb, Ron was in private practice in New York specializing in the representation of insurers in the analysis and management of complex claims and coverage disputes.

Ron received his BA from the State University Center at Binghamton and his J.D. from the Brooklyn Law School where he was an editor of the Journal of International Law. Ron is an active participant in the Professional Liability Underwriting Society and currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Content Committee for the Annual PLUS International Conference. Ron is also an Executive Council founding member of the CLM School of Professional Lines and has been instrumental in developing the curriculum and serving as an instructor.

Karrieann Couture, Esq., is Assistant Vice President of Management Liability and Financial Institutions at CNA Insurance Companies.  Prior to this role, Ms. Couture served as Assistant Vice President for Professional Services at CNA, which included Lawyers, Accountants and Miscellaneous Professional Liability.  Ms. Couture began her career at CNA in 2002 as a claims consultant and was a Senior Director before becoming AVP.  Ms. Couture has developed internal training programs, assisted with risk management and lectured on lawyers malpractice, negotiations, insurance coverage and other relevant legal and claim-related topics.  Prior to CNA, Ms. Couture managed general liability claims at Chubb Insurance and lawyers malpractice claims at ISBA Mutual, where she was also involved in risk management programs.  Ms. Couture practiced insurance defense and coverage litigation in Chicago before making the move to insurance companies.  Her undergraduate degree is from the University of Iowa.  She earned her law degree, with honors, from Drake University, where she was Executive Editor of the Drake Law Review, Editor of Drake Legal Research and an intern with the Department of Justice.

Kim Noble is a Vice President at Applied Financial Lines in Chicago, IL, where she manages their lawyers' and accountants divisions. She joined Applied Financial in 2022 to develop and launch these products. Prior to that she was at Thompson Flanagan where she advised lawyers and law firms on insurance coverage, professional liability claims and risk management techniques. Before that, she was at Argo Pro, manging their lawyers' and accountants' professional liability programs. Ms. Noble has 26 years of professional liability experience as outside counsel, underwriting management and advisory roles. Before joining Argo Pro, Ms. Noble was Senior Vice President, Lawyers’ and Real Estate Professional Liability for OneBeacon Professional Insurance. In this role, she was responsible for the development, launch and strategic management of lawyers’ and real estate professional liability underwriting and risk management. Prior to this, she was Vice President/Chief Underwriting Officer for GE Westport Insurance’s Lawyers’ Professional Liability program. Prior to this, she was also the Divisional Leader for St. Paul Insurance Company’s Lawyers’ Professional, Defense Research Institute and Law Firm Employment practices products. Before joining the insurance industry, she was in private practice, representing the Resolution Trust Corporation (FDIC) and numerous insurance companies, concentrating on defending professionals and providing coverage advice under director and officer, lawyers, accountant and employment practices policies. 

Ms. Noble holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Drury University in Business Administration and Economics. She obtained her law degree from the University of Missouri in Kansas City and is licensed to practice law in four states.  She holds her CPCU and RPLU designations. She is an active member of many organizations, including the American Bar Association, PLUS, the Defense Research Institute and CLM. She is a frequent speaker and author on malpractice and risk management topics. 

Marc is an Assistant Vice President at Arch Insurance Group, managing the company's Middle Market Construction Claims Program. He also serves on Arch’s Voice of the Customer team. He was previously a Design Professionals Manager at RLI Insurance Company, where he handled complex construction design claims and managed the company’s pre-claim unit. Prior to RLI, Marc was a Risk Manager for CORE Construction Group, Ltd. where he managed the company’s claims, assisted with managing the group’s captive, conducted contract reviews, and supervised the group’s legal matters. Before working for CORE, Marc was with the Cincinnati Insurance Companies for 10 years, his last position being Regional Casualty Claims Supervisor.  He holds the ARM, AIC, and CPCU designations, and has a Master’s Degree in Risk Management and Insurance from Florida State University.

Dennis Galvin is Assistant Vice President - Claims of Argo Pro, in charge of overseeing the Error and Omissions claims group, including Lawyers Professional Liability and Architects & Engineers claims.  Prior to joining Argo Pro, Mr. Galvin was Vice President – Professional Liability Claims for OneBeacon Professional Insurance, where he oversaw a group of claim attorneys handling claims in Lawyers Professional, Real Estate Professional, Insurance Agents Errors & Omissions, Content Technology and Cyber Insurance.  Prior to joining OneBeacon, Mr. Galvin worked for Lexington Insurance Company, where he was responsible for handling complex professional claims in a variety of areas including LPL, RPL, insurance agents, accountants, media corporations and government entities. Prior to joining Lexington, Mr. Galvin was in private practice in the Boston area where he specialized in civil litigation including insurance defense and coverage litigation.
Mr. Galvin received his Juris Doctor from Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, MA and his Bachelor of Arts degree from Stonehill College in North Easton, MA.  Mr. Galvin is admitted to practice law in Massachusetts and the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. He is a frequent speaker at various industry events and an active member of CLM.

Recognition/Awards: 
Proud recipient of the 2013, Florida Insurance Fraud Education Committee (FIFEC) Jerry Zappolo Distinguished Service Award
 
Professional Organizations:
FIFEC Executive Committee Member & Public Relations Member (Former Executive Chairman)
CLM Claims College School of Insurance Fraud,  Former Co-Dean
IASIU South Florida  - Former Chapter President

Experience: 
Brett is currently an SIU Manager with Assurant. 

Brett Kelley worked in Major Case/Complex Investigations and Large Loss Investigations for Liberty Mutual/Safeco for six years.

He is the former SIU Manager for Personable Insurance Company and Kingsway America and focused on non-standard auto insurance nationally

Brett  also worked for Allstate Insurance Company as a major case Analyst and started his insurance career over twenty years ago with Progressive Insurance Company handling investigations related to auto theft, fires/arson and medical provider fraud. 

Brett started his investigative career working for The Florida Legislature investigating internal and external theft and program abuse. 
 
Historical: 
Brett was born in the mid-west (Iowa), but he was raised in New Orleans [N’awlins] and is a graduated from Loyola University.  

Shane Roberts is the Claims Director for Assurant Specialty Property in Atlanta. He was previously with Homesite Insurance as the Claims Branch Manager in Phoenix, Arizona. Prior to that, he held roles with The Hartford in Personal Lines and Commercial Lines in Florida, Oklahoma, North Carolina and Connecticut. An avid traveler, he has been to all 50 states and 6 continents. He holds degrees from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, Yale, the University of Hartford and the University of Connecticut.

As Vice President of Claims Professional Development Eileen Voegele's responsibilities include leading the strategy for Training and Development for Chubb North American Claims. Specifically, in conjunction with Chubb’s corporate L&D group, Eileen is responsible for developing trainings to address ACE/Chubb integration related needs as they arise, a New Hire Training program and a Training Curriculum for Claims career paths. With respect to Professional Development, Eileen supports various Professional Development initiatives throughout Chubb North American Claims. Eileen is also responsible for oversight of the Adjuster Licensing program.

In previous roles with legacy ACE, Eileen served as Vice President of the Fast Track and Public Entity Teams in Primary Casualty. In those roles she managed two teams who triaged claims and handled severity and high frequency claims. Prior to that role, Eileen served as an Assistant Vice President in ACE Group Claims where her responsibilities included reporting to Executive Management on large losses and catastrophe exposures. When Eileen first joined ACE she was a claims specialist concentrating her work on handling high severity claims nationwide.

Prior to joining ACE in 2004, Eileen worked as an attorney in private practice and as a judicial law clerk. Eileen holds a J.D. from Villanova University and a B.A. in Political Science from St. Joseph’s University. She is admitted to the bar in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Hedy “Linette” Ranieri is the Chief Claims Officer for both Berkley Life Sciences and Berkley Technology Underwriters.  She has 38 years of experience in the property and casualty insurance industry.  Prior to joining Berkley Life Sciences in 2010, she held positions with several insurance carriers, which included managing a team of Life Science Examiners. Ms. Ranieri was a Director with a major insurance company where she managed Medical Malpractice and Environmental Program claims on a national basis. Her diverse experience also includes supervising and managing complex commercial toxic tort, environmental, asbestos, property, casualty, employment practices, directors and officers, personal lines and automobile claims. Ms. Ranieri is a member of the Claim and Litigation Management Alliance where she serves as Co-Dean of Casualty Claims at CLM’s Claims College. She is a frequent speaker at CLM and the Litigation Management Alliance. Ms. Ranieri is a graduate of East Carolina University where she received a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Health. 

Nick Conca is the Chief Claims Officer of Berkshire Hathway GUARD Insurance Companies. He was previously the Chief Claims Officer of Markel Corporation, which he joined as part of Markel's acquisition of Alterra, where he served as Chief Claims Officer.  Prior to Alterra, Nick was Executive Vice President of Integro Insurance Brokers, where he oversaw US operations for the company.  He has more than 25 years of insurance industry experience, including senior leadership positions with other international brokerage, insurance and claims organizations.  He began his career as an attorney with the international law firm Wilson Elser.Nick Conca is the Chief Claims Officer of Markel Corporation and is responsible for the strategic direction of the Global Claims Department.  Nick joined Markel as part of the acquisition of Alterra, where he served as Chief Claims Officer.  Prior to Alterra, Nick was Executive Vice President of Integro Insurance Brokers, where he oversaw US operations for the company.  He has more than 25 years of insurance industry experience, including senior leadership positions with other international brokerage, insurance and claims organizations.  He began his career as an attorney with the international law firm Wilson Elser.

Mr. Adelson is the firm’s General Counsel and co-Managing Partner. He has practiced in the field of Workers’ Compensation for almost 40 years. In addition, Mr. Adelson’s legal career includes experience in the areas of civil, family and criminal law.

Mr. Adelson obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University, Fullerton, and his law degree from Western State University College of Law in Fullerton. He has also completed numerous courses in Advanced Legal Education at the University of Southern California Law Center as well as multiple courses in human anatomy, orthopedic medicine and psychiatric medicine.

He has served as a Judge Pro Tem and also as a workers’ compensation instructor at several colleges in Southern California. Throughout his career, he’s mentored numerous first-year students and enjoys their enthusiasm and fresh approach to the law.

Mr. Adelson has been the recipient of several honors. He received the prestigious designation of Certified Litigation Management Professional (CLMP) from the CLM’s Litigation Management Institute. He was nominated and accepted as a member of The Society of Fellows of the Orange County Bar Foundation. In 2014, he was named as one of California’s Top Lawyers by The Legal Network for “exhibiting the highest in ethical standards and professional excellence.” Who’s Who named Mr. Adelson as a Top Attorney of North America in their 2017 publication.

 

Ron Bush received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Union College in 1981 and Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from Fordham University School of Law in 1984. Ron is currently the managing shareholder of Bush Graziano Rice & Platter, P.A. Prior to joining the Firm as a shareholder in 1995, Ron practiced as a Senior Litigation Associate in the New York firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. From 1991 until 1995, Ron was a shareholder in the Tampa firm of Shackleford, Farrior, Stallings & Evans, P.A.
Ron has significant jury trial experience which includes state and federal court jury trials of numerous personal injury, professional liability and property damage actions. Ron has focused his practice on the defense of personal injury claims, products liability claims, professional liability claims of all types, healthcare-related matters, long-term care, bad faith claims and insurance coverage disputes. Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory has awarded Ron an "AV" rating. He has been included on the Florida Super Lawyers list since 2008.
Ron is admitted to practice in Florida, New York, and the District of Columbia. He is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). Ron has also completed the CLM  Litigation Management Institute. 

Peter Hitson is a project management executive with more than 25 years of legal, claims, and financial services experience. He brings deep practical knowledge of Lean and Six Sigma disciplines to drive Carlton Fields’ innovative legal project management (LPM) objectives. As director of legal project and practice management, Mr. Hitson collaborates with firm leadership and attorneys on cutting-edge project management tools and techniques, improving project scoping, planning, and budgeting.
Previously, Mr. Hitson was director, legal process innovation, at Wilson Elser. In that role, he led strategic innovation, making sophisticated use of data and market knowledge in pursuit of operational excellence.Prior to joining Wilson Elser, he was assistant vice president, legal practices, support & audit for The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., where he was charged with selection, retention, evaluation, and management of outside counsel and other legal vendors. He also oversaw The Hartford’s legal invoice review services and legal e-billing initiative, and was national manager of panel counsel and managing attorney for claims. Prior to his work at The Hartford, Mr. Hitson was in private practice.
Mr. Hitson has earned and received a number of awards and distinctions for his LPM work, including Legal Lean Sigma White Belt, Six Sigma Green Belt Training Program, CLM Certified Litigation Management Professional Certificate Program at NYU, and National Institute of Trial Advocacy Training Program. He is a member of the DRI: The Voice of the Defense Bar and the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance.

He is a graduate of Denison University and The University of Pittsburgh School of Law.  Pete is admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Connecticut.

With 37 years of insurance industry experience, Stephen Eisenmann has a proven track record in starting-up, acquiring and managing active claims organizations and discontinued operations. Currently he is Vice President, Restructing for Zurich where he manages a wide-variety of discontinued books of business.
Steve comes to Zurich from Crum & Forster where he most recently served as SVP & Chief Claims Officer. His extensive background in managing both insurance and reinsurance claims is complimented by having served as EVP for Trenwick America Reinsurance Company where he also managed all of the general operations of that entity.  In addition, he has also managed general and product liability, hospital professional liability, medical malpractice and lawyers professional liability claims and ran a business unit that analyzed and negotiated settlements for environmental, asbestos and other mass tort claims.  In connection with mergers and acquisitions and requests from senior managements or Boards of Directors, he has conducted countless claim management due diligence reviews.Steve’s experience also includes serving as the CEO of Cunningham Lindsey, U. S. Inc., and founding President of Cambridge Integrated Services Group, Inc. and, prior to that, the President of IRISC, Inc.  His education includes a B.S. from Temple University in Philadelphia.
 

Christine Boyle is the Chief Technical Officer for the Casualty Tower of Chubb North American Claims.  Her current responsibilities include the direct oversight of the Casualty Coverage Directors responsible for the handling of coverage matters brought against the Company and collaboration with the Casualty management team to assure consistency in the handling of Casualty Claims throughout the U.S.  In previous roles with ACE and Penn Millers Insurance Company, Ms. Boyle’s responsibilities included the management of Complex Claims, Public Entity Claims, Long Term Exposure Claims and Penn Millers Casualty Claims.  Prior to that, Ms. Boyle held several claim positions at AIG, supervising and handling pollution liability and environmental claims and she also practiced law in Manhattan. Ms. Boyle is a graduate of Kenyon College, with a double major in History and Psychology, and a graduate of SUNY Buffalo Law School.  Ms. Boyle also holds the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter professional designation

Sean Taylor – Assistant Vice President , Construction Liability (Jersey City)
Sean is an Assistant Vice President managing the Construction Liability team based in Jersey City.  Sean has been with ACE since 2004 and previously managed the Primary Casualty – Mainstream team handling auto and general liability claims. He also handled claims arising from ACE Risk Management liability and Medical Risk policies.  Prior to joining ACE, Sean was a claims analyst for AIG in its healthcare malpractice claims department.  He also was a claim representative for State Farm where he handled complex property damage and bodily injury claims.
 
Sean graduated from West Chester University in West Chester, Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1998. He has an Associate in Claims (AIC) designation.
 
 
 

Pat has 40 plus years handling property claims. He started with INA as senior adjuster in the mid-70's. Joined Marsh for 2 years and then moved onto A&A for 13 years as their Sr. Regional Property VP. Joined AIG where I held various positions involving supervision of NGA's, CAT, and property unit, facilitator for various system projects, etc. Previously VP of Property Services Division with Custard Insurance adjusters which included overseeing of CAT, Large Loss Unit, and Property TPA. Currently VP/Property Claims Manager for Claims Administration Corporation(CAC).

Charles H. Clark, Jr. (Clay) is a senior partner in the law firm of Huie, Fernambucq & Stewart, LLP, based in Birmingham, Alabama. He is actively engaged in the practice of employment law, workers’ compensation, product liability, personal injury, toxic exposure litigation, industrial accident litigation, retaliatory discharge, sexual harassment, ADA litigation, discrimination, errors and omissions, motor carrier litigation, premises liability, and general liability litigation.Clay represents a wide range of local and national clients and is consistently “AV” rated by Martindale-Hubbell surveys. He is listed in “Birmingham’s Top Attorneys”, Birmingham Magazine, “Top Lawyers” by the Birmingham Business Journal, Alabama Super Lawyers, and is consistently recognized in The Best Lawyers in America. Clay is a frequent lecturer, speaking throughout the Southeast on the topics of employment law, industrial accident litigation, and workers’ compensation.

David Perry is a Senior Vice President with CNA Insurance Company, the country's eighth largest US commercial insurer.  David joined CNA in 2001.  He has worked with various lines of business, and is now responsible for leading CNA’s Specialty Claim operations.  He also shares oversight responsibility for CNA’s Warranty, Surety, Canadian and European claim operations.  These groups handle a wide variety of claims and litigation, including the professional liability, products liability and securities class actions brought against the directors, officers, doctors, lawyers, nurses, health care facilities, accountants, architects, engineers and other professionals insured by CNA.  Prior to joining CNA, David was a partner with Ross, Dixon & Bell, where his litigation practice focused on the representation of insurers and policyholders in connection with the defense of malpractice claims.  David also represented insurers in connection with complex coverage disputes, “bad faith” litigation and class action securities litigation, and plaintiffs and defendants in commercial cases related to a variety of business torts.In 2012, David completed the Senior Executive Program at Columbia University Graduate School of Business.  He graduated with honors from The Law School of the University of Pennsylvania and he received his undergraduate degree from Allegheny College.  David works from CNA’s Chicago and Washington, DC offices.

Teah Lupton serves as a Specialty Strategic Claim Director at CNA, where she provides coverage support to all professional and management liability groups within CNA’s Specialty Claim organization. Teah began her career with the Washington, D.C. law firm of Ross, Dixon & Bell, where she represented insurers in complex coverage disputes, including in both litigated and non-litigated matters, arising under professional liability, D&O, EPL and non-profit liability policies. She continued this practice at Ross Dixon’s successor, Troutman Sanders, until joining CNA in 2011. In her current role, Teah manages coverage litigation and the handling of other matters involving significant coverage issues, and provides ongoing training to claim professionals in all of CNA’s Specialty lines.

Teah received her law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center and holds bar memberships in the District of Columbia, Virginia and West Virginia.

Amy Ledoux is Senior Litigation Counsel for CNA.  In that role, she supports the company’s Global Specialty Lines claim staff in evaluating and resolving complex coverage issues and high-exposure claims.  Before joining CNA, Amy was Assistant Counsel at ICI Mutual Insurance Group and in private practice in Washington, D.C.  She earned her J.D. magna cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center and her B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis.
 

Matthew Smith is Of Counsel, and formerly served as President of Smith, Rolfes & Skavdahl (skav-doll) Company, LPA. He founded the firm in 1989 after beginning practice as an insurance defense attorney in Florida. From starting as a one-attorney office, the firm has grown to eight offices and provides insurance law services throughout the United States and Puerto Rico.
 
Originally from Dayton, Ohio, Mr. Smith attended the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music graduating with a degree in Radio, TV and Film. While working his way through college and law school he served as Director of Marketing Communications for the Kings Island Theme Park Complex in Ohio and founded Smith-Kaufman Public Relations representing such companies as Wendy’s International, Hyatt Hotels and The Cincinnati Reds.
 
Mr. Smith graduated from the Salmon P. Chase College of Law at Northern Kentucky University.  He is admitted to practice in both federal and state courts in Ohio, Florida, Kentucky, Michigan and Washington, D.C. as well as the United States Supreme Court.
 
He serves as legal counsel to the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, is a past President of the National Society of Professional Insurance Investigators, chairs the Insurance Committee of the International Association of Arson Investigators, and is a member of the Defense Research Institute, Claims and Litigation Management Alliance and numerous other insurance law related organizations. Mr. Smith is a frequent lecturer on insurance law matters throughout the United States.
 

Michael Coffey, a founding partner of the New York law firm of Coffey Modica, is a preeminent trial lawyer sought by companies globally for his experience and success in handling complex, high-exposure insurance defense litigation. He has handled many of the largest insurance-related claims and litigated matters in New York state over the past 25 years and has served as a defense attorney in more than 125 jury trials for companies and syndicates in state and federal courts throughout the United States, as well as has arbitrated and mediated over 300 matters to a successful conclusion.

With more than 25 years of experience, Maria Elena Abate has built a reputation as an expert in complex commercial and insurance litigation. She is regularly called upon to lecture, serve on industry panels, and advise insurance companies, adjusters, agents and their employees on ways to eradicate fraud, prevent bad faith, and diversity their workforce, through education and communication. In her diverse practice, Ms. Abate handles a wide variety of insurance related matters, which include, class action defense, coverage determinations, bad faith avoidance, fraud avoidance, adjuster, agent and broker E&O claims. From licensing and liability matters, coverage disputes, errors and omissions, insurance solvency concerns, investigations and disciplinary proceedings, to new challenges like cyber-risk and social media she has successfully assisted insurers, adjusters, agents and brokers navigate their duties and obligations under the law.

Deborah Saunders is Senior Director, Claims Management for Comcast NBCUniversal. She is responsible for managing Comcast and NBCU’s Workers’ Compensation, Auto Liability, General Liability, Employment Practices and Media Professional E&O claims management programs. Prior to joining Comcast in 1998, Deborah was the Workers’ Compensation Claims Specialist for Campbell Soup Company. She started her career in claims as a representative for Travelers Insurance, where she handled both workers’ compensation and commercial liability claims.Deborah earned her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Massachusetts. She also holds Associate in Risk Management (ARM) and Certified Workers’ Compensation Professional (CWCP) designations and is a certified paralegal.

Jennifer L. Wojciechowski is VP of Operations at Community Association Underwriters of America, Inc., a division of Alliant Underwriting Solutions. In that capacity, she works with all departments to drive CAU's goals and initiatives.  Previously, Ms. Wojciechowski served as Casualty Claim Manager.  In that role, she was responsible for management of a team of general liability & directors and officers liability adjusters.  She supervised and conducted insurance coverage analyses, initiated and drove claim resolution strategy and managed litigation.  Jennifer has experience negotiating and drafting Alternate Fee Arrangements. Prior to joining CAU, Jennifer practiced law with at a prominent Philadelphia law firm where she was a member of the Business Insurance and Bad Faith Litigation Practice Group. She represented numerous insurers in coverage disputes concerning primary and excess policy obligations for various types of insurance claims. Ms. Wojciechowski represented clients in litigation such as insurance coverage declaratory judgment actions and bad faith actions as well as other business and commercial disputes, including contractual indemnity and breach of contract claims. Jennifer's experience includes EPLI, school board legal liability coverage, police liability coverage, municipality E&O coverage, accountants E&O, Lawyers malpractice and other miscellaneous exposures.Jennifer is a frequent lecturer on community association and insurance issues.  She is a member of the Community Associations Institute and frequent presents at the CAI Law Seminar.  Since the inception of Claim College, she has returned to each year both as an Executive Council member and faculty.  She was appointed to the Executive Council for the School of Casualty Claims in 2014.  In 2013, she attended the Litigation Management Institute and attained the CLMP designation. At the 2014 Annual Conference, she was recognized as one of four finalists for the Litigation Management Professional of the Year award. Jennifer is a member of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey bars.

Ann Schnure is a Vice President in Risk Management at Macy’s. Ann currently has responsibility for Workers’ Compensation/Systems/and Operations in that area. Ann oversees a largely self insured/self administered Workers’ Compensation program with a staff in 4 locations. She also oversees a variety of claims with TPA’s for runoff claims from acquisitions as well as claims that are not self administered. Ann has been with Macy’s for 17 years in the Risk Management area.Prior to joining Macy’s, Ann worked for Safeco Insurance Company ending her career there as a Branch Claim Manager over a large claim office.Ann is a graduate of Wilmington College, Wilmington, OH. She also is has CPCU and AIC designations and is a member of RIMS and the National Council of Self Insurers.

Tim is the Vice President / Director of Operations for CORE Construction Services of Illinois, a member of the CORE Construction Group (CCG) a national firm with offices in seven states.  He has held numerous positions within the CCG Group including Chief Estimator, President of CORE Texas and now Director of Operations.  His current role includes responsibilities with management of all aspects of the operations including administration, pre-construction and construction services.  He is a past member of the Board of Directors and President for the Greater Peoria Contractors and Suppliers Association and former board member of the Combined Central Illinois Construction Industry Fund.  He holds a Bachelor of Science in Construction from Bradley University. 

Education: State University of NY at Albany   Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, BA, cum laude, 1985 Boston College Law School, JD, cum laude, 1988 Chris is a founding partner of the firm Coughlin Betke LLP (formerly Ryan, Coughlin & Betke, LLP). He has practiced since 1988 and, during that time, has tried dozens of cases to verdict in the state and federal courts of the Commonwealth of MA. Chris has personally represented a wide range of business and insurance interests nationwide. He has been involved in the defense of many significant or high-profile civil cases including lawsuits stemming from the "Big Dig" tunnel ceiling collapse in MA, the Pam Smart murder case in NH and the Colonial Realty securities fraud cases in CT. Chris has an AV© rating from Martindale-Hubbell which, according to that service, indicates a very high to preeminent legal ability and very high ethical standards as established by confidential opinions from members of the Bar. Honors and Membership: LegalClaims and Litigation Management Alliance — MA State ChairDefense Research Institute — Member, Professional Liability Steering CommitteeAmerican Bar AssociationMassachusetts Defense Lawyers Association
 Chairman of the Professional Liability CommitteeDRI Annual Meeting 2007 — Speaker, Improve Your E&O IQ!! Understanding and Managing the Growing
 Malpractice Risks Confronting Defense Practitioners
OtherCasa Myrna Vazquez [New England's Largest Domestic Violence Sheltering Program] — Member,
 Board of Directors (1996-2007)Leather District Neighborhood Association [Boston, MA] — Elected, Chairman (2005-present)City of Boston — Community Service Award (2005)

I am property claims professional with over 25 years’ experience in adjusting, litigation management, staff development, performance measurement and process improvement. My career has seen employment in two segments of the claims industry: Approximately 15 years with Travelers Property Casualty in the positions of auto and property appraiser, adjuster, technical specialist and supervisor followed by approximately 10 years with Cunningham Lindsey, a global Independent loss adjusting and claim management company in the positions of Regional Supervisor, Supervising General Adjuster and Assistant Vice President.

As Property Product Manager for Crawford & Company, Michael is responsible for oversight of the Property Work Product created by Crawford and Company adjusters. Michael assists with Adjuster and Manager coaching as well as client meetings and issue resolution. Michael also assists both adjusters and managers in the oversight and handling suggestions for large or complex property losses.
Michael received his undergraduate degree from Auburn University and joined Crawford & Company immediately following graduation. Michael began as a Casualty Adjuster in Montgomery before relocating to Mobile to handle both Commercial and Residential property claims. Michael became Property Team Manager for Alabama in 2009. Michael moved into his current role in March of 2013 relocating to Atlanta, Georgia.
Michael is licensed in Alabama, Florida and Georgia. Michael has completed all levels of training with in Crawford & Company as well as earned the CPCU, AIC and Property Technical Certification designation. Michael was a member of the Crawford & Company Emerging Leaders Class in 2011.
Michael's personal interests include football, hunting and fishing. Michael is married and resides in Atlanta, GA.

Christopher currently serves as Property Product Manager for Crawford & Company. He is responsible for oversight of the property product for the North East states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Michigan, Ohio & New England (ME, MA, NH, VT, RI & CT). Additionally he oversees Upper North West states of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming & South Dakota. In his current role, Christopher assists both adjusters and managers in the oversight and handling suggestions for large or complex property losses and provides coaching and training to both as needed.

Christopher has more than 23 years of experience in the insurance claims industry in a diverse range of adjusting, marketing and management roles. He started his insurance career as a Property Adjuster with Crawford & Company in their Philadelphia Service Center in 1990, where he ultimately attained the titles of Property General Adjuster and Property Claims Supervisor. Eventually he was promoted, moving to Binghamton, NY serving as Branch Manager for Crawford’s Property & Casualty operations. In 2000, Christopher relocated to Burlington, VT and assumed the Branch Management duties for their Vermont operations and eventually the New Hampshire operations as well. In 2007, he relocated once again to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and assumed Branch Management roles for Western Pennsylvania, This ultimately led to a title of Operations Manager for the “Tri-State” service locations of Pennsylvania, Delaware and Southern New Jersey before assuming his current job duties as Property Product Manager in late 2011.
 
Prior to his adjusting career beginning at Crawford & Company, Christopher studied at West Chester University in West Chester, Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Pittsburgh Claims Association. He holds the certificates of SM, AIC, PTC1 & PTC 2 from The Institutes and is currently working on his CPCU. He holds active adjusters licenses in New York, West Virginia and Delaware.
 
Christopher’s personal interest include the culinary arts, classic cars and fresh & salt water fishing.
 
 

David Repinski is the U.S. CEO for CRU GROUP. He held previous positions as Global Development Officer for Sedgwick and Chief Executive Officer - Americas Region for Cunningham Lindsey. David has 30+ years of experience in the insurance claims industry having held a wide range of operational, sales, marketing and executive roles. He spent 22 years with Cunningham Lindsey and 6 years with Crawford & Company, having held the position of CEO of U.S. Property & Casualty. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in business administration from Georgia State University in Atlanta, is a past member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), a global network of business leaders. He served as Board Chair for Darkness to Light, 11 years on the board of the Southwestern Insurance Information Service (SIIS) and for 3 years as a member of the CLM Property Claims College faculty.
 
 

Stan began his legal career in 1981, and over the past 30 years, has held various positions with a private law practice, Crum & Forster, AIG/Chartis, and Sedgwick CMS, the nations largest Third Party Administrator. During hisentire career, Stan has developed and delivered literally hundreds of seminars and training sessions on a variety of topics.

Stan currently is Director & Coverage Counsel for Crum&Forster, providing insurance coverage guidance and direction, training and special project skills.

From 2008-2013, Stan was with AIG as Claims Counsel with the New York Construction Risk Management Group. In March of 2009, he was promoted to Vice President of the Specialty Claims Counsel Program to oversee claims counsel in the Construction Risk, Construction Defect, Private Client Group and Vendor Services practice groups. He also served as Claims Counsel from 1994-2003 for AIG Claim Services, Inc. in the Property/Casualty Divisional Claim Office in Blue Bell, PA.

Stan began his professional career in private law practice with the Atlantic City, NJ defense firm of Cooper Levenson, handling lawsuits involving construction accidents, construction defects, insurance coverage, motor vehicle, premises liability, and products liability. As a partner in the firm’s construction litigation practice, Stan regularly represented owners, architects, engineers, general and prime contractors. As head of the firm’s Coverage Unit, Stan regularly represented insurance carriers in providing legal opinions, coverage opinions and representation in a variety of coverage matters. He also routinely provided legal seminars to insurance company staff on a variety of substantive topics.

William T. “Bill” Mitchell is a founding partner of Cruser Mitchell. Bill was selected as CLM Outside Panel Lawyer of the Year in 2024. Bill has co-written 2 leading books on claims specifically The Disruptive Lawyer’s Little Black Book of Litigation Management and The Dispruptive Lawyer's Little Black Book of Negotiation.  He does a seminar series annually on both books premised on the concept that given 92% of all cases settle (and 1% go to trial), the industry should be hiring/training Dealmakers with the "Right Mindset and Skill Set" to resolve claims.   Bill consults nationwide with insurance companies and large corporations on how to enact a metrics-driven litigation management program leading to the saving of millions of dollars in legal and indemnity fees.  Bill also serves as negotiation/monitoring counsel for several carriers representing them in mediations across the nation.  You can reach out to Bill for a free copy of the books.

 Michael “Mike” Bowler, CPCU, ARM, SCLA; Mike is Head of Claims for Curotech Specialty US, a newly created MGA representing Syndicates at Lloyds of London.  Mike is responsible for claims management, catastrophe planning, TPA oversight, and loss control.  He works closely with Curotech's underwriters and executive team on coverage development, risk assessments and portfolio management.  

Mike has over 35 years of experience successfully handling and managing commercial property claims with a focus on the Excess & Surplus market. Mike has been the Property Claims Executive for four successful US based E &S start-ups; Rockhill Insurance Company, Ariel Specialty Insurance Mangers,  Barbican Specialty US and now Curotech Specialty.  Prior to joining Rockhill, Mike was the Eastern Zonal Property Claims Manager for AIG. Mike started his claims carrier as a Claims Trainee for Crum & Forster in Orlando working his way up to the National Property Claims Director reporting to the VP of Property Claims.

Mike earned a Bachelor’s degree in Risk Management-Insurance from Florida State University, he continued his industry education by earning the following industry designations; Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), Associate in Risk Management (ARM), and Senior Claims Law Associates (SCLA). Mike recently shared his knowledge and experience by writing and teaching two courses for the Claims Litigation Management Alliance (CLM); Claims College - School of Property.  He also served as a CLM Panelist on a Bad Faith Claims Handling presentation.

Mike is a member of the CPCU Society, Claims Litigation Management Alliance, Loss Executives Association, Senior Claims Law Associates and the Southern Loss Claims Association.
He has served as President of The Community Voice Toastmasters, Treasure and ACC Director of his homeowner’s association. He attends St. Brendan’s Catholic Church.

  
 
 

Letoyia Brooks is an associate in the Atlanta office of McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP (MLA).  She is a member of the litigation team and focuses her practice on complex business disputes, including first-party property insurance coverage issues, primary/excess coverage issues, and insurance bad-faith litigation.  Her practice also includes professional liability coverage disputes and defending insurers from bad faith liability arising out of time-limited demands.  Ms. Brooks regularly litigates in both state and federal court. Ms. Brooks cost effectively manages large multi-insurer complex litigation matters involving large loss manufacturing, chemical, and refinery claims, catastrophic claims arising from natural disasters, application of deductibles, time element and business interruption loss, and contingent business interruption.  She recently litigated  and mediated a settlement in New Jersey of a $197 million claim against a market of insurers arising out of an explosion at a PVC manufacturing plant located in Illinois.  Key issues included scope of damage, proper valuation method, allowed site prep costs for a rebuild at a different location, and betterments in technology. Ms. Brooks has extensive experience in all forms of written and electronic discovery and trial preparation.  She manages large scale document review projects, negotiates protocols for the production of electronically stored information (“ESI”), and plans cost reduction strategies in discovery.  She also advises clients on the e-discovery process, including electronic document preservation, collection, processing, review, and production in response to litigation obligations.Ms. Brooks was invited to join the prestigious Claims and Litigation Management Alliance ("CLM") and has been designated as a Certified Litigation Management Professional.  Prior to joining MLA, Ms. Brooks served as a Federal Judicial Law Clerk to the Honorable James R. Spencer in Richmond, Virginia.Ms. Brooks graduated from Mercer University's Walter F. George School of Law where she was a member of the Mercer Law Review and served as Academic Chair of the Black Law Student Association.  Ms. Brooks was inducted into the Brainerd Currie Honor Society and was recognized with numerous awards and scholarships, including the Mercer Law Scholarship and the American College of Bankruptcy Distinguished Bankruptcy Law Student Award.  Education J.D., Mercer University, cum laude, 2007 M.S., Conflict Management, Kennesaw State University, 2003 B.A., Economics & Business Administration, Kalamazoo College, 1998Bar Admissions GeorgiaCourt Admissions U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia

Diane Parker recently retired as Vice President, North American Claims Group at Allied World Assurance Company. Diane began her career with the Washington, D.C. law firm of Ross, Dixon & Masback, where she litigated D&O and insurance coverage matters, as well as media liability and other complex civil cases. Subsequently, she became Claims Manager at Executive Risk, where she oversaw D&O, professional liability, healthcare, and media liability claims, and also was responsible for the company’s non-U.S. claims. After Executive Risk was acquired by Chubb, Diane served as Assistant Vice President and Claim Counsel at Chubb for the next ten years. At Chubb, Diane was responsible for overseeing the company’s complex healthcare D&O and E&O claims, as well as high-exposure commercial D&O, financial D&O and E&O, fiduciary, employment, and other professional liability claims across the United States. She has extensive experience managing coverage litigation involving D&O, E&O, and related claims. She has spoken at industry conferences on insurance coverage, D&O, and healthcare liability topics.

Diane received her law degree, with honors, from the University of Texas in 1991, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif. She is a member of the Texas bar.

Eileen Jenkins is an expert witness and consultant.
 
In her thirty year career, Ms. Jenkins has held roles as in-house corporate counsel and claim legal counsel, as well as roles as a claim adjuster, supervisor, manager and officer.  She has an expertise in insurance good faith, coverage and complex claims.  Her experience spans all lines of property and casualty business, including general and professional liability, surety, directors’ and officers’ liability, workers compensation and excess/umbrella.  She has worked for both standard lines and excess and surplus lines carriers.  She has authored numerous guidelines, adopted as standards for her companies, including Best Practices, Best Practices for Investigation, Litigation Management Guidelines and Coverage Template Letters.  Ms. Jenkins is a frequent industry speaker. 
 

Angela Henderson is a Claims Supervisor for ESIS Inc, a subsidiary of Chubb Insurance.  Angela has more than fifteen years of experience in the workers’ compensation industry spanning technical and managerial responsibilities.  Angela has a varied background of corporate experiences and worked in marketing research for eight years prior to moving into the insurance industry.  She has managed claims for captive self-insured organizations, large national third party administrators and regional carriers. Angela has recently relocated to Southern California where she continues her adjusting career as an Independent Consultant in Commercial and Residential Property loss estimating. Angela also manages the public site Learn To Adjust, helping contractors who are new to the industry network with other professionals to obtain job leads and training resources.

Joseph Lynskey has been the SIU Manager since 2006.  In this role he has overall responsibility to guide and direct investigations, training and compliance of the Farm Family Casualty Claim Department and Underwriting Department; relative to fraud Investigations.  In addition, Joseph serves as the contact person for state insurance fraud bureaus, NICB, local law enforcement and fire investigative serves.  Yearly reporting and state compliance are also under the department’s direction.
 
The SIU department consists of one (1) SIU Assistant, who is responsible to support both claims and underwriting in non-fraud investigations and provide support for the SIU department where warranted, one (1) SIU Analyst, who is responsible for fraud investigations and yearly training and one (1) SIU Manager/Investigator, who is responsible for directing and managing the quality and content of departmental fraud investigations and state compliance; along with investigation complex investigations.
 
Mr. Lynskey has over 30-years experience in the insurance industry.  Prior to coming to Farm Family, Mr. Lynskey served in diverse roles from multi-disciplinary claims handling to Claim Service Center Management with the Aetna/Travelers.  He has background in administrative processes, budgeting, bench strength development, national projects and re-engineering.
 
Prior to coming to Farm Family, Mr. Lynskey served as the New York State Regional No Fault Manager and initiated one of  the first Medical Fraud Investigations Unit in NYC.
 
Mr. Lynskey holds a B.S. in Business Administration and Economics from The King’s College, AIC and FCLA designation.
 

Nadine Eissler is the Claims Technical Director for Lawyers and Accountants professional liability claims. She has 25 years of experience in the insurance industry. After graduating cum laude from The Pennsylvania State University, she began her career with The St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company in NJ as claims representative handling complex general and professional liability claims. In 1985, she earned her JD from Seton Hall University School of Law and became a member of the NJ state bar association.  After earning her JD, Nadine was in private practice with a small law firm where she worked primarily in the area of medical malpractice and general insurance defense. After 7 years, she left the firm to start her own general practice law firm. In 1995, she returned to The St. Paul as a claims manager and was then promoted to Technical Director where she managed and trained claim professionals in the handling of civil rights cases and high exposure bodily injury claims.  Nadine began her career at Fireman's Fund in 2008 as the Technical Director for Lawyers and Accountants. In addition to overseeing large exposure professional claims, she is actively involved in the training and education of the Fireman's Fund claims staff.

Frederick J. Fisher, J.D. is the President of Fisher Consulting Group, Inc. and was the Founder of E.L.M. Insurance Brokers, a Wholesale & MGA facility specializing in Professional Liability and Specialty Line risks. He is a Member of the Editorial Board for Agents of America; a Faculty Member of the  Claims College,  and Member of the Executive Council, School of Professional Lines sponsored by the Claims & Litigation Management Association and a course designer and webinar Instructor for the Academy of Insurance (sponsored by the Insurance Journal).Since his career began,  Mr. Fisher focused on one vision: providing financial security to the client. The result was a  successful 40 year career in Specialty Lines Insurance. In 1975, Mr. Fisher began his career on the service side, as an Independent E&O claims adjuster. In 1982, he bought the Company, continued with claims, while expanding the firm’s services to include  qualitative claim auditing, risk management & loss control services, and acting as a TPA. In only 4 years, the annual billings increased by 400%.  His claim auditing techniques and recommendations resulted in substantial client savings (including the SCRTD now known as the Los Angles MTA). Many Insurers and self-insured’s adopted not only the performance standards raised in the audits, but adopted his recommended Attorney Management Guidelines as a base, which are still in use today by many major insurers. 
In 1995, he formed what is now known as ELM insurance Brokers, a firm that has acted as an MGA and Wholesale Broker of Professional Liability Insurance  and Specialty Lines. From nothing, the firm grew rapidly to a $30 Million dollar facility when sold in 2008. He has lectured extensively on professional liability issues since 1978, and authored over 64 articles in trade journals and periodicals. He is the author of BROKER BEWARE, Selling Real Estate within the Law. He designed a program to conduct on site pre-underwriting risk management assessments of a clients' professional liability exposures. In 1989, he became a Founding Member of the Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS),  and was elected to the PLUS Board of Trustees in 1993. After serving in all Officer capacities, he was elected President in 1997.  He remains a Special Materials Expert for several RPLU courses and is the Senior Technical Advisor for The Professional Liability Manual, first published by the International Risk Management Institute in 1990. He has taught over 100  CE classes and lectures. He testifies regularly as an expert witness in cases dealing with the duties and obligations of professionals as well as on coverage and claims-made issues.
Mr. Fisher can be reached at 310/413-6200, Email-fjfisher@fishercg.com

EDUCATION

Widener University School of Law (J.D. 1989), Phil Delta Phi Honor Fraternity; Moot Court Honor Society

State University of New York, Buffalo (B.A. Political Science)

Buffalo State College, Varsity Football Team 1982 and 1983

CERTIFICATIONS & TRIAL ADVOCACY TRAINING

Certified Litigation Management Professional, 2013, Claims & Litigation Management Alliance

Temple University School of Law Advanced Trial Advocacy Program (“The Litvin Course”), 1992

CLIENT SERVICE AWARDS

2013  Blue Ocean Award in Recognition of Value Innovation and Strategic Partnership

2012 Golden Gavel Award in Recognition of Outstanding Trial Result

2010 Golden Gavel Award in Recognition of Outstanding Advice and Counsel

2008 Golden Gavel Award in Recognition of Outstanding Advice & Counsel

PERFORMANCE RECOGNITION

2014 “Super Lawyer”

2013 “Pennsylvania Super Lawyer”

2012 “Pennsylvania Super Lawyer”

BAR MEMBERSHIP

Pennsylvania, 1989

COURT ADMISSIONS

U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

AFFILIATIONS

Pennsylvania Bar Association

Lancaster Bar Association

Claims Litigation Management Alliance (CLM)

Construction Committee

Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee

Alternative Fee Arrangement Committee

American Builders & Contractors

Defense Research Institute

Trucking Law Committee

Transportation Lawyers Association

Martha S. Kersey is an Assistant Vice President of Casualty Claims for FrankCrum General Agency Inc., servicing claims for Frank Winston Crum Insurance and Clear Blue Insurance. She graduated from the University of Illinois with a bachelor’s degree in political science and economics and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Illinois College of Law. She is an Illinois licensed attorney with over 35 years of experience in Claims and Corporate Legal, bringing extensive expertise from leadership roles at Church Mutual as Director of Large Loss Casualty Claims, Amerisure managing an Environmental Large Loss team, and QBE's General Counsel office handling extra-contractual litigation and coverage on a nationwide basis.
Martha reports to the Senior Vice President of FWCI and manages the FCGA Casualty Claims team, oversees complex casualty matters and brings significant legal expertise to claims handling operations. Her comprehensive background includes litigated claims and coverage work for Country Financial and State Farm, as well as trial experience with Nally Haasis Jordan and Bauer. She authored Chapter 18 of New Appleman on Insurance, Law Library Edition entitled "Duty to Indemnify – Bodily Injury and Property Damage," which was cited by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in Schinner v Gundrum, 349 Wis.2nd 529 (June 2013). Martha has served as a guest speaker for the Defense Research Institute, Alpha International and CLM, and held leadership positions as past vice-president of the Champaign County Bar Association and past President of the East-Central Illinois Women Attorneys Association.
 
 

Mr. Wiewel began his career at Gallagher Bassett 20 years ago in the Oklahoma City office as Claims Manager.    During this time, he opened the National Medical Only Unit which services a large variety of Gallagher’s national clients.      In 2007, he was promoted to Vice President of the Central Zone and in 2012 he assumed his current role  as  Senior Vice President of the West Zone overseeing 14 claims offices and over 600 employees.
 
In addition to his managerial roles at Gallagher, he has facilitated numerous training initiatives, Best Practices development and SOC1 Training and Compliance.
He is a graduate of Arthur J. Gallagher’s Executive Training program.
 
Prior to joining Gallagher Bassett, Ed worked in the claims department at Kemper Insurance Group.
 
Ed graduated from Oklahoma City University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree.
 
 
 

John's practice focuses on complex insurance coverage and liability matters, with a particular emphasis on construction. He represents carriers in a variety of first- and third-party coverage disputes related to the defense of general contractors/subcontractors on large multi-family construction projects Involving defective components/products and installation errors. His work in this area includes breach of contract, bad faith, unfair claims handling and extra contractual claims directed at insurers. John handles property damage disputes involving matters such as fire, theft and coverage issues arising out of catastrophic events. He also has experience representing insurers and their insureds in catastrophic personal injury claims involving traumatic brain injuries (TBI), closed head injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder and other complex issues.
John maintains a sound understanding of developing issues arising from the construction field and their potential implications to the insurance industry. This knowledge enables him to assist clients with current matters while also advising carriers on forward-looking strategies designed to help clients achieve desired results.
In addition to his construction-related coverage work, John also advises clients on reinsurance, the drafting and implementation of new policy forms, and representation of insurers on claims for coverage for trademark, copyright, and other personal and advertising matters.
John has spoken before the insurance industry and his peers on a broad range of issues, including construction defect, UM/UIM claims and bad faith.
Practice AreasArson/Insurance Fraud Construction Defect Extracontractual/Bad Faith Intellectual Property Property Coverage ReinsuranceLife SciencesProduct Defect & Food Contamination
EducationWake Forest University School of Law, J.D., 1995Wake Forest University, B.A., 1990

William is  the AVP of Property Claims and SIU for Grange Mutual Casualty Company located in Columbus, Ohio.  He is responsible for all the strategic direction, innovation and guidelines for property claims from every day claims to catastrophe operations and large loss handling.  In addition to his property claims responsibilities he manages the Special Investigation Unit and is responsible for all strategic direction, analytics and guidelines in SIU.  He brings over 14 years of insurance experience including courtroom testimony and mediations.  He has obtained his Associates in: Risk Management, Commercial Underwriting and Claims in addition to his CPCU.  Additionally he holds the IICRC certifications in Water Damage Restoration, Applied Structural Drying and Fire and Smoke Restoration.
 
He is actively involved in the industry and currently serves on the PCI & CLM Fraud Committees, PLRB Large Loss Conference Committee and is the Chair of the PLRB Products and Services Committee. He has presented at multiple conferences in the insurance industry (CLM, PLRB, PCS CAT, NAMIC and IASIU). William is a proud alumnus from Ohio State University.
 

Lynn Menschenfreund has (30) years of experience both as a lawyer and as a senior claims executive, handling severity, complex claims and litigation. Ms. Menschenfreund has extensive experience in claims and litigation management, product liability, food contamination, real estate, hospitality and coverage.  Ms. Menschenfreund has resolved thousands of claims through effective claim resolution strategies and skillful negotiations. 

?Ms. Menschenfreund is the founder of Concise Claims Consulting LLC, a consulting company dedicated to providing effective and efficient strategies for claim resolution for insurers, TPAs and companies managing self-insured retentions.  She has extensive experience managing claim units dedicated to excess/umbrella, environmental, multinational claims, construction, marine excess liability, and medical malpractice.  Ms. Menschenfreund has held various leadership positions for global carriers and excess and surplus lines carriers including VP, Excess and Multinational Claims for Everest National Insurance Company; SVP, Excess and Specialty Claims for Chubb (formerly ACE North American Claims); VP, Claims for Markel (Investors Underwriting Managers); AVP, Excess Claims for AIG; and she has served as counsel to the law firm of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae. Ms. Menschenfreund is the past Dean for the School of Casualty Claims from 2013-2016 for CLM.  Ms. Menschenfreund currently volunteers at the the NJ Community Food Bank. 

Jerry is a Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer.  He is nationally recognized as a Top Ten Defense Lawyers in the US by one of the largest insurance companies in the world. He is a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, an invitation-only trial honorary society composed of less than one-half percent of lawyers in the US. Jerry is also Board Certified in Maritime Law, has been recognized as a “Super Lawyer” by Law & Politics since 2006 and is named as one of Florida’s “Legal Elite” by Florida Trend. He has been selected as one of America’s Top 100 High Stakes Litigators® for 2018—by invitation only and is reserved to identify the nation’s most exceptional trial attorneys in high value, high stakes matters. In 2016, he was selected by the Dade County Bar Association as one of Miami’s top 10 trial lawyers to present in its annual Super Lawyers CLE Mock Trial and also received the Anthony G. Marshall Award as Hospitality Lawyer of the Year.  In 2017, he was a finalist for the Council on Litigation Management’s (CLM) Professional Outside Counsel of the Year Award and also nominated by his peers in the Dade County Bar Association as a Legal Luminary. He was also selected as Lawyer of the Year for 2022 by Best Lawyers. Jerry was re-elected in 2023 as a Top 100 Black Lawyer in the state of Florida. This honor is awarded by The National Black Lawyers association and given in each state or region to only 100 recipients with reputations for providing excellent legal representation in their respective practice areas. 

As Head of Financial Lines Claims at Hartford Global Specialty , Steven oversees all professional and management liability claims handling and loss services. He leads a team of 52 claims professionals in the US with the experience and ability to handle the claims and business issues that may arise in connection with the most sophisticated errors and omissions, directors and officers, fidelity and fiduciary liability risks.  Additionally, Steven serves as a Global Financial Lines Claims head as well.

Steve’s experience includes 20+ years of managing claims and claims professionals relating to the insurance industry. Following the acquisition of Navigators by The Hartford earlier in 2019, he was asked to oversee the combined organizations. 

Steve also held various professional positions at Gulf Insurance and American International Group (AIG) as well as in the law department of Prudential Securities and Prudential Financial.  Additionally, he spent 10 years at ACE North American Claims in a senior role within the Management Liability Claims Group.  
 
He received a J.D. degree from Widener University School of Law and a B.A. degree from Rutgers College.

Lisa Jurski is the Director, Workers’ Compensation Programs for HCR ManorCare. HCR ManorCare is a long term care provider with approximately 60,000 employees in over 30 states. HCR ManorCare is both insured and self-insured for its workers’ compensation program with 70% of the claims population self-administered by Lisa’s team in Toledo, Ohio. HCR ManorCare has also integrated its non-work related disability benefit plan with Workers’ Compensation and it is also managed by Lisa’s team.

Lisa began her workers’ compensation career in 1980 when she took a position with the Industrial Commission of Ohio Appeal Board. Since that time she has worked with two TPA’s as an employer’s representative as well as benefits administrator of a self-insured/self-administered health care and workers’ compensation program for another Toledo employer. She joined HCR ManorCare in 1994.

Lisa resides in Toledo, Ohio and previously presided as the President of the Northwest Ohio Self-Insurers Association and a board member of the Pennsylvania Self-Insurers Association and the National Workers’ Compensation Coalition (NWCC). Lisa is deeply committed to providing a safe workplace for the employees of HCR ManorCare as well as a workers’ compensation program that is responsive to the needs of all 60,000 employees
 

Mindi is Claims Administrator II in the Workers’ Compensation Program with HCR ManorCare with 10 years of experience in the industry and over seven in claims management. HCR ManorCare with its Corporate Headquarters in Toledo, Ohio, is a long term care provider with approximately 60,000 employees in over 30 states.  HCR ManorCare is both insured and self-insured for its workers’ compensation program with 70% of the claims self-administered by the team in Toledo.
 
Mindi began her workers’ compensation career in 2004 when she took a claims examiner position at HCR ManorCare and carried a small claims management load assigned with TPA in varies states. In 2007 she was promoted to Claims Administrator taking on self-administered claims. She has over 7-years experience in claims management with insured states and has specialized in self-insured/self- administration claims handling for Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Florida.
 
Mindi resides in Toledo, Ohio with her family. She graduated with her Bachelor’s Degree of Arts in Business Administration and Health Care Administration in May of 2008 from Lourdes College in Sylvania Ohio. Mindi also has joined the Fellowship with the Claims Litigation Management. 
 
Mindi is committed to providing a proper course of action in an adequate and cost efficient manner per all state guidelines and procedures.
 
 

Ms. Kalzer practices professional liability, employment and education law with an emphasis on defending complex litigation for communities of faith, non-profits, schools, health care providers and other private employers.  She is a respected and popular instructor for CLM in claims evaluation and ethics.Ms. Kalzer has handled and successfully resolved over 300 claims of employee misconduct by combining tough incisive legal tactics with an empathetic litigation approach and compassionate communication skills. Her practice requires targeted experience in areas of privacy rights, Constitutional issues, mental health, and human development.Additionally, she has tried professional liability, medical malpractice and employment discrimination cases to verdict in District Court and Superior Court and engaged in oral argument in Divisions I and II of the Washington State Court of Appeals and the Washington State Supreme Court. She has practiced in both State and Federal Court. She is experienced in managing complex multi-plaintiff litigation and bringing the matter to a successful and cost efficient conclusion.EducationSeattle University School of Law, Juris Doctor, cum laude, 1995 Top 10% of her classGonzaga University, Master of Arts, Organizational Leadership, expected 2013Universite de Poitiers (France), Certificat des EtudesUniversity of Oregon, Bachelor of Arts, English and Political Science, 1984AdmissionsUnited States Supreme CourtSupreme Court of the State of OregonSupreme Court of the State of WashingtonUnited States District Court for the Western District of WashingtonUnited States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

Bill is currently the Claim Supervisor at Henderson Brothers insurance agency, an independent agency in Pittsburgh, writing for over 35 insurance carriers.  He provides risk and claim advice for all agency clients.  He also works as a liaison between the client and the carrier to address any concerns during the claim process. Previously he worked as the Regional Claim Manager for Hertz Claim Management, a subsidiary of the Hertz Corporation, where he ran the Pittsburgh regional office.  As a multi-line TPA, they serviced many accounts in all lines of business as well as the Hertz Corporation.  His office was in charge of administering, investigating and negotiating all lines of claims for their clients. Bill is active in the local CLM chapter in Pittsburgh. He is also on the Executive Council that helps establish the curriculum for the school of fraud for the Claim College. He earned a BA degree in economics from Lafayette College in 1976. 

David M. McLain is a founding member of Higgins, Hopkins, McLain & Roswell, LLC, a firm which specializes in construction law and construction litigation throughout Colorado. Mr. McLain received his undergraduate degree from Colorado State University, graduating cum laude, and his law degree from the University of Denver, College of Law. Mr. McLain completed the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance Litigation Management Institute, earning the designation from that organization as a Certified Litigation Management Professional. He has a general civil litigation practice with an emphasis on the defense of complex construction lawsuits on behalf of developers, general contractors, and other construction professionals. As a result of the experience gained by defending some of Colorado’s largest residential construction defect lawsuits, construction professionals seek out Mr. McLain to consult on risk avoidance and risk management strategies. Currently among his clients are several of the state’s largest home builders, regional and custom builders, and numerous insurance carriers. In 2015, Law Week Colorado named Mr. McLain’s as the Barrister’s Best Construction Defects Lawyer for Defendants. Mr. McLain is an AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated attorney by Martindale-Hubbell and is a regular speaker at local, regional, and national seminars regarding construction defect litigation in Colorado.

Rory Eric Jurman's practice is focused on providing strategic and cost-effective counsel to Fortune 500 companies, insurers and self-insureds. His practice includes insurance coverage, bad faith, professional malpractice, products liability, and commercial litigation.

Rory provides coverage advice concerning virtually every type of general, excess and professional liability insurance policy, including employment practices liability, directors and officers liability and malpractice/errors or omissions policies for various professions. He handles the investigation and evaluation of multi-faceted and high-exposure claims, including class actions and complex coverage issues. Rory has litigated numerous trials through appeal, including multi-party cases, and major declaratory judgment, liability, and rescission actions.

In addition to his legal work in the insurance industry, Rory also handles a broad range of litigation matters. His practice includes the defense of medical professionals, life science companies, professional negligence matters, defense of Life and Disability Insurance matters, commercial litigation, and products liability. He has litigated, arbitrated and mediated cases throughout Florida.

Michael is Vice President, Counsel & Litigation Management.  In this role he is responsible for contracting, legal counsel and support to product, underwriting and corporate, and litigation management, which includes management of outside counsel relationships.  Previously Michael was VP, Litigation & Vendor Management.  Michael joined IAT in 2019.
 
Prior to joining IAT, Michael held various roles at Chubb, including:
- Vice President, Head of Litigation and Legal Vendor Management, North America
- Assistant Vice President, Home Office Litigation Management Specialist
- Assistant Vice President and Manager of the Litigation Cost Management Group

From 2001 to 2010, Michael held various roles at The Hartford including:
- Regional Manager of Panel Counsel
- Counsel
- Trial Attorney 

He also held positions with Sentry Insurance as Trial Attorney and The Public Consulting Group, Inc. as a Case Director and Counsel.
 
Michael earned his JD from Suffolk University Law School where in his 3rd year he participated in the prosecutor’s clinical program representing the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in criminal proceedings.  Michael earned his MBA from Southern Connecticut State University and his BA in Economics from Albertus Magnus College, where he later served as an Adjunct Professor teaching Business Ethics, Business Law and Sports Law.
 
Michael has been a speaker and faculty member on litigation management and claim topics.  Michael is a Certified Litigation Management Professional (LMI – CLM designation), Certified Claims Professional in Casualty Claims (CLM designation) and a member of the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel (FDCC).  Michael is also a member of NAMWOLF’s Advisory Council (National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms) and IILP’s Advisory Board (The Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession).
 
Most recently in October 2022 Michael was part of a team that received the DRI Law Firm Corporate Legal Diversity Award for Mediator Selection Diversity Initiative.

Michael S. Little is an Assistant Vice President, Claims Counsel at IAT Insurance Group and specializes in corporate litigation, commercial transporation, insurance coverage / bad faith litigation and employment-related matters.Mr. Little has been awarded the designation of Certified Litigation Management Professional (CLMP) by the Claims & Litigation Management Alliance (CLM).  Mr. Little also is the co-author of CLM's Claim Handling Guide (California).

Mr. Little is a 1992 graduate of University of California, Berkeley, where he received a bachelor’s of arts degree in English. He earned his law degree from Boston College Law School in 1995.

Mr. Little’s background includes positions in corporate, insurance and law firm settings where he worked with a wide array of clients, including clothing retailers/designers, museums, technology conglomerates, aerospace corporations, national restaurateurs, film/video/music/television companies, and theme parks.

During more than a decade in practice, Mr. Little has handled wrongful termination, workplace discrimination and harassment matters, along with labor arbitration and collective bargaining agreements, and developed employment manuals and policies. He also is well-versed in the protections afforded by directors and officers insurance and employment practices liability policies. As well, he has experience with construction defect, mass-action environmental toxic tort, professional malpractice, demands for independent counsel, equitable contribution obligations, bad faith claims, exhaustion issues, and extra-contractual litigation.

Prior to joining IAT, Mr. Little served as a Partner at Poole & Shaffery, LLP and was the Western U.S. Corporate/Employment Liability Officer for Chubb Group of Insurance Companies.

Mr. Little is a member of the State Bar of California.

Mark is a 1989 graduate of the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater.  He began his career in the insurance industry that same year with Aetna Life & Casualty and is currently employed with Intact Insurance Specialty Solutions as a VP of  Claims Quality Assurance.  Over the course of his career, Mark has succeeded in the areas of field and desk adjusting, claim supervision, large account management, as well as commercial lines sales. One of his areas of continued enjoyment and growth, which was enhanced after joining a Toastmasters Club in 2008, is that of public speaking.  This has allowed him opportunities to provide training and presentations on multiple topics.  Mark has his CPCU, AIC and CCP designations. 

Dr. Michael Skiba, also known as Dr. Fraud ®, is an international consultant/expert on financial crime and has been referred to as one of the top crime fighters in the world. He worked in the fraud industry for 22 years (investigator, analyst, and Vice President International Counter Fraud) and for the last seven years has worked as President of the International  Fraud Training Group (a company he cofounded) in every international region as a consultant, trainer, and speaker on fraud. International governments, private companies, and colleges regularly call upon him to speak (over 400 keynotes) and offer training on his global expertise including recent engagements in South Africa, Brazil, Malaysia, and the Nordics.
 
He has also been a professor for 18 years and is currently the Department Chair at  Colorado State University Global where he oversees the Criminal Justice Department  including specializations in Fraud, Financial Crime, and Cybercrime. He holds an MBA and a PhD with a research focus on economic crime. He is highly sought after in the media and can be seen weekly in many media outlets including NBC, CBS, FOX, Bloomberg,  SiriusXM radio and his live talk show on KRDO Colorado named “Fraud Fireside Chat”. He is a staff instructor for the United Nations, INTERPOl, FBI and ATF. He is an accomplished author that has published over 300 articles, including a groundbreaking book entitled “The Psychology of Fraud. He is also the host of DFTV, a TV series focused on investigating international scams. www.drfraud.org.       
 

Joseph B. Carini, III is co-chair for the Construction group, focusing on construction litigation, defending owners, project managers, general contractors and subcontractors in litigation involving personal injury accidents and construction-defect and design disputes.A seasoned litigator, Mr. Carini has defended clients in varied and numerous wrongful death and catastrophic injury cases based on theories of general negligence, premises liability, product liability, and vehicular accidents. He also defends contractors and municipalities in litigation involving accidents arising out of highway construction, signage and signal maintenance.Mr. Carini also serves as an emergency on-site presence for his clients, responding to injuries and assisting in accident investigation and evidence preservation. He also conducts risk management seminars for management and workers, handles construction-related insurance coverage issues and provides contract review services.Mr. Carini holds several high accolades, including being honored by Super Lawyers, an AV rating from Martindale-Hub- bell, as well as being admitted to the Society of Trial Lawyers, and presently serves on its board of directors.

Rachel Ehrlich is a nationally recognized mediator specializing in complex civil disputes. She mediates litigated and non-litigated matters in the following areas: construction defect, insurance coverage, insurance bad faith, environmental, civil rights, real estate including landlord-tenant, and personal injury including catastrophic injuries. She has successfully mediated disputes in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Oregon, Washington, London, and other jurisdictions. Prior to becoming a full-time neutral, she spent 20 years gaining an invaluable understanding of civil disputes and the insurance industry as a casualty and coverage attorney, insurance claims person, underwriter, and insurance executive. Rachel is also a mediator for several court programs including the Federal District of Northern California. She has been active with CLM, serving for several years in the Claims College as a founding Dean of the Claims Mediation School and on the founding Executive Council for the Construction School. She regularly presents seminars on mediation of insurance coverage, bad faith, and construction disputes, mediation confidentiality, and ethics to a variety of audiences.

Rachel is a graduate of University of California, Hastings College of the Law (J.D. 1996) and the University of California at Santa Cruz (B.A. Politics 1990).  She is admitted to practice before the US Supreme Court, the California Supreme Court, the US Courts of Appeal for the Ninth and Tenth Circuits, and the US District Courts of Northern California and Colorado.  www.ehrlichadr.com

David Gold is a Partner of Litchfield Cavo LLP.  David has practiced exclusively in the field of workers’ compensation since 1992. He has extensive litigation experience having defended clients in each of the 17 workers’ compensation divisions throughout the state of Florida.David received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Florida, College of Law in 1991. He is a member of the Workers' Compensation Section of the Florida Bar as well as the Sports Lawyers Association.

David is listed as AV®  Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell’s peer review system, representing the highest level of professional recognition. He has been certified by the International Commission on Health Care Certification as a Medicare Set Aside Consultant-Certified (MSCC) and is a member of the National Alliance of Medicare Set-Aside Professionals (NAMSAP). David has also been certified as a Litigation Management Professional (LMP).

Ms. O’Dea is Executive Vice President and Chief Claims Officer for AXIS Reinsurance. Ms. O’Dea joined AXIS Re in June of 2011 where she is responsible for all aspects of Axis Re’s claims services worldwide across all its product lines.  Prior to Axis Re she served as Director of Claims for PartnerRe where she was responsible for building out the U.S. claims team to support the company’s property and casualty reinsurance business. Prior to PartnerRe, Ms. O’Dea was Vice President and Claims Counsel with XL Re. She has over 28 years of reinsurance, insurance and law experience having worked in private practice representing insurance companies and later in house in the primary industry and later in reinsurance. Ms. O’Dea has been working exclusively in the reinsurance industry for the last 18 years. As Chief Claims Officer for AXIS Re, Ms. O’Dea is responsible worldwide for the management of the AXIS Re claims department with operations in the U.S., Bermuda and Zurich. Ms. O’Dea earned her B.A. from the University of Vermont and her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law. She is admitted to practice in New York and Connecticut. She is a member of the Professional Liability Underwriters Society (PLUS), the International Association of Claims Professionals (IACP), the Claims Committee of the Reinsurance Association of America (RAA), the Association of Professional Insurance Women (APIW) and a Fellow of the Claims and  Litigation Management Alliance.

 

As the Director of Workers’ Compensation for Macy’s Rob oversees three internal claims operations administering workers’ compensation claims in 42 states. Rob also works directly with third party administrators and agencies providing services in non self-administered jurisdictions.  
Rob began his career with Macy’s Risk Management Department in 1992 and acquired experience in numerous areas that include general liability claims, risk control and OSHA compliance as well as integrated disability benefits and workers’ compensation.  Prior to being named Director in 2006 Rob managed Macy’s claims operations in California where he holds a Self Administrator’s license.

 

Laura Cornish is the Vice President of Risk Management for Madison Square Garden Entertainment, with a primary focus on establishing the risk strategy for the construction, entertainment, and sports organizations. Formerly, Laura was the Claims Manager at Lightstone, responsible for managing and overseeing Lightstone's Claims and Loss Control programs. Before joining Lightstone, Laura helped CLM establish ClaimVets, a 501 (C )(3) non-profit organization dedicated to providing veterans and military spouses with a pathway to a career in claims. PBeforeher working with ClaimVets, she was a Director in Honeywell International's Corporate Risk Management Department, primarily responsible for managing Global Property and Casualty claims. In her role, Laura established the organization's strategic goals for claim handling, complex claim resolution, and litigation management. Before joining Honeywell, Laura was the Domestic Risk Manager for Colgate-Palmolive, responsible for U.S. policy placement and worldwide claims. As the Director-Global Claims for Tyco Intl., Laura managed the in-house claim staff and partnered with counsel, insurers, and TPAs to establish a Litigation Management program encompassing industry Best Practices, billing guidelines, and review processes, reducing durations, claim costs, and legal fees. Before transitioning to Risk Management, Laura was a Vice President; Senior Casualty Claims Consultant/Team Leader at Marsh. PBeforeMarsh, she held various claims positions within AIG's Home Office, Aetna, and Liberty Mutual.  
Laura is a Certified Litigation Management Professional, a Certified Claims Professional, and a Fa faculty member of The Claims and Litigation Management Alliance (CLM) Claim College. She is a member of the NY RIMS Chapter Advisory Committee. In addition, Laura is the President of the CLM Northern NJ Chapter and a member of the Advisory Board of CLM's Retail, Restaurant & Hospitality Committee. Laura is a Graduate of the University of Scranton with a B.S. in Public Administration and Accounting. 

Matthew S. Schorr serves as the regional managing attorney of the Casualty Department for our northern New Jersey and New York offices. Matthew is an experienced litigator with a broad legal background gained from working at specialized firms in New York and New Jersey, and he brings the perspective of having defended individuals, insurance companies, and major corporations in complex litigations within a variety of practice areas.

Matthew joined Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin as a shareholder in June of 2008. He and his litigation team routinely handle high-exposure cases in the fields of premises liability, product liability, restaurant/bar liability, marine, inland marine, construction accidents, automobile, insurance coverage, condominium/community association law, medical malpractice and subrogation.

Based upon his experience, skill, and effectiveness at trial, Matthew has been certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Civil Trial Attorney, an achievement attained by less than two percent of lawyers in New Jersey. He has 10 published opinions and has argued before the Supreme Court of New Jersey on multiple occasions. Matthew was also one of the first trial attorneys to participate in the pilot program that permitted jurors to question witnesses and was asked to lecture at the ATLA Boardwalk Seminar as the defense speaker on this topic.

In 1991, Matthew began his career at Donovan, Parry, Walsh & Repetto, a New York firm that pioneered maritime and insurance law, where he handled a variety of challenging matters involving Jones Act seaman claims, insurance coverage disputes, hull and cargo liability actions, consumer fraud, premises liability, subrogation, product liability, and various commercial cases. He also achieved the status as a Proctor in Admiralty. In 1996, Matthew joined the well-known medical malpractice defense firm of McDonough, Korn & Eichhorn, which went on to become McDonough, Korn, Eichhorn & Schorr subsequent to his ascension to partnership in 1999. During his 12 years with the firm, he managed and helped the firm develop maritime, insurance, community association law, and casualty practices. He also became a seasoned trial lawyer taking dozens of malpractice and casualty cases to trial with a success rate of approximately 95 percent.

Matthew graduated cum laude from the State University of New York at Albany in 1988 and received his juris doctor from Fordham Law School in 1991, where he was named a Leonard F. Manning Scholar. Matthew is admitted to the bars of New York and New Jersey.

Carole Whitted-Ridgeway is Senior Claims Manager for Maverick Transportation, a Little Rock, AR based, industry leading, privately owned carrier in business over 39 years. Maverick operates over 1500 tractors and provides truckload services to steel, building materials glass, machinery and boats throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. She has been in the trucking industry for over 40 years and has been with Maverick the last 22 years. She currently manages the transportation liability, cargo and subrogation for Maverick as well as working with outside defense counsel across the country as emergency response and civil litigation matters arise.  Carole has been a Board Member for the Trucking Industry Defense Association (TIDA) since 2011 and Executive Secretary since 2018.  She has been on the Executive Counsel for CLM's Claims College - School of Transportation since 2012.  Carole also completed and received designation for the CLM School of Casualty Claims (CCP) as well as the CLM Litigation Management Institue Course (CLMP) . Carole is now Co-Dean of the School of Transportation.

Ted Bumgardner is president of Xpera Group, a Solana Beach based construction consulting group with over 30 construction expert members in a wide variety of diverse construction, development, and real estate disciplines.Mr. Bumgardner holds a degree in Architectural Engineering from the University of Texas and is past vice president and principal of Gafcon, ranked in the top 50 construction management firms nationally and has been designated as an expert in over 600 construction litigation cases over the past 20 years.  He is past president of the San Diego chapter of the Forensic Expert Witness Association, he is a founder and technical advisor to NoteVault, a technology company that provides automated project documentation and risk management services to the construction industry worldwide and is an adjunct professor at San Diego State University where he taught a graduate level course in Construction Management as a part of the Masters in Civil Engineering program.

With a career dedicated to representing the interests of the insurance industry, Eric Fitzgerald has extensive experience in a variety of insurance coverage and professional liability matters for insurance companies in state and federal courts throughout Pennsylvania and New York. His practice includes professional, casualty, property and special lines including errors and omissions; cyber; directors and officers; employment; law enforcement liability; commercial property; boiler and machinery; inland marine; builder’s risk; owner-controlled insurance programs (OCIPs); commercial auto and workers’ compensation. Eric also has experience serving as both a mediator and arbitrator in insurance coverage disputes.

Eric is one of a select number of attorneys in private practice who has received his designation as a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and Associate in Reinsurance (ARe). He is extremely involved in the CPCU Society, having served on the Executive Committee of the Society’s National Board of Governors, the Nominating Committee and its Champions Committee and is a former CPCU instructor. In addition, he participated in drafting several textbooks in association with the American Institute for CPCU.

He is also a Certified Litigation Management Professional with the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance (CLM) and an instructor in the CLM’s Claims College. Eric is a member of the Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS), the Property Legal Research Bureau (PLRB) and the American College of Coverage and Extracontractual Counsel (ACCEC).

Kara is a producer in McGriff's Executive Risk Advisors Group. She uses her 20 years of experience as corporate defense counsel and in executive risk insurance to counsel clients on executive and corporate risk and brokers large management liability programs. Kara specializes in Director & Officer, Errors & Omissions, Cyber &Privacy Liability, Employment Practices Liability, Employed Lawyers Liability, and Reps & Warranties insurance for public companies, as well as private equity and large privately held companies.
 
She is a licensed attorney and frequent speaker and writer on topics related to Director & Officer insurance, including how trends insecurities litigation, SEC and DOJ enforcement, Foreign Corrupt Practices, M&A litigation, corporate transactions, and other matters impact a company and its executives' risk and how that risk intersects with D&O and other professional liability insurance. In addition to her law license, she holds an insurance license and a Certified Claims Professional (CCP) designation in Professional Lines.
 
Prior to joining McGriff in 2019, Kara led the Executive &Professional Risk Solutions practice group for USI Southwest, where she worked as a client advisor and broker for almost a decade. Before that, Kara practiced in the commercial litigation group of Hughes & Luce (now known as K&L Gates) and the Corporate Compliance, Investigations & Defense group aHunton Andrews Kurth. Her legal practice focused on arrange of regulatory and financial issues including securities fraud; securities registration violations; the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; revenue recognition and other accounting and financial reporting issues; insider trading, commercial bribery; investment adviser regulations; Medicare and Medicaid Fraud and Stark law violations; white collar criminal defense; and audit and special litigation committee representation. She began her legal career as a law clerk for the Texas Supreme Court. She is a summa cum laude graduate of Texas Tech School of Law.

Rich King, Managing Member of Melchiode Marks King LLC (“MMK”), litigates disputes in all Louisiana and Mississippi courts and is also licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Rich has vast experience defending his clients in the areas of Professional Liability, Insurance Coverage, Bad-Faith, First-Party Property, Construction Law, Employment Law, Commercial Litigation, Environmental/Toxic Tort liability, Subrogation and General Casualty.
 
Rich has lectured to several organizations and clients on a variety of subjects and issues including but not limited to, Property, Bad-Faith, Construction, Professional Negligence, Alternative Dispute Resolutions, Trial Tactics, and General Litigation.
 Rich is a member of the Louisiana Bar Association, Mississippi Bar Association, Massachusetts Bar Association, Defense Research Institute, Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel, Federal Bar Association, and the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance (CLM), where he was a member of the Management & Professional Liability Advisory Board from 2014 -2019. Also, Rich is a 2013–2024 Top Lawyer, a 2012-2023 Super Lawyer, an America’s Top 100 High Stakes Litigator from 2018 - 2024, has an AV Martindale-Hubbell rating and was named the 2015 Outside Counsel of the Year by the CLM.

Dwight Geddes is the head of Metro Claims & Risk Mgmt., a claims and risk management company based in New York. Dwight has worked in the fields of insurance claims and litigation management for over twenty years in various roles, including Director of Claims for a multistate commercial P&C carrier based in New York, where he was instrumental in creating the claims, SIU and in-house legal departments from the ground up and oversaw the daily operations. Metro Claims Mgmt. is an industry leader in claims handling, consulting and auditing for insurance carriers and self-insured entities on property & casualty lines. Dwight has also been involved in captive and RRG formation for clients interested in alternative risk placement.

 

R. Scott B. Clark is the Risk and Benefits Officer of the Office of Risk and Benefits Management for the Miami-Dade County School Board, the fourth largest school system in the nation with over 50,000 employees and 340,000 students. Mr. Clark’s responsibilities include the oversight of the District’s Risk Management programs encompassing a budget with annual expenditures of approximately $400 million.

Mr. Clark’s 25-year career with the district includes management of its traditional risk operations including property, casualty, employee benefits and loss prevention programs, as well as the creation of an Enterprise Risk Management platform, protecting district assets which exceed $8 billion and annual budgets of approximately $5.5
billion. Previous to his positions with Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Mr. Clark was employed in the insurance industry in fields including claims administration, underwriting, marketing, and the creation of self insured programs.

Mr. Clark is a member of the Board of Directors for The Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS), currently serving as President of the Society. Mr. Clark has served on the RIMS Board of Directors since 2000, previously serving as Secretary/Treasurer, Board Liaison to the Conference Programming Committee, Audit Committee, and Chapter and Membership Services Committee. Over his 20+ years of involvement, in RIMS, he has also served on the Health and Safety Committee and was instrumental in the creation of the Greater Miami Chapter where he has served as President on three occasions. Additionally, he has participated for many years on the Florida RIMS Conference Committee, which directs the annual Florida Joint Chapters Conference, serving as Conference Chair in 1997, 2004 and will serve again as Chair in 2010. He has spoken at many national conferences, including four national RIMS conferences. In May, 2007 Mr. Clark was named as a member of Business Insurance Risk Manager of the Year Honor Roll in which he was selected as one of the top four Risk Managers in the country and the only public entity/governmental Risk Manager having received the reward for that year.
 

Mr. Clark is an active member of the Public Risk and Insurance Management Association (PRIMA), the State and Local Government Benefits Association (SALGBA), as well as being a past president and active member of the Florida Educational Risk Management Association (FERMA) where he has received both the Lifetime Achievement Award and most recently the Hall of Fame Award. He also serves as a member of the State of  Florida Workers’ Compensation Advisory Board, and other statewide task forces, and has also participated as an audit member of the Council of Great City Schools in areas of Human Resources and Risk Management. He was honored in 2010 by the Florida Educational Risk Management Association (FERMA) by being elected into the FERMA Hall of Fame, after previously having received FERMA’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007. Mr. Clark also received Risk and Insurance Magazine’s Risk Innovator Award in 2010.

Mr. Marsh is currently the President of both Underwriting Solutions, Inc. (USi) and Midland Claims Service, Inc., Montana corporations.  He has a diverse insurance and technology skill set, unique in the insurance industry and is a licensed Adjuster, WC Examiner and Agent in Montana.
 
Midland Claims Service, Inc., and its wholly owned subsidiary Industrial Injury Claims®, is a leading provider of third party workers’ compensation claims administration service to self-insured companies and organizations doing business in the state of Montana.  The company’s clients employ over 15,000 employees in Montana working in the healthcare, long term care and mining industries.  Utilizing hyper-efficient computer data processing systems, team-based business management and best practices garnered over three decades in the claims industry, Mr. Marsh has reenergized the company since his return to Billings from California in 1999 and led the company through a period of significant growth.  From deployment of internally developed actuarially sound financial reporting to extensive medical and litigation management, the company’s clients have enjoyed significant reductions in total expenditures and average cost per case during a time of challenge in the Montana workers’ compensation system.  In the most recent fiscal year, MCSi was responsible for over 25% of all self-insured (Plan 1) claims filed in the state of Montana in addition to providing property/casualty claims service to the insurance industry.
 
Mr. Marsh was a founding member (2004) of Claims Professional Liability Insurance Company, a national risk retention group providing professional and general liability insurance to independent claim service companies in all 50 states.  Michael was the author of the company’s policy contracts and forms, assisted with creation of the rating and underwriting plans, and continues to serve on the Risk Management committee of CPLIC.
 
Michael provided consulting services to Ensera, Inc. (acquired by Mitchell International) and IAnet, Inc., internet-based automation companies serving the automobile insurance industry.  He was the creator of the technology architecture to automate auto claims processing (patent pending).  Michael was the lead implementation consultant for the startup of Esurance Inc. (www.esurance.com) in 1999 - 2000, a pioneering company offering automobile insurance exclusively over the Internet.  He served as VP of Insurance Management Group West, CA from 1996 through 1998.  Michael was the exclusive claims consultant for the California Earthquake Authority (www.earthquakeauthority.com), creating the CEA’s claims processing procedures during its formation.  He served as a private consultant to Sullivan & Sullivan General Agency, Sovereign General Agency, Automobile Club of Southern California and Western General Insurance Company. He has also worked as a software (beta) testing consultant for America On Line, Microsoft and Intuit.
 
Mr. Marsh served in 1994 through 1996 as the Vice President of Underwriting and Operations of Western Pioneer (Commerce West) Insurance Company, Pleasanton, CA, a leading writer of preferred private passenger automobile insurance.  There he was responsible for the acquisition and implementation of automation systems, underwriting programs and procedures, customer and agency service and claims and support services.  From 1992 through 1994, Mr. Marsh was the Vice President of Claims and Operations for Western Pioneer. He was also the national President of the Policy Management Systems Corporation “POINT” User Group.
 
From 1986 through 1992, Mr. Marsh was with National American Insurance Company of California, serving as its national Vice President of Claims.  There he was responsible for home office and branch claims operations for the United States for the $75 Million book of Workers’ Compensation, Commercial and Personal Lines business in the 11 western states.  Claims included runoff business from Stuyvesant and Mission American Insurance Companies, where he handled or directed in excess of $1 Billion of liability and property claim exposures in all 50 states ranging from landslide and construction defects claims to ground water property and bodily injury pollution claims.  He was instrumental in the design and roll-out of the NAICC “PAL” main frame insurance processing system.
 
 
 
Michael is a graduate of Billings West High School (1976), a member of the National Honor Society and several music performing groups.  He received five years of secondary education, with concurrent majors in Architecture and Business Management, at Montana State University – Bozeman.  Mr. Marsh, a strong proponent of continuing education, has attended over fifty educational seminars and classes; topics ranging from business management, insurance underwriting, claims, litigation management, personnel supervision and computer web site and SQL query/report programming.
 
Approved Instructor/Provider – Insurance Continuing Education – Montana Department of Insurance – current
 
President – Affiliated Adjusters, Inc. (www.affiliatedadjusters.com) 2007 – 2009 term
Board Member – Affiliated Adjusters, Inc. 2004 - present
 
President/Board Member – Billings Motorcycle Club (www.billingsmotorcycleclub.us) 2005 – 2008 term; also responsible for safety / risk management and community relations development; received the organization’s Outstanding Member Award in 2007; Chamber Roche Jaune award winner 2007
 
President/Owner – Recreational Action Sports Entertainment (www.ridethebigsky.com) 2003 – present; motorsports-oriented event and travel promotion company; Chamber Tourism Excellence award 2008
 
President/Owner – Underwriting Solutions, Inc. (www.usimga.com) 2000 – present; independent property / casualty / workers’ compensation insurance agency
 
Sponsor – American Heart Association Heart Ball – 2004 (former wife Loribeth was the event Chairperson)
 
Participant – Labor / Management Advisory Council on Workers’ Compensation (Montana); author of proposed legislative change (2009) for certification and CE requirements for WC claims handlers; WCRI state Workers’ Compensation inventory study participant
 
Board Member – WorkSafeMT, a non-profit Montana organization established in 2008 as a result of the Governor’s Labor / Management Advisory Council on Workers’ Compensation, to promote workplace safety to businesses and workers in Montana; member of the Return To Work, Exec, and Finance Oversight Committees
 
Sponsor – Billings Youth Soccer 1999 – 2003
 
Member of the Montana State University (Bozeman) Quarterback Club (football) and Sideout Club (volleyball).
 
Business Partner – Montana Department of Labor and Industry, Employment Relations Division; worked with ERD in design and implementation stages of electronic data interface system to allow direct FTP WC data reporting and change to SROI reporting resulting in much improved data submission volume and accuracy received by ERD (and subsequently reported to the legislature)
 
Member – Billings Chamber of Commerce 2006 – present (3 companies and BMC), and member of the Chamber’s CVB and Education committees
 
Member – National Association of Independent Insurance Adjusters – Approx 1965 - Current
 
Approved Claim Services Provider – State of Montana – Risk Management Division – Current
 
Member – Society of Registered Professional Adjusters; # 730 – Year 2000 – Current
 
President – Orange County (CA) Claims Managers Council 1989 – 1990
 
Member – Pacific Claim Executives Association 1989 – 1996, Primary Event Organizer Oct 1996 

John is a graduate of Saint Bonaventure University.  He has been in the insurance industry in various Claims and SIU positions for over 24 years.  Currently, he is a SIU Major Case Manager and Litigation Consultant  for Nationwide Insurance housed in Syracuse, NY.  Prior to joining Nationwide, he was with State Farm  Insurance for close to 17 years.  He holds designations for CIFI, FCLS and AIC.  
 

Formerly Vice President of Personal Lines Claims at Great American Insurance, Cincinnati, OH (1997-2001). Prior to joining Great American, he held a number of increasingly responsible positions at Travelers Insurance Companies, Hartford, CT (1981-1997), his last position being Second Vice President – Claims Services, responsible for outside Panel Counsel and Litigation Management. He began his insurance career in 1979 as an outside, multi-line claim adjuster with Safeco Insurance in Colts Neck, NJ.

He attained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Law Justice (cum laude) from Glassboro State College (now Rowan University) and a Juris Doctorate from Western New England College School of Law. He is a member of the Connecticut Bar Association. He has been active in various insurance organizations during his career, such as the American Insurance Association (former chair of the Liability Claim Subcommittee), the Central Claim Executive Association and the Excess & Surplus Lines Claim Association. He is currently active with the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, and a member of both the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel and the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance.

Jay Sever is a partner in the Insurance and Reinsurance group of Phelps Dunbar. He is the Regional Practice Coordinator for the firm's insurance practice group and is also head of the insurance and reinsurance practice group in the New Orleans office. He serves as local, regional and national coverage counsel for both foreign and domestic insurance companies. He counsels clients, manages disputes and tries cases involving a wide variety of insurance coverage issues, including matters arising from bad faith, construction defects claims, third-party liability claims, first-party claims, professional liability claims, crane and rigging claims, racing and competitive sport claims, entertainment claims, transportation claims, environmental claims, general and toxic tort claims, advertising, copyright and trademark claims, media liability claims, multiple-year trigger and allocation issues, marine liability claims, Louisiana direct action claims and numerous others.

In addition to handling cases in Louisiana and California courts in which he is admitted, Jay also has acted as lead counsel in cases pending in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Washington. Jay's practice, both litigation and counseling, involves attorneys from all of Phelps Dunbar's offices in the Gulf South and, where necessary, local counsel in states throughout the United States.

Mike Gates currently serves as President and Executive General Adjuster for Property Loss Services, Inc dba PLS Claims a regional independent adjusting company in Atlanta, Georgia. He has served as President of Southern Loss Association, a claims group for property adjusters, attorneys and other insurance professionals interested in furthering education and communication in the loss adjustment field since 1957.

After receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree from Vanderbilt University in 1973, Mike began his claims career with The Continental Insurance Companies in Orlando later transferring to Atlanta as a regional supervisor responsible for large losses and the property claims product in 23 offices in seven states.
In 1983, Mike started in the independent adjusting business where he has worked for 26 years. In 1997, he established Property Loss Services which currently has branches in Georgia, Dallas and Tampa,. He is a member of the Atlanta Claims Association and the Atlanta Insurance Professionals. He enjoys “Fellow” status with CLM.

Over the years, Mike who has an AIC designation has taught IIA courses and other classes. He has addressed local claims and professional groups and both the Southeastern and Midwestern Claims Managers organizations on various topics including environmental claims. He has also been a presenter at the PLRB national and regional conferences on “Commercial Theft Claims”, “Period of Restoration” and “Rejecting Proofs of Loss and Denial of Claims.”

He has participated as either an appraiser or umpire in over 400 loss and damage appraisals in multiple states including Florida.
 

I began my insurance career in 1986 as a front line claims adjuster and was quickly drawn to the investigative aspects of the role, in particular, fraud detection. Two years later, I pursued my passion for fraud detection and investigation in becoming a full time SIU Investigator.Over the years, I have worked my way up through the ranks of Supervision, Regional Management and Executive oversight of SIU operations in various Property and Casualty environments.I am a frequent guest lecturer and panel participant at various fraud training events, including but not limited to IASIU (National and Local), New Jersey Special Investigators Association, NJ Vehicle Theft Investigators Association, and the Association of Premium Auditors. I am a past President of the NJ Vehicle Theft Investigators Association and recipient of the NJ Special Investigators Association Achievement Award (2011) and Investigator of the Year Award (2007).I am currently the Vice President, Claims Shared Services, Selective Insurance, responsible for the SIU, Subrogation, Claims Compliance, and Claims Quality Assurance programs.

Edgar Allen Poe, Jr. is an equity member in West Virginia based law firm of Pullin, Fowler, Flanagan, Brown & Poe. Pullin, Fowler, Flanagan, Brown & Poe is an insurance defense law firm with approximately fifty attorneys practicing in the states of West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio. The law firm has offices located in Charleston, Beckley, Morgantown and Martinsburg in order to service all areas of the state. The law firm services insurance clients in all aspects of insurance law from general liability to bad faith to coverage issues. The law firm prides itself on a responsive and collaborative method of doing business in the industry.

As an equity member in the law firm, Mr. Poe has over twenty-five years of experience in defending insureds and insurance companies throughout the state of West Virginia. Mr. Poe is well recognized within the industry as a trusted advisor and panel counsel to insurance companies and as a seasoned trial lawyer for their insureds. Mr. Poe has also received the designation of Certified Litigation Management Professional (CLMP) from the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance Litigation Management Institute hosted at Columbia Law School.

Mr. Poe routinely conducts and participates in seminars relevant and timely to the insurance industry and to the defense of insureds. Mr. Poe is actively involved in the West Virginia legal community through the West Virginia State Bar, Defense Trial Council of West Virginia and other organizations. Nationally, Mr. Poe is active in DRI and serves as a State Chair for The Claims and Litigation Management Alliance.

Mr. Poe is also active in his community, having served in a variety of volunteer capacities in the past through various professional, religious and political organizations. Mr. Poe presently serves as Vice President and legal counsel of the United States Tae Kwon Do Won, Inc.

For a separate bio descriptive of Mr. Poe, you may visit the website of Pullin, Fowler, Flanagan, Brown & Poe at www.pffwv.com or you may call Mr. Poe directly on his cell phone at (304) 549-1505.

Year Joined Organization:  1999 – Pullin, Fowler, Flanagan, Brown & Poe, PLLC

Areas of Practice:

Insurance Defense Litigation - General Liability and Major Claims

Product Liability

Construction Law

Trucking Law

Mass Tort / Environmental Law

Professional Liability - Medical, Legal, Architect and Engineering

State Government Law

Paul Berne joined the Lancer Financial Group in 1992. He has over 38 years experience in the management and administration of property/casualty claims. Prior to joining Lancer, Paul was Vice President of Claims with Progressive Casualty Insurance Company. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Syracuse University and the Associate in Risk Management (ARM) designation. Paul is a member of the Trucking Industry Defense Association (TIDA) where he served as President and Treasurer during his nine year term on the Board of Directors. He is currently a member of the TIDA Endowment Committee, having initiated the committee and serving as Chair for 10 years. Paul is a member of the Counsel on Litigation Management Bad Faith Committee and Transportation Committee, and the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America Claims and Bad Faith Committees. He is a frequent speaker and author on a range of subjects relating to Claims management, transportation risk exposure and claims cost control, and risk management. Paul is now Executive Vice President of The Quaker Project, a Claims data and analytics company working with Lancer Insurance Company and other organizations.

ED STOLARSKI  has a comprehensive  litigation background which spans 30 years. His cases have covered various practice areas, including professional liability, product liablity and general liability matters. He has tried cases  in both the state and federal courts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. Ed's  practice currently includes matters within the areas of  medical malpractice.  He also has experience in the areas construction defect  general liability litigation,  first property property and insurance coverage and bad faith litigation.  He has worked within the insurance industry, serving  as a senior trial attorney with The Travelers Insurance Group and as the Managing Attorney for the TIG Insurance Company’s Eastern Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey’s litigation offices.Ed graduated from Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pa. where he obtained his undergraduate and graduate degrees.  He obtained his J.D. from the Widener University School of Law.  He obtained his CLMP designation in 2011. He was an instructor at the CLM Claims College in 2014 and will again instruct at the Casualty School of the College in 2015.

Cathleen is a partner and shareholder at Rebar Kelly. She has been advising and counseling clients in complex litigation matters for over two decades. She represents leading insurance companies and their insureds in multi-faceted matters involving violations of professional standards of care. Cathleen’s representation extends to design professionals, architects, engineers, contractors, surveyors, appraisers, environmental consultants, agents, brokers, service providers, medical professionals, business professionals, food manufacturers and distributors and property owners.

Cathleen has represented clients in the following types of claims:

duty to represent dangerous conditions inadequate security failure to advise, failure to implement design specifications failure to supervise, failure to inspect design defects errors in professional judgment and failure to refer failure to meet/inform of deadlines failure to diagnose and misdiagnosis emergency medical care and nursing mistakes mental health issues corporate liability subcontractor responsibility/indemnification indemnity and obtaining coverage under additional insured status failure to warn

Cathleen has defended one of the nation’s largest healthcare providers in claims of medical malpractice. She has also represented design professionals in legal matters stemming from defective design of electrical equipment resulting in multiple claims and lawsuits. Cathleen has been defending one of the region’s largest real estate brokers in errors and omissions matters for over a decade. She has also represented physicians in connection with allegations of failing to properly diagnose, as well as long-term care facilities against allegations of inappropriate preventative measures for the avoidance of pressure sores. Cathleen also defended one of the country’s largest retail suppliers of electronics in claims of product defects and premise liability matters.

Education: Villanova University School of Law, J.D., 1998 & Long Island University, B.A., 1995, magna cum laude
 

 

Anne capped off a 30-year career when she retired in 2021 after serving as the CEO of CLM for three years.  During her tenure, she combined her passion for continuing education and bringing together industry professionals and focused on furthering the CLM mission of educating claims and litigation management professionals. She joined CLM at a pivotal time with the infusion of energy generated by the affiliation with The Institutes and the related transformation of the CLM into a non-profit organization and focused growth and renewal.

Prior to joining CLM, Anne was the Managing Partner of the Chicago office of Cozen O'Connor where she practiced in the areas of professional liability and insurance coverage. In that role, she represented architects, structural, civil, mechanical and electrical engineers, lawyers and land surveyors. In addition to representation in traditional litigation, Anne has appeared in a variety of alternative dispute formats including arbitration and mediation. She also provided general corporate counseling to design professionals related to contract negotiations, risk management, insurance procurement and coverage, fee disputes and employment issues.

 

Michael Leahy was for 35 years the senior partner in the Risk Management and Insurance Law practice group in the California firm of Haight, Brown & Bonesteel. The firm's insurance practice has been ranked by U.S. News & World Report in the first tier of all firms in Southern California based upon its expertise and reputation. His practice of over 40+ years has been primarily devoted to insurance law and risk transfer issues, including analysis of coverage and reinsurance issues, rendering opinions, drafting insurance policies and endorsements and litigating insurance issues both in bad faith litigation as well as declaratory judgment actions. He has been monitoring and supervisory counsel and national coverage counsel for a number of insurers, domestically and internationally, and has defended professionals in the insurance industry, and has served as an expert witness in extra contractual cases and reinsurance arbitrations.

He has lectured extensively in the United States, the United Kingdom and Asia. He is a member of the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel and the Professional Liability Committee of the CLM. He is a Cum Laude graduate of the Loyola Law School and is a Fellow of the American College of Coverage and Extra Contractual Counsel. He has stepped back from the active practice of aw and is now serving as a consultant to companies and lawyers on insurance related issues and as an expert witness.

Rose Hall is a visionary innovation strategist and risk management expert with 25 years of experience helping organizations navigate the complex intersection of innovation and risk management. She has held leadership roles at AXA XL and Turner Construction Company, working with c-suite leaders at Fortune 500 companies and ENR top 400 contractors to transform risk management into a catalyst for sustainable growth and competitive advantage. 

Rose co-founded the award-winning AXA XL Ecosystem, a client-centric, intrapreneurial business that merges insurance and technology to proactively reduce risk and drive sustainable growth. Rose has authored numerous publications and is a sought-after speaker on insurance and risk management innovation, and leadership. 

Rose is now the founder and CEO of RH Business Ventures, LLC (RHBV), an advisory firm that serves the insurance and construction industries, working with diverse clientele across the innovation and risk value chain - including startups, insurers/brokers, and large enterprises. RHBV is focused on driving growth and profitability by integrating innovation with advanced risk management strategies. 

Rose holds degrees from Rutgers University and Stanford University. She and her work have been the recipient of multiple honors from recognized industry organizations such as Reuter’s, Business Insurance, Celent, EFMA/Accenture, Insurance Business America, PropertyCasualty360.

Elizabeth S. Fitch is a founding and managing member of the Righi Fitch Law Group.  She is a trial lawyer with 35 years of civil defense experience and has the AV Preeminent rating. Beth has defended numerous multi-million dollar cases ranging from catastrophic injuries to construction defect cases. She has defended all types of professionals from lawyers to architects. In 2017, Beth was selected as a Business Insurance Women to Watch Honoree. In 2023, she was  once again recognized as a Super Lawyer, which makes this her twelfth year in a row.  Beth is board certified in Privacy and US Data Protection. This CIPP/US certification is the preeminent privacy credential in the US private sector. She is also certified by the International Association of Privacy Professionals and serves as the Co-Dean of the CLM School of Cyber Claims College.  She is the co-founder of Ladder Down, an award winning program that empowers female lawyers to fulfill their career potential.  She is the past President of Arizona Association of Defense Counsel. Beth looks for innovative solutions that bring about the clients desired result in an economical and expedient manner. She even writes and speaks nationally on law firm leadership.

Jean Fisher joined American Safety in 2005 as the Manager tasked with oversight of the construction defect claims handled primarily by third party administrators and establishing its position on construction defect coverage issues.  In early 2006, she helped to open, staff and train the San Diego claims office which handles all of American Safety’s construction defect claims. When the construction claims were brought in-house, Ms. Fisher transitioned to her role as internal claims counsel, in which she oversaw all lawsuits against American Safety entities throughout the U.S., assists adjusters with complex coverage issues and also works with underwriting on drafting of American Safety endorsements. In October 2013, American Safety was acquired so her position has now transitioned to RiverStone Claims Management, where she continues to handle litigation against American Safety and other insurers.  Prior to joining American Safety, Ms. Fisher was a partner at the coverage law firm of Selman Breitman in California where she previously worked for eight years in both coverage and defense work. Since passing the California Bar in 1992, her practice has been primarily focused on insurance coverage and insurance defense claims, handling complex insurance lawsuits and successfully defending insureds through trials. She started her career as counsel at Golden Eagle Insurance, handling construction defect claims. Ms. Fisher obtained her Juris Doctorate in 1992 from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento.  She earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, San Diego

 

Patricia (Pat) Sheveland is a longstanding leader in the Workers Compensation insurance industry responsible for development and execution of the Workers Compensation strategic business plan for State Auto Insurance Companies.  She led the merger of RTW, Inc.'s  claim organization with the State Auto's Workers Compensation department in 2009.  She was also responsible for implementation and integration of an enhanced claim management model with RTW's proprietary ID15® and nurse case management model.As a Registered Nurse,  Pat started her Workers' Compensation career as a nurse case manager gradually moving into the claim administration side of the business.  She has held various leadership positions in her career,  including executive role responsibilities in the medical and claim management areas for RTW.  She also held the interim position of RTW's Human Resources Director for a period of time pre-acquisition by State Auto.Ms. Sheveland is currently the Assistant Vice President/Director of State Auto Insurance Companies' Workers Compensation claim organization and has obtained her certification as a  Workers Compensation Claim Professional (WCP) designation through the American Society of Workers Compensation Professionals (AMCOMP). Ms. Sheveland is currently completing her studies at MentorCoach®, LLC for certification in life and business coaching through the International Coaching Federation (ICF).  Pat volunteers for the Children's Grief Connection (a Minnesota-based non-profit organization) and is co-founder of an annual event in her community to raise funds to support the local cancer center and to provide financial assistance for area residents who are undergoing cancer treatment.

Scott Smith, CPCU, is a Workers’ Compensation Claims Supervisor for State Auto Insurance Company in Bloomington MN.  During his 23 year career, Scott has worked in the field of Workers’ Compensation claims and compliance management. He has worked in both technical and supervisory roles during this time gaining expertise in handling complex and large exposure claims, reserving practices as well as statutory and federal compliance reporting.Over the course of his career, Scott has conducted extensive training for claims staff and employers on a broad range of topics ranging from Workers Compensation claims management to complex statutory and federal regulations. In his current position, he is actively involved in coaching and mentoring new hires to support their growth and development.Scott holds the CPCU professional designation and obtained his Bachelor of Science degree from Susquehanna University. He also completed the Center for Creative Leadership management program which is located in Greensboro, NC.

Susan Pilon began her career in the insurance industry handling multi-lines claims at The Hartford Insurance Company.   During her 15 year tenure there, she focused the last 6 years solely in Workers’ Compensation.

Since 1994 she has continued her career in the Workers’ Compensation field at RTW Inc./State Auto Insurance Companies.  During her 33 year career Susan has worked in technical, training, compliance and managerial roles.  She has led and taken the Project Manager role for several key initiatives over the years.   She was also responsible for creating the Workers' Compensation policy and procedures, training manuals, new hire training materials, as well as the quality assurance program.  Through these endeavors, she has conducted extensive training for the claims organization.

In her managerial role, she co-led the merger of RTW, Inc.’s claim organization with the State Auto Workers Compensation department in 2009.  She was responsible for the training and implementation and integration of an enhanced claim management model with RTW’s proprietary ID15® and nurse case management model.

Ms. Pilon is currently the Claim Manager of the Large Loss and Litigation teams as well as the Workers Compensation Compliance Team.  She is responsible for the high cost, complex litigation files as well as the overall statutory and regulatory claim compliance and training of the Workers Compensation Line of Business. 
 

Sara Miemiec is the Director of Litigation  for INS Insurance, Inc., the captive insurance company for Schneider National, Inc. She has worked in different capacities within the organization for over 20 years.  Her areas of expertise are in Litigation Management and Catastrophic claims.

She graduated from the University of Wisconsin - LaCrosse with a double major in Political Science and Public Administration.

 
 

In April 2018 after overseeing a successful acquisition of Cunningham Lindsey by Sedgwick, Jane was named the Vice Chair of Sedgwick. Jane joined Cunningham Lindsey in June 2014 as Global CEO from AIG Property and Casualty, where she served as Global Head of Claims Operations since 2012.

Previously, Jane worked as both Head of Americas Region and Executive Director of Global Insurance for Xchanging plc. Jane held several senior positions at Zurich Financial Services, including Global Chief Claims Officer and Chief Claims Officer, North America Commercial Division.

Jane began her time at Zurich in senior claims executive roles at its Farmers personal lines business, including as head of its auto claims division. She began her career as an attorney working for numerous insurance companies, later serving as in-house counsel at Hartford Financial Services.

Jane holds a Juris Doctor degree and is a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter.

Ms. Lakins holds the position of Vice President, Specialty Operations for Sedgwick in Tampa, FL.  Jackie is a career insurance and healthcare risk management professional with over twenty years experience in professional liability, general liability and workes' compensation claims management.

Her current responsibilities include auditing of professional liability claim files to ensure compliance with service expectations, coordinating training and improvement activities and providing mentoring and group training as needed.

Prior to joining Sedgwick she held various claim management positions with Community Health Systems, Inc., Tenet Healthcare Corporation, ACS, CNA and Safeco Insurance Company.

She received her Bachelor Degree from Murray State University.  She received her Juris Doctorate degree from the Nashville School of Law and is admitted to the Tennessee bar.  She received her Healthcare Corporate Compliance Graduate Certificate from The George Washington University.  She holds certifications in Hospital Risk Management and Healthcare Compliance.  She is a member of the American Society for Hospital Risk Management, The Health Care Compliance Association and the Tennessee Bar Association.

Margaret is Vice President and Regional Director of Staff Counsel at Selective Insurance Company of America.  She is certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Civil Trial attorney and has been working in the insurance industry as a defense attorney for over 25 years.  Currently, Margaret is responsible for the management of two staff counsel offices located in NJ. She has succeeded in developing strong partnerships with her claims customers so as to achieve the best results for both clients as well as her claims customers. Margaret strives to ensure that she and her teams continuously provide recommendations for improved litigation strategies combined with reasoned business principles where attorneys are wholly aligned with adjusters in the litigation management process driving sound, economic results.  Margaret serves on the Diversity and Inclusion Council of Selective, as a Master of the Justice Morris Pashman Inns of Court and is a member of the Advisory Board for Josephine’s Place and NJ State Bar Association. Margaret has worked at Selective for 8 years and previously worked for Fireman’s Fund for 15 years. She is a graduate of Fordham University School of Law and LeMoyne College.

Mr. Zirulnik joined Zirulnik, Sherlock & DeMille, Staff Counsel of SICA, in 1988. As Managing Attorney, his responsibilities include direction of
the worker's compensation staff and of legal files in the State of New Jersey.
He personally appears in court to aggressively defend complex litigation, including cases before the Appellate Division and the New Jersey Supreme Court. He has served as past-chairperson of the Workers' Compensation committee for the NJ Defense Association. He is a member of the NJ Bar's Workers’ Compensation Executive Committee since 1980, serving as its legislative coordinator since 1998 and presently serving as its Chairperson. He serves on the NJ Commissioner of Labor Advisory Council and has been a member of ACCA. He exercises an active role in the field of Insurance Defense work and Worker's Compensation Law, continuing to lecture for the NJSBA/ CLE.  He presents at the New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Bench-Bar Conference as a speaker, at their mid-year conference as a panelist and has appeared as a panelist at the Interact legal/technology conference.  He has addressed the National Business Institute and the NJ Defense Association. He has authored articles for the NJ Law Journal, the NJ State Bar Workers' Compensation and the NJ Defense Association Newsletters. He was inducted into the "Inns of Court" in 1996 as a "Master of the Bench".  He was awarded the NJSBA Distinguished Legislative Service Award in 2001 and in 2008 again received this award.

 

Frank Lattal serves as Chief Claims Officer responsible for all aspects of claims management and administration for the ACE Group of Companies, worldwide.

Mr. Lattal joined ACE in December 1998 as Senior Vice President and Claims Counsel. In July 2000 he was promoted to manage the entire claims operation in Bermuda and, in January 2002, was appointed Executive Vice President and General Counsel with responsibility for the consolidated Claims and Legal departments of ACE Bermuda.

Prior to joining ACE, Mr. Lattal spent 14 years in private practice specializing in tort and insurance law as a partner in the New Jersey law firm of Connell, Foley & Geiser, LLP.  He has spent most of his legal career counselling, litigating and arbitrating on behalf of insurers and their insureds in a variety of areas including property, casualty and professional liability.

Mr. Lattal is admitted to practice law in both New York and New Jersey. He holds a bachelor of science degree in accounting from Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, received his law degree from Valparaiso University School of Law in Indiana, and holds a master’s degree in environmental studies from Montclair State University in New Jersey.

Julie Fortune is Senior Vice President and Chief Claims Officer for Arrowpoint Capital based in Charlotte, NC. The Arrowpoint Capital insurance operation has a 165-year history in the United States, formerly as part of the worldwide Royal & SunAlliance Insurance Group plc. Julie is responsible for the workers' compensation claims management operation.  She has more than 20 years of claims and legal experience in the insurance arena with both ongoing and run-off companies.

Prior to joining Arrowpoint Capital, Julie served as the Vice President of Staff Counsel, Services Provider Group and Claims at Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co., Sr. Vice President Claims Zurich Canada, Vice President – Customer Services Provider Group and National Litigation Manager for Zurich North America, and National Litigation Manager for Liberty Mutual. Throughout her career she has gained extensive experience in claims, organizational transition, and vendor and litigation management.

Julie earned her B.S. degree from the University of Oregon, M.A. degree from the Ohio State University, and J.D. degree from the Antioch School of Law.  She is a member of the Supreme Court of the United States, Tennessee, and Oregon.

She is a frequent speaker at industry events and has been quoted in various publications on the topic of claims and litigation management. She is the current Co-Chair and an Advisory Board member of the CLM, and a Chancellor for the Litigation Management Institute.  Julie is also a member of the American Bar Association and the Association of Corporate Counsel.

Ms. Ciliberto is the CEO of the Associated Subcontractors of Massachusetts (ASM), a trade association representing more than 350 member companies that employ more than 25,000 skilled workers on both private and public sector projecs.  For more than 65 years, ASM has worked to promote fair business practices and help subcontractors succeed in a complex and changing industry.
?
For nearly nine years prior to joining ASM, Ms. Ciliberto was the Senior Director and Counsel for Contracts and Construction Law at The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC).  She also held the position of Deputy Executive Director and Counsel for ConsensusDocs - the only standard contracts endorsed by a coalition of 40+ design and construction industry associations.

Prior to joining AGC and ConsensusDocs, Ms. Ciliberto practiced law in Colorado for 10 years. She was the founder and principal of Ciliberto & Associates, LLC, a firm providing natural resources, environmental, real property and water law counsel. She is licensed in Colorado and DC, and several federal courts including the U.S. Supreme Court.

Prior to her legal career, Ms. Ciliberto was a marketing and advertising consultant for more than 10 years and her clients included Alfa Romeo, General Motors, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, United Way, Telecheck, La-Z-Boy, and numerous luxury resorts in Colorado.

Ms. Ciliberto is a frequent presenter at industry events nationwide. She is the Managing Editor of the Colorado Water Law Benchbook and has authored articles for a number of organizations.

Robert Wonnell defends national and local clients throughout Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma. He has handled cases in multiple federal and state district courts, as well as before the Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma Court of Appeals and the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Mr. Wonnell’s primary area of practice is insurance defense.

The Kansas Court of Appeals, after a review of his brief submitted regarding complex medical causation issues, stated that Mr. Wonnell had "provided [the Kansas Court of Appeals] with an extremely well written brief(s)." Stutzman v. City of Lenexa, 33 Kan.App.2d 160, 99 P.3d 145 (2004).

Mr. Wonnell often speaks at seminars providing legal updates on various areas of insurance law and litigation management, offering an opportunity to discuss the practical application with clients, as well as providing educational presentations on updated case law and statutory changes. He, or a member of his staff, will return your call or email within 24 hours.

Mr. Wonnell is a shareholder with McAnany, Van Cleave & Phillips, P.A. He also serves in a variety of positions for Fellowship Bible Church in Gardner, Kansas. Mr. Wonnell is a state chair for the CLM.

Practice Areas: Insurance Defense Litigation

Accomplishments: Certified Litigation Management Professional, LMI 2012 Super Lawyers - Rising Stars 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2014. Editorial Board, The Kansas Journal of Law and Public Policy. 2001 American Board of Trial Advocates (Kansas Chapter) Award for Outstanding Performance in Trial Advocacy.

Professional Organizations: Kansas Bar Association The Missouri Bar Nebraska Claims Association Johnson County Bar Association Claims & Litigation Management Alliance™

Marie Rose Bloomer is currently the Managing Partner of the New Jersey offices of Adelson, Testan, Brundo, Novelle & Jimenez. Ms. Bloomer is a member of the New Jersey State Bar, the United States District Court, District of New Jersey and the United States Supreme Court Bar. Ms. Bloomer received the prestigious designation of Certified Litigation Management Professional (CLMP) from the CLM's Litigation Management Institute. In 2011, Ms. Bloomer was awarded the distinguished New Jersey State Bar Association Workers' Compensation Section Jack O'Brien Award recognizing one that has made a lifetime contribution and impact throughout their career to the practice of Workers' Compensation.In 1995, she was appointed to the Division of Workers' Compensation Commission on Judicial Performance and has been the Chair since 2002. From 2002 to 2008, Ms. Bloomer was elected a New Jersey State Bar Association Section/Committee Trustee and fulfilled appointments as the Workers' Compensation Section Trustee Liaison and the Legislative Committee Trustee Liaison.

Ms. Bloomer was appointed to the NJSBA Legislative Committee and served as Vice Chair, Chair and Co-Chair. She served as a member, Vice Chair and Chair on the NJSBA Meetings Arrangements and Program Committee. Ms. Bloomer also served as Chair of the NJSBA Election Committee and was on the NJSBA Long Term Planning Committee and Finance and Operations Committee. Ms. Bloomer has also been a member of the Workers' Compensation Section Liaison Committee to the Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation, the NJSBA Insurance Law Section and the Commissioner of Labor's Advisory Council. She remains an active member of the Workers’ Compensation Section Executive Committee for over twenty six years serving eight years as an Officer. For her accomplishments and dedication, Ms. Bloomer received a Proclamation from the Department of Labor for her work with the Division of Workers' Compensation and the Department of Labor while Chair of the Workers' Compensation Section of the NJSBA from 1993 through 1995.

Thomas M. Jones joined Cozen O’Connor in 1986. He is Vice Chair of the firm’s Global Insurance Department and co-chair of Cozen O’Connor’s Electronic Discovery Practice Group. Tom has a national practice representing insurers in complex litigation, and is frequently retained as national coordinating counsel in high-profile insurance coverage disputes.
Tom has successfully represented insurers in the following types of matters: casualty, bad faith, construction defect, property, professional liability, directors’ and officers’ liability, environmental, e-discovery, fidelity and surety, medical device, cyber risk and privacy, health care, product liability, and toxic and other mass torts.
Tom’s experience in insurance coverage disputes is widely recognized. He is an active author in the insurance bar, publishing and lecturing frequently on issues of import to the insurance industry. Tom was selected one of the leading practitioners in the U.S. by the International Who’s Who of Insurance and Reinsurance. He has also been selected as a “Super Lawyer” in Washington state from 2000-2013 and has been awarded the AV Preeminent rating by Martindale-Hubble. Tom is Vice Chair of the Defense Research Institute’s E-Discovery Committee and serves on the electronic advisory panel for ARMA, International.

For the past 20 years, Jeanne Unger has focused her practice in insurance coverage litigation and appellate practice. Ms. Unger has significant experience advising clients on insurance coverage issues and representing insurance companies in coverage litigation.Ms. Unger graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1978 and received her J.D. cum laude from the University of Minnesota in 1981. She has served as the chair and vice-chair of the Insurance Law Committee of DRI. Ms. Unger speaks extensively on insurance coverage issues for many organizations including the American Bar Association and DRI. She has been included in the Minnesota Super Lawyers list on several occasions and has repeatedly been named to the Top 100 Female Super Lawyers list published in Minnesota Law & Politics/Super Lawyers, Mpls./St. Paul Magazine and Twin Cities Business. In 2012, Ms. Unger was named the "Minneapolis Best Lawyers Insurance Law Lawyer of the Year."Areas of PracticeAppellate LawInsurance CoverageEducationUniversity of Minnesota Law SchoolJ.D., 1981Honors: Cum Laude

University of MinnesotaB.A., 1978

Colgate University1973 - 1975Bar AdmissionsMinnesota, 1981U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota, 1981U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit, 2005Honors and Awards Named Minneapolis Best Lawyers Insurance Law Lawyer of the Year, 2012 The Best Lawyers in America, Insurance Law, 2009 - 2012 Selected to the Minnesota Super Lawyers list, published in Minnesota Law & Politics/Super Lawyers, MPLS.ST.PAUL Magazine and Twin Cities Business, 1999 - Present Selected to the Top 50 Female Minnesota Super Lawyers list, published in Minnesota Law & Politics/Super Lawyers, MPLS.ST.PAUL Magazine and Twin Cities Business, 2010 and 2012 Selected to the Top 100 Female Minnesota Super Lawyers list, published in Minnesota Law & Politics/Super Lawyers, MPLS.ST.PAUL Magazine and Twin Cities Business, 2005 - 2009 and 2011 AV Rating by Martindale-HubbellProfessional Associations and MembershipsDefense Research InstituteMemberChair, Insurance Law Committee, 2002 - 2004Vice-Chair, Insurance Law Committee, 2000 - 2002Torts and Insurance Practice Section

American Bar AssociationMember

Minnesota State Bar AssociationMember

Hennepin County Bar AssociationMember

Minnesota Defense Lawyers AssociationMemberPublished Works Construction Litigation Coverage, Chapter 24, Minnesota Insurance Law Deskbook, (4th Ed., 2011) Excess Insurance, Chapter 8, Minnesota Insurance Law Deskbook, (3rd Ed., 2005) 2009 Update Remedies - Claims Against Insureds, Chapter VII, Defense Research Institute Allocation Compendium, April 2009; Co-Author Tendering the Claim, Chapter 10, New Appleman On Insurance Law Practice Guide, December 2007; Co-Author Construction Litigation Coverage, Chapter 24, Minnesota Insurance Law Deskbook, (3rd Ed., 2005) 2007 Update; Co-Author Coverage for the Inevitable? Errors and Omissions Insurance, For The Defense, Vol. 48, No. 5, May 2006 Insurance Bad Faith, A Compendium of State Law, The DRI Defense Library Series, 2006 Updated; Contributing Author Homeowners Insurance, Chapter 50, Law and Practice of Insurance Coverage Litigation, September 2005 Dilemmas of Dual Representation: Unanswered Questions Raised by Pine Island, 59 Bench & Bar of Minnesota 14, December 2002Classes and Seminars Presenter, The Insurance Year in Review, Twin Cities Insurance Club, St. Louis Park, MN, April 8, 2013 Presenter, Can Policyholders Meet Their Match? An Analysis of Policy Provisions and Current Minnesota Case Law, Minnesota Defense Lawyers Association, Insurance Law Committee, Minneapolis, MN, January 8, 2013 Presenter, Allocation and Indemnity in Construction Litigation Coverage, Minnesota Defense Lawyers Association, Insurance Law Committee, Minneapolis, MN, July 14, 2009 Presenter, Recent Decisions on Defective Construction, Minnesota Insurance Law Today Seminar, Minnesota State Bar Association, Minnesota CLE, Minneapolis, MN, June 17, 2009 Presenter, Construction Coverage, Top 10 Issues in Insurance Coverage in Minnesota, Lorman Education Services, Bloomington, MN, June 3, 2008 Presenter, Buying Peace - Settling the Claim for Good, Defense Research Insitute, Chicago, IL, April 10, 2008 Co-Presenter, Allocation Among Multiple Insurers and Reinsurance Explained: Allocation - the Basics, Defense Research Institute Teleconference Seminar, October 2, 2007 Presenter, Allocation and Indemnity in Construction Coverage Litigation, Minnesota Insurance Law Deskbook Seminar, Minnesota CLE, Minneapolis, MN, May 17, 2007 Co-Presenter, Misery Loves Company: Allocation Among Insurers and Insureds, Insurance Coverage and Practice Symposium, Defense Research Institute, New York, NY, December 7-8, 2006 Presenter, Insurance Coverage Issues in Construction, Top 10 Coverage Issues in Insurance Coverage in Minnesota, Lorman Education Services, Minneapolis, MN, October 17, 2006 Moderator, Bracing for the Next One: Catastrophic Losses - Lessons Learned by the Insurance Industry, ALFA International The Global Legal Network, 2006 Insurance Practice Group Seminar, Chicago, IL, September 7-8, 2006 Presenter, The Insurance Industry Under Siege - A Tale of Two Storms, Hurricanes Spitzer and Katrina, Insurnace Coverage and Practice Symposium, Defense Research Institute, New York, NY, December 8-9, 2005 Presenter, Multiple Claims and Inadequate Limits, Auto Liability and Coverage Seminar - Exploring New Frontiers, Defense Research Institute, Chicago, IL, November 10-11, 2005 Panel Participant, Privilege or Coverage: Should the Insured Be Required to Waive Privilege to Obtain Coverage?, American Bar Association, Section of Litigation Committee CLE Seminar, Tucson, AZ, March 3-5, 2005 Presenter, Recoupment of Defense and Indemnity Expenses, Insurance Coverage and Practice Symposium, Defense Research Institute, New York, NY, December 2-3, 2004, and December 1996 Presenter, Things Your Insured Didn't Tell You: Is There a Basis for Rescission of the Policy?, PLRB/LIRB 2005 Claims Conference, San Antonio, TX, April 17-20, 2005; Insurance Coverage and Claims Institute, Defense Research Institute, Chicago, IL, May 15-16, 2003 Co-Moderator, Listen to What We Say: How Lawyers Earn and Keep our Business, Defense Research Institute Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, October 6-10, 2004 Presenter, The Insurance Year in Review: Where Have We Bann - Where Are We Going?, Insurance Coverage and Claims Institute, Defense Research Institute, Chicago, IL, April 15-16, 2004 Co-Presenter, Challenges in Minnesota Insurance Coverage Litigation, National Business Institute, Minneapolis, MN, 2004 Presenter, Fraud: Casualty and Auto, PLRB/LIRB 2004 Claims Conference, Chicago, IL, March 16-17, 2004 Presenter, Insurance Guaranty Funds: What Happens When the Other Shoe Drops?, Insurance Coverage and Practice Symposium, Defense Research Institute, New York, NY, December 4-5, 2003 Presenter, Bad Faith, Handling Insurance Issues in Minnesota, Minnesota CLE, Minneapolis, MN, June 4, 2003 Presenter, Excess Liability Settlement Concerns, PLRB/LIRB 2003 Claims Conference, Orlando, FL, March 31-April 2, 2003 Program Chair and Presenter, Control of the Defense - The Ethics and the Implications, Insurance Coverage and Practice Symposium, Defense Research Institute, New York, NY, December 5-6, 2002 Presenter, Inadequate Limits of Coverage: Avoiding Bad Faith When There are Multiple Claims and Inadequate Limits, Insurance Coverage and Practice Seminar, Defense Research Institute, Chicago, IL, May 16-17, 2002; Defense Research Institute Claims Supervisors Presented by DRI's Insurance Law Committee, Indianapolis, IN, May 18-19, 2000; DRI Insurance Claims Supervision Seminar, Las Vegas, NV, May 20-21, 1999 and May 1998; DRI Insurance Coverage and Practice Seminar, San Francisco, CA, June 17-18, 1999; DRI Insurance Claims Supervision, Des Moines, IA, May 7-8, 1998 Program Chair and Presenter, First, Second and Third Annual Insurance Coverage Institute, Minnesota Institute of Legal Education, Minneapolis, MN, October 1997, October 1998 and October 1999 Presenter, Insurance Coverage Issues for the Year 2000 Problem, Second National Conference for Women Insurance Professionals, Chicago, IL, May 1999 Presenter, The Dilemmas of Declaratory Judgment Actions, Insurance Coverage and Practice Seminar, Defense Research Institute, San Francisco, CA, June 18, 1999 Program Chair, Insurance Law Committee, Defense Research Institute Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, October 1998 Presenter, Extinguishing the Duty to Defend Insurance, Coverage and Practice Seminar, Defense Research Institute, New York, NY, December 7-8, 1997 Presenter, Apportionment of Defense Costs Between Covered and Uncovered Claims, American Bar Association Tort and Insurance Practice Section, San Antonio, TX, February 1997; Defense Research Institute Insurance Coverage and Practice Symposium, New York, NY, December 5-6, 1996 Co-Presenter, Dilemmas of Declaratory Judgment Actions, Minnesota Institute of Legal Education, Minneapolis, MN, 1996 Legal Writing Instructor, William Mitchell College of Law, 1987-1991Previous Employment Rider Bennett, L.L.P., PartnerCommunity WorkSt. Paul Academy and Summit SchoolBlackhawk Soccer Club, St. Paul, Age Group Coordinator, 1999, Team Manager, 1997 - 1998

Sally is Technical Director for Professional Liability Claims, currently focusing on Insurance Agents’ E & O (including Life Agents and Brokers), Securities Dealers and Registered Reps Professional Liability, Employment Practices, D & O and miscellaneous E &O. In that capacity, she is engaged in oversight of high exposure, unusually complex or “trend” claims, training and developing claims personnel, and working closely with business partners on product and coverage form development. Sally has been with Fireman’s Fund for over 25 years, with the majority of the time spent in the claims arena—both in the field and at the home office, where she currently works. 

Cathy Gicker has 45 years with Allstate with the last 30 years in the SIU as a field investigator, manager and now the Litigation Specialist investigating all suit cases in Pennsylvania. This involves investigating and directing house and retained counsel on case strategy, medical defense, preparing the insured for trial and referring fraudulent claims to the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) and local Law Enforcement agencies. Cathy is also an Allstate Ambassador promoting the company to the public through speaking engagements and community involvement.

Cathy was the Vice-President and then President of the Delaware Valley Chapter of the International Association of Special Investigation Units (IASIU) from 1994-2000. She was elected to the International Board of IASIU for 2000-2002 and then served as the Vice-President of IASIU from 2003-2009, chairing the Chapter and Seminar Committees.. She was the President of the Philadelphia Loss Conference (PLC) for 2011-2013. Cathy’s professional designations are Fraud Claim Law Specialist (FCLS) and Certified Insurance Fraud Investigator(CIFI)

Irene K. Yesowitch understands the challenging business aspects as well as the litigation environment faced by the insurance industry.

Irene has extensive experience in what she calls “financial loss litigation.” Representing directors and officers, lawyers, and accountants in myriad matters since the mid-1980s, Irene has developed experience that is invaluable to her defense clients as well as her insurer clients. A trial lawyer at heart, she utilizes this experience and knowledge of business/corporate litigation and insurance to maximize the impact of her services to her clients.

Irene continues to provide insurers strategic analysis and advice attendant to bad faith litigation, e-commerce, marketing, product development, regulatory compliance, market conduct, agency relationships, loss control, risk management, reinsurance, the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Office of Foreign Asset Control regulations. Additionally, she continues to emphasize a coverage and bad faith practice that includes litigation, coverage analysis, and other issues attendant to the business of insurance.

Irene is an avid speaker having presented numerous programs to claims and underwriting professionals, as well as lawyers, on such topics as fair settlement practices, insurance coverage analysis, evidence in a bad faith lawsuit, additional insureds and contractual indemnity coverage, the duty to defend, DOI regulations, reservation of rights, personal and advertising injury coverage, coverage for construction litigation exposures, and proper use of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. The dozens of articles that she has published over the last 28 years further exemplify her place as one of the leading business and insurance coverage litigation attorneys in California.

Ms. Goff began her career at Gallagher Bassett over 24 years ago in our National Liability Branch in Maryland Heights. Since then she has held many managerial roles, most recently Executive Vice President, U.S. Operations overseeing claims offices, strategic partner solutions and over 3000 team members.  She retired in October of 2015. Her leadership was vital to the ongoing success of GB’s U.S. Claims Operation and the launch of the Resolution Manager revolution, Quality Assurance, SCHIP and Licensing Departments.Prior to joining Gallagher Bassett, JoAnn worked in the claims organizations of Chubb, Farmers Insurance and The Hartford and the risk management department of a large grocery wholesaler.She holds Senior Claim Law Associate (SCLA) and Associate in Risk Management (ARM) designations.JoAnn recently sold a business she established with her husband. The business focused on helping seniors stay in their homes as long as possible. She is now consultanting for not only the insurance industry but also is an Independent Consultant for Arbonne focusing on skin care and wellness products. 

I began my career as a multi-line, multi-state adjuster with St. Paul Fire and Marine in January 1991.  I have worked with several insurance carriers and third party administrators as a Senior Claims Adjuster.  I have served as a Workers' Compensation Claims Manager/Risk Manager for a privately held company overseeing the safety and workers compensation program of over 5,000 employees in 30 states.  I served as an Account Principal with Gallagher Bassett Services for 12 years overseeing large local and national accounts. These accounts have included transportation, municipalities, school districts and restaurant/service accounts. As of July 2017, I am currently serving as one of the Talent Acquisition and Development Managers in Human Resourses.  I assist in developing and reviewing current resolution manager training for new experienced hires and new hires from graduated college students and individuals changing careers.  I also instruct several courses throughout the year that include training on WC, Auto Liability, General Liability and Property claims handling.  I have been with Gallagher Bassett for 16 years as of October 2020.  

Ed served as the Casualty Process Leader for Progressive’s Specialty Claims group focused on high exposure commercial auto, special lines, and tort claims .  Ed began with Progressive in 1976 as a claims adjuster.  He held a number of management positions, including Branch Manager, Regional Claim Manager, Audit Director, National Claims Training Manager, National SIU Director, Claims Business Leader in Progressive's Gulf Division (FL, AL, MS, LA) along with a range of Corporate Claims process management positions.  He is based in Cleveland and is now retired.

Mr. Schrimpf joined American Mining Insurance Company in April 2009 in his present capacity.  American Mining Insurance Company, A Berkley Company, serves the Domestic Mining Industry and its attendant risks (Transportation; Mine Construction/Preparation; Drillers; Blasters; Mining Equipment and Repair; etc.) with Insurance Products designed to meet the particular needs of the Mining Industry.  In His current capacity, Mr. Schrimpf oversees the Claims functions of American Mining Insurance Company operating out of 4 regional Claims Offices and the General Corporate Legal Issues from the Home Office in Birmingham, Alabama.
Prior to joining American Mining Insurance Company, Mr. Schrimpf was a Partner in the Law Firm of Pietragallo,  Bosick and Gordon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he served as litigation counsel for his Clients in the Workers Compensation arena, Federal Black Lung, Civil Litigation and Risk Management.  He has lectured and written articles regarding Medical/Legal issues in Occupational Disease litigation and in Federal Black Lung Litigation.  Mr. Schrimpf has extensive litigation experience in Occupational Disease, Federal Black Lung and Workers Compensation claims having litigated in these arenas for nearly 22 years prior to joining American Mining Insurance Company.
Mr. Schrimpf is a graduate of The University of Steubenville (1983, B.S.) after stints at the United States Air Force Academy and the University of California at Irvine.  He received his Juris Doctor from the Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in May 1987.  He received his license to practice law in November of 1987.  He is licensed to practice Law in Pennyslvania State and Federal courts, The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, and the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Stephen is an attorney, expert witness and arbitrator/umpire. He is versed in industry standards, claims practices and law applicable to insurers. He has been retained as a claims expert in more than 35 states in five time zones and has testified in jury, bench, federal and state court trials. He is a Chief Claims Officers' Roundtable alumni. He was Senior Vice President & Head of Global P&C Claims for Assurant (a Fortune 300 company during his tenure), was head of Claims at the Republic Insurance Group and a Claims Officer at Farmers/Zurich. He was on boards of directors of insurers. He has a B.B.A., magna cum laude, in Finance from the University of Missouri, and a JD from Texas Tech University. He started his career in private law practice prior to moving directly into the insurance industry and ultimately into claims executive positions, having been the top-ranking claims officer within two large insurance groups. He served as Chairman and Vice Chairman of the American Property Casualty Insurance Association Claims Committee (2004-2009).  He moderated and presented at a U.S. Congressional briefing on natural disasters.  He was the founding Dean of The CLM's Claims College School of Property Claims. He's also founding Co-Dean of the CLM's Claims College School of Leadership. He was on the Advisory Board of The CLM and on the Board of The CLM Foundation. He has been a licensed attorney since 1982 and is a CLM Certified Claims Professional. He has presented dozens of times at The CLM and other forums for CE/CLE credit, including the prestigious American College of Coverage Counsel. He is well-published, with articles in The CLM Magazine and the DRI JD Supra publication and other forums as well. He can be reached at StephenJohnson12016@Outlook.com or 972.655.4620

Brian Bornstein is Regional Claims Executive for AIG's Mid-Atlantic Region and is based in Philadelphia. In this position Brian acts as the senior claims executive and makes sure that all AIG claims handled in the mid atlantic region are serviced appropriately. These claims include Crime, Directors and Officers, Errors & Omissions, Workers Comp, Casualty, Environmental, Property, and Healthcare. Prior to this position, Brian spent ten years in AIG home office New York where he held the following positions: Vice President, Quality Assurance Group, overseeing the Crime, Directors and Officers, Errors and Omissions and Toxic Tort areas; and as Assistant Vice President, Crime Claims. In his position as Assistant Vice President of Crime Claims he managed hundreds of world wide crime claims with exposures in the multi millions of dollars. For these claims, he was also involved in managing the accounting and recovery processes. Prior to joining AIG in 1995, Brian worked as in house counsel with Long Island Lighting Company and practiced law with Lowenstein Sandler and Bingham Englar. He holds a B.A. degree from Cornell University and Law (JD) and MBA degrees from the University of Buffalo.

For more than 25 years, Steve has focused on coverage, liability, risk transfer and litigation management. He has extensive experience handling and managing large commercial general liability claims on primary and excess layers, including claims within large SIRs and wrap policies.

Sompo is an international commercial property & casualty specialty insurance company where Mr. Lokus is the VP of Casualty Construction Claims. Prior to Sompo, Mr. Lokus was the Assistant Vice President, Construction Claims at The Hartford, Western Regional / Casualty VP for Navigators Insurance, Claims Supervisor at Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company and Branch Manager for West Coast Casualty Service, Inc. 

A renowned thought leader in the construction and casualty markets, Steve serves as a member of the advisory board of the ClaimsXchange, Provost for the ClaimsXchange Construction Claims Academy, co-chair and a board member for the Perrin Conference's National Construction Defect conference and an instructor of IRMI's Construction Risk Management Boot Camp. He is also a frequent speaker at industry events, including CLM's Annual Conference, CLM's Construction Conference, Perrin Conference's Construction Defect Conference, West Coast Casualty Construction Defect Conference and many others.  

Leonard T. Fink, one of the firm’s founding partners, has been practicing in courts in Nevada, California and Arizona for nearly 20 years, representing a variety of different clients in all types of civil and business-related litigation matters. He is a frequent speaker at MCLE events and, at times, a guest lecturer at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.  Leonard received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego School of Law and received his bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University.

Steve began his career as a Field Claims Adjuster. In just over five years, he became an Assistant Vice President of Environmental Claims for Zurich Insurance Group. Steve held many significant senior leadership roles at other property and casualty insurance carriers such as AIG, Travelers and CNA. He also was the Executive Vice President and Chief Claims Officer at Balboa Insurance Group in Irvine, California, where he was responsible for overall claims execution and strategy supporting the company’s $3+ billion book of business.

In August 2009, Steve joined State Auto Insurance Companies in Columbus, Ohio as Vice President and Chief Claims Officer/Chief Risk Control Services Officer responsible for all pre-loss and post-loss initiatives from a Claims, Loss Control and Premium Audit standpoint for their Personal Lines, Commercial Lines and Specialty book of business. 

In September 2015 he joined State Compensation Insurance Fund as their Chief Claims Operations Officer responsible for the leadership of their 2,400 person claims/legal/processing centers.

Steve has served as Chairman and Board member of the Ohio Insurance Institute, sat on the Board of Directors for the Ohio Insurance Guarantee Association, and served as Board member and Director of Central Ohio American Charities.  He also serves as a co-chair of the Chief Claim Officers' Summit and serves on the Advisory Board of The CLM.

Matt is a founding partner of Stone Kalfus LLP, a civil defense law firm in Atlanta, Georgia.  He focuses on resolving motor vehicle liability claims against companies, drivers, and insurers in the trucking and transportation industry, including motor carriers, specialty haulers, governmental and private bus lines and motor coaches, waste haulers, mobile cranes, and emergency and non-emergency transportation providers.Matt has extensive experience handling claims from the on-scene investigation through trial and appeals.

He leads the firm's 24/7 Rapid Response Team, which provides clients with immediate around-the-clock access to team attorneys and a network of qualified investigators and experts. The team quickly assesses an incident, determines the appropriate level of response, coordinates the on-scene investigation, and assists in achieving a prompt, cost-effective, positive resolution.
 

He also regularly represents automobile dealerships in litigation, consumer, and regulatory issues.  He served as lead defense counsel for the auto dealership in Melton v. General Motors, et al., the landmark case involving a defective ignition switch that led to GM’s recall of more than 2 million vehicles, a Congressional inquiry into GM's conduct, and record-breaking civil penalties levied against GM by the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA).
 

Matt has tried cases in all of Georgia's federal judicial districts and many of Georgia's 49 judicial circuits, and he has represented clients in more than 75 appeals to the state and federal appellate courts in Georgia.
 

He is a member of industry-specific groups, including the Trucking Industry Defense Association (TIDA), the Transportation Lawyers Association (TLA), the Georgia Motor Trucking Association (GMTA), the Defense Research Institute (DRI), the Georgia Defense Lawyers Association (GDLA), the National Association of Dealer Counsel (NADC) and the Georgia Automobile Dealers Association (GADA).He is an instructor for the North American Transportation Management Institute (NATMI), which provides professional certification and training seminars for transit fleet professionals.

Vic Marmo is currently the Assistant VP, Global Claims for Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation (MVWC). Vic is a graduate of the University of Maryland, School of Business. He holds an Associate in Risk Management designation is a certified mediator and has extensive training in negotiations, mediation and trial strategy from various law schools including Pepperdine University, Harvard University and Southern Methodist University.
 
Vic began his career with Marriott International 25 years ago and has held several positions including Global Claims Director and Regional Claims Director for the Mid-Atlantic region.  He has recently moved to his current role with MVWC.
 
In his current position, Vic has responsibility for claims oversight of all claims in five lines of insurance (guest liability, workers compensation, employee dishonesty, property and employment practices liability). Vic also is responsible for the claims reporting process, nurse care program and claims audits and is an active member of several national organizations addressing litigation management and other relevant topics for self-insureds.
 

Mark is Director, Risk Management at Taylor Morrison, Inc., (fka Taylor Woodrow, Inc.) a homebuilding and land development company with North American headquarters in Scottsdale, AZ, a position he assumed in August 2003.  He is also President of Beneva Indemnity Company, Taylor Morrison’s wholly-owned captive and President of Taylor Woodrow Insurance Services, Inc. the firm’s in-house insurance agency.  Prior to his current position, Mark was Vice President with Hobbs Group, a risk management consulting and insurance brokerage firm in their Tampa, Florida office.  Prior to Hobbs, he was a Senior Vice President, Risk Management Practice for Aon Risk Services Inc. of Florida in Tampa.  Prior to joining Aon, Mark spent seventeen years in senior corporate risk management positions, most recently as Vice President, Risk Management for Celotex Corporation, a Tampa, Florida-based manufacturer of building materials.  His other positions included Vice President, Risk Management for Jim Walter Corporation and Director of Risk Management at Eckerd Drugs.
An active member of the Risk and Insurance Management Society, Inc. (RIMS), Mark served as national President of RIMS in 1998/1999.  Mark has also held such positions as local chapter president and society director and nationally as Vice President of Health and Safety, Vice President of Membership and Chapter Services and Secretary, Vice President-International, Vice President-Long Range Planning, and First Vice President of RIMS Executive Council.  DeLillo was awarded RIMS highest individual honor, The Harry and Dorothy Goodell Award in 2014.
Mark has been actively involved in community affairs for quite some time previously serving in leadership roles on the Board and Executive Committees of Gulf Ridge Council Boy Scouts of America, The Westshore Alliance, Tampa Bay Harvest and Committee of ’99.  Additionally, he has served on numerous industry advisories such as AIG Advisory Board and the National Account Advisory for Gates McDonald.
Mark was selected as “2006 Team Member of the Year” for Taylor Woodrow, Inc.
Mark earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.  He received the Casualty Claim Law Associate (CCLA) designation from the American Educational Institute and the Associate in Risk Management (ARM) from the Insurance Institute of America.  He is recognized as a “CRM National Faculty” member of The National Alliance for Insurance Education and Research’s Certified Risk Manager (CRM) program.  Mark maintains a Casualty & Property Producer License in Arizona as well as Non-Resident agent licenses in Florida, California, Colorado and Texas.  Mark resides in Scottsdale, AZ with his wife, Deeda.
 

David Williams is Vice President of Claims for the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association and Texas FAIR Plan Association, overseeing all operations related to claims processing for the organization.
Throughout his 33-year insurance claims career, Williams has developed expertise improving customer service initiatives, overseeing cost controls, and using process management and technology to solve business problems.
Williams has advanced property and casualty insurance leadership experience in personal and commercial automobile and property, catastrophe, large loss, litigation, special investigations, recovery, compliance and claims talent development. He has held a variety of positions including field multi-line claims adjuster, and branch, regional, and home office tactical and strategic claims leadership roles for national insurance entities including those with significant property insurance business in Texas.
Williams is a graduate of Concordia College in Bronxville, NY, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in behavioral sciences and an associate’s degree in business administration. He also holds the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter, Associate in Claims, and Professional Continuity Practitioner professional designations.

Gary Robinson is Sr. Claims Manager for the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association and the Texas FAIR Plan Association, overseeing Commercial Claims, Litigation, Data Management, Reporting, Claims Technology, and Vendor Management for both associations.Gary’s 19-year career in claims has been as diverse as the industry itself. He has advanced experience in healthcare, workers compensation, litigation, catastrophe, commercial and residential automobile liability as well as commercial and residential property claims. He has personally trained over 5,000 adjusters, written and implemented numerous guidelines and best practices, overseen 4 Claim system integration projects and helped develop claim projection systems using GIS (Geographic Information Systems) in conjunction with weather data.Gary attended Louisiana State University where he lettered for band and choir. He also currently holds a subject matter expert designation for Xactimate/XactAnalysis.Areas of ExpertiseXactimate / XactAnalysis  Insurance coverageCommercial Claims Residential claim handlingADR  Builders RiskClaims Management  Liability

Tom McLaughlin is the Senior Director of Risk Management & Claims for TFI International, in Eagan, MN. TFI International, based in Montreal, Quebec, is the 5th largest transportation provider in North America. Tom oversees TFI’s US based divisions including, Transport America, CFI, and TForce Freight. Responsibilities include overseeing all auto, general liability, workers comp and cargo claims, as well as risk management functions. He is responsible for over 12,000 trucks and 18,000 employees in all the US based divisions. Tom has over 40 years insurance claims experience, with the past 28 concentrated directly on trucking.
 

Mr. Hollingworth holds an advanced degree in Human Factors Engineering and has over 20 years of management and supervision at major insurance companies. He has managed environmental, mass tort, construction defects and sexual abuse claims as well as participated in numerous mediations, coverage in place agreements, selection of and creation of defense panel counsels. Mr. Hollingsworth is a frequent speaker at CLM Conferences and serves on several CLM Committees including Professional Liability and Environmental and Toxic Tort. Mr. Hollignsworth’s Areas of Expertise include: ADR, Professional Liability, Insurance Coverage, Claims Management, Litigation Management, Bad Faith and Class Actions.
 

Ted is the Managing Attorney of the New York City office of The Hartford’s Staff Counsel Program.  Ted is responsible for managing a team of attorneys defending auto and general liability cases pending in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island and The Bronx. 
Prior to joining The Hartford, Ted was with Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company for 26 years.  After trying cases on behalf of Fireman’s Fund’s Staff Counsel office in New York City, Ted moved on to several leadership roles with the company, including Managing Attorney of the Long Island office and Northeast Regional Managing Attorney.  After working within the Fireman’s Fund Staff Counsel Program, Ted moved into a regional panel counsel management role for the company.  As Litigation Services Attorney, Ted managed all aspects of the company’s contractual relationship with panel counsel in the Northeast region of the United States. 
While at Fireman’s Fund, Ted’s office won the Achieving Legal Excellence Award, which was presented to the best performing Staff Counsel office in the nation.  In addition, Ted received the John Meyer Award, the highest honor attainable by a Fireman’s Fund employee. The award was based on significant actions and contributions consistent with Fireman’s Fund’s profit principles and shared values.    
Ted has extensive experience managing counsel defending claims arising from all lines of business.  During his career, Ted has developed significant expertise with alternative fee programs, vendor management, contract negotiations and quality assurance metrics.  
Ted earned his Bachelor of Arts in History from Queens College of the City University of New York and his Juris Doctor from the State University of New York at Buffalo, School of Law.  Ted is admitted to practice law in New York.

I am proud to work in the insurance industry, specializing in combating insurance fraud and abuse. I am currently with The Hartford as a Medical Fraud and Major Case Consultant in Northern California.  I have been in the SIU leadership positions for several insurance companies including, Travelers, Allstate, Encompass, NJ Manufacturers Insurance, NJ Skylands and OneBeacon Insurance. I also managed TPA SIU operation for Esurance Insurance Company. I have received several awards from local NJ Insurance organizations as well as my entire SIU Team at NJ Skylands(OneBeacon) receiving the NJ Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Annual Prosecutor's Excellence in Investigations Award in 2005.

My goal is to continue to contribute to a successful SIU operation that performs in a professional manner while providing a valued service to the insurance industry to deter, educate, investigate, and prosecute insurance fraud.

Community Service:  Volunteer Firefighter Town of Avon, CT, Past Fire Commissioner/Volunteer Firefighter/Hunterdon County Arson Task Force at Clinton Fire Department, Councilman at Town of Clinton, NJ

Education: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey-New Brunswick

Doug maintains active General Contractor commercial and residential licenses in the States of Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Colorado, Washington and California (pending). Doug built over 1,000 projects in Arizona, California, and Texas between 1972-2008, lending to his “hands-on” approach and first-hand knowledge of construction standard of care from a practical standpoint.. From industrial to custom luxury homes, medical facilities to commercial chains like Pizza Hut, it is hard to drive the valley and not pass some type of structure Doug has built. Doug’s experience as a builder and eventual owner of his own company, d.r. Ward Construction, led to his involvement with construction consulting and his eventual full-time work as a forensic construction consultant. Doug has been representing clients in construction defect litigation; conducting investigations, reporting findings and offering testimony in code compliance, standard of care and many other construction-related capacities since 1997. Locally educated, Doug graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelors of Science in Construction Engineering in 1972. Straight from college Doug went on to partner with owner/operator Philip W. Morris and the same-named company where he managed more than $50 million in construction each year. After Mr. Morris elected to change career directions, Doug took sole ownership of the company and changed its name to the d.r. Ward Construction company, where he continued to build and develop properties all over the Valley until 1997 when he had his first taste of construction defect litigation. As the construction economy slowed, and the demand for construction consultants increased, Doug found himself winding down his active construction projects and increasing his involvement in forensic construction matters. In December 2008, Doug committed himself to the consulting world full-time, working at first for a California-based national company, but eventually opening the doors with his partner, Chantell J. Cornett.

Carolyn Eldracher is the National Client Service Manager for Tokio Marine America. She is coordinates client service aspects of claims relationships with key customers. She also assists in staff training and marketing of new business and new claims products to clients and potential clients.

Prior to joining Tokio Marine, Carolyn was a claims consultant for USI Insurance Services in West Orange, NJ and spent twenty years with AIG as an adjuster, underwriting manager, and Client Service Manager.

Carolyn is the CLM Regional Chair for Region 3, Chapter President for Northern New Jersey, and faculty member at Claims College. She holds the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and Associate in Claims (AIC) designations. She received her bachelor’s degree from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College in Lynchburg, VA.

Lee Wright is a claim professional with more than thirty five years of experience focusing on the handling and management of large, complex litigation files involving products, transportation and construction risks. He has overseen national claims programs for self-insureds and foreign insurers and acted as a regional training coordinator for a major insurer. He is a regular speaker at national and regional seminars and classes on insurance coverage and risk transfer issues and an approved CE instructor in CA, MD, SC and VA. He is a past President of the Construction Defect Claim Manager Association and a Member of the CLM Construction Claims Advisory Board and served as the inaugural Dean for CLM's Claims College School of Construction Claims.

Specialties: Construction Defect Claims & Management, General Liability Coverage, Contractual Risk Transfer, Arbitration and Mediation

Kelly Ingram Mitchell, MPT, CEAS, President of Unify Health Services holds a Masters in Physical Therapy and has over 17 years experience in injury management, and return to work program management. She previously has served as Executive Director overseeing financial and clinical operations of a national therapy provider network and 23 outpatient therapy centers located in Florida.
Ms Mitchell has developed payor and employer specific prevention and rehab programs including onsite therapy, ergonomic assessments, and injury management. She has developed a FCE Certified Training Course and has trained hundreds of physical and occupational therapists nationwide to administer and understand the methodologies of Functional Capacity Evaluations.
She has consulted with national and regional employers in RTW and Injury Management. Employers include: Seaboard Marine, Harley Davidson, Toledo Public Schools, Kaiser Permanente, Great Lakes Dock & Dredging, Dura, AOL, Volvo, Ping, Rayonier, City of Jacksonville, Haven Hospice, and Federal and governmental agencies. Additionally, Ms. Mitchell has consulted with business partners internationally in England and Australia.
Ms Mitchell is an adjunct professor at UNF and a member of  APTA. She has been the invited speaker for major insurance carriers, employers, and industry related organizations locally, regionally, and nationally.
 

Mr. McDonough is Vice Chair of Cozen O'Connor's Commercial Litigation Department. He focuses his practice, both nationally and internationally, on general litigation and complex insurance defense matters including directors' and officers' liability, errors and omissions litigation, complex product liability matters, and mass tort litigation. He specializes in catastrophic injury cases arising from toxic exposures including asbestos, benzene and lead, construction accidents, medical malpractice, professional liability, food liability including labeling liability and integrity of contents, multi-district litigation and class action litigation, food borne biohazards such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (Mad Cow Disease), mercury and Diacetyl. John’s practice includes advice on complex insurance and reinsurance matters, including London LMX business, for major foreign reinsurers and involvement in complex insurance and reinsurance disputes. He was appellate counsel in the landmark antisubrogation case in New York, North Star v. Continental Insurance Co.

John is a frequent author and lecturer for many organizations, including the Defense Research Institute (DRI), the Torts and Insurance Practice Section (TIPS) of the New York State Bar Association, the Defense Association of New York (DANY), and the American Conference Institute. John is a member of the board of directors of the DRI, and a former president of the Defense Association of New York (1997-1998); chairman of the board of directors of the Defense Association of New York (1998-1999); editor-in-chief of The Defendant, the quarterly journal of DANY (1989-Present) and a member of FDCC and PLAC. John has also been frequently asked to provide quotes for publications including Business Week and the New York Law Journal.  John is chairman of the board of directors of HeartShare St. Vincent's Services.  John has been named an ALM New York Top Rated Lawyer.  In 2013, John received DANY's James S. Conway Award for outstanding service in the Defense Profession.

John earned his bachelor of arts degree at Boston College in 1976 and his law degree at the New England School of Law in 1979. He was admitted to practice in New York in 1980 and Massachusetts in 2012.

As the chair of the Securities and Investment Practice Group, in addition to handling cases and securities clients, Andrew coordinates and oversees the activities of a dedicated group of lawyers throughout the firm's offices. Andrew has successfully represented investment firms, professionals, registered investment advisors, financial planners and insurance agents in matters involving business disputes, customer complaints, regulatory inquiries/ investigations, mediations, arbitrations and litigation. He has significant experience representing clients in various forums including litigation, arbitration, mediation, internal investigations, regulatory examinations and investigations.
 
Andrew and his group members represent the interests of FINRA member broker-dealers, registered representatives, certified financial planners, RIAs, insurance agents and brokers and other securities  and insurance industry professionals throughout the United States. As well, he is called upon by investment firms to conduct investigations and conduct seminars and presentations on timely business and investment topics. This team also counsels and represents brokers and firms on employment issues and litigation.
 
Andrew's background includes licensure as an insurance agent in the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, licensure as a real estate agent in Pennsylvania, and licensed with various states and with FINRA as a Registered Representative. He has experience as a broker with FINRA and New York Stock Exchange member investment firms as well as an independent FINRA member broker-dealer.
In addition to his Series 63 and Series 7 licensure, he was licensed as an Associated Registered Investment Adviser. Andrew's work background also includes his position as Professional Liability Specialist with a major insurance company handling professional liability matters such as accountant malpractice, tax-shelter/limited partnership matters and miscellaneous professional liability litigation (directors and officers, legal malpractice, coverage).
 
As a lecturer and guest speaker, Andrew has made presentations for various organizations and broker-dealers in relation to securities business and practices, directors and officers and investment related matters. He has also authored numerous articles for brokerage firms, Delaware Valley Society of Financial Planners, The Defense Digest and other publications. He also serves as a securities arbitrator for FINRA and previously served on the Board of Directors for the Delaware Valley Society of the FPA which services New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania. He has served as outside counsel to the Delaware Valley Society of the FPA.
 
Andrew graduated from Mansfield University in 1980 and completed his juris doctor in 1987 at the University of Baltimore School of Law.
 

Wendy Hultman is Litigation Manager for Vela Insurance Services, A Berkley Company. She oversees the Litigation Management Initiative with Vela Insurance Services in Omaha, Nebraska.  Ms. Hultman graduated from Northwest Missouri State University, summa cum laude, with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and Criminal Justice, and from Creighton Univeristy with a Law Degree.  She has earned designations for Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter, Registered Professional Liability Underwriter, Associate in Management, Senior Claims Law Associate, and Construction Risk and Insurance Specialist.  She has extensive experience in the areas of transportation, general liability, professional liability, complex claims, and litigation management.
 

Peter H. Vogt, IISenior Vice PresidentClaim DepartmentWorld Wide Administration Manager

Chubb & Son, 1987 through present - Peter is responsibile for the administrative and strategic leadership of Audit & Compliance, House Counsel, and Vendor Management.  Peter also has responsibility for the direct oversight and management of the Claim Department''s budget.Peter has over 30 years of insurance related experience, of which 25+ years of leadership and cross functional team experience in managing operational efficiency and change management.  While at Chubb, Peter has lead and participated in a series of field and home office initiatives which have resulted in significant gains in productivity, opertional effectiveness and process improvements within the claim organization.  Peter is a member of the CLM advisory board, and the Executive Council for CLM Claim College - School of Casualty Management.

B.A. in Business Administration / Labor Relations from Loras College, Dubuque, Iowa. Certificate from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the American Institute for CPCU’s Insurance Executive Development program.

Nelson Tavares is the Senior Vice President of Claims at W. R. Berkley Corporation. In this role since 2011, Nelson is responsible for the overall strategy and technical outcomes of the Claims function across all Berkley companies. W. R. Berkley Corporation is an insurance holding company of 53 subsidiaries operating in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Nelson has been in the insurance industry for more than 25 years. Prior to his tenure at W. R. Berkley he held a variety of U.S. domestic and international senior leadership roles at Zurich Insurance Company including, Head of Global Large and Complex Claims, Head of Strategic Execution – International Claims, and National Director of Specialty Claims. Nelson started his career at Travelers Property Casualty Company in New Jersey and New York.
 

Dave joined West Coast Casualty Service in 1993, and currently has over thirty-nine (39) years of diverse experience spanning the insurer, self-insurer, third party administrator and independent adjusting arenas all across the United States, Canada, England and Austria. Dave’s central focus has been on the investigation of all aspects of construction defect claims, amongst other things. He has been involved in the creation of innovative methods for the reduction of claims handling expenses Dave is often called upon to testify as an expert in construction defect and insurance related litigation and has been asked to be a consultant on articles involving construction featured in the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, Big Builder Magazine, Insurance Journal and the Orange County Register. Each year Dave coordinates our annual Construction Defect Seminar which is most highly attended construction defect event worldwide. Dave speaks at other seminars discussing vital issues. Dave has handled national multi-million dollar exposures including the coverage, liability and damage aspects of insurance related claims. He presently is the technical supervisor for all our TPA accounts. Dave is a past Vice President and past Secretary of the Construction Defect Claims Managers Association. In addition, he is a member of the Registered Professional Adjusters Program, the Society of Insurance Trainers and Educators and the National Association of Insurance Litigation Managers. Dave is on the President Circle of Habitat for Humanity, serves as Secretary/Treasurer of the Malibu Lost Hills Sheriffs Foundation (2011-present) and is an advisor to the Thousand Oaks Police Departments Charitable Foundation (2007-present).

Robert Bowers is National Claims Leader for Westfield Insurance. In this role, Rob is responsible for the strategic direction and operational policies, procedures and results of the claims department and serves on Westfield’s P&C leadership team.  Rob has held a variety of operational, leadership, executive, sr. executive and change leadership roles throughout his 29 years in the industry and his 20 career at Westfield.  Most recently, Rob held the role of National Claims Strategy Leader and was responsible for the strategic development and deployment of Westfield’s multi-year claims transformation initiatives focused on organizational customer, analytical, and data advancements spanning successful comprehensive changes to process, organization and technology.  In addition to his claims roles, Rob has served as Change Leader for other organizational initiatives including Westfield’s Business Intelligence initiative. 

Rob received his undergraduate degree from Geneva College, Beaver Falls, PA;  and his MBA from Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio; where he was inducted into Delta Mu Delta. He currently holds multiple insurance designations, including CPCU, SCLA and AIC.  He also holds certifications as a Hammer Process Master and is certified in Prosci Change Management.

Rob has spoken at a variety of industry events including CLM’s Claims College and Litigation Management Institute; the Annual Claims Event (ACE); ACE Tech; Guidewire Connections;  IBM Counterfraud Summit among others. 

Rob lives in Aurora, Ohio with his wife Cindy, and their children and is actively involved in the local community with various church, missions, board and volunteer activities. 
 

Krista Glenn is Executive Vice President and Chief Claims Officer for Westfield Specialty and brings 30 years of insurance claims and management experience to the role. At Westfield Specialty, Ms. Glenn is building a new, full-service claims organization in order to support all of Westfield Specialty's lines of business which currently include E&S Casualty; E&S Property; Financial Institutions; Management Liability and Westfield Pro (Cyber, E&O and Professional Liability).     

Prior to joining Westfield Specialty, Krista spent five years as EVP, Chief Claims Officer at a North Carolina-based insurance carrier.  Krista also spent more than 21 years at the ACE/Chubb companies where she held many roles in Chubb, ACE North America and ACE Group Claims.  She ended her career at Chubb as the Head of Multinational Claims with dual reporting to the Global Accounts underwriting division.  Krista began her career handling claims and declaratory judgment actions at AIG in New York.

Krista is a member of Chief, a 2019 Women to Watch and a 2015 Woman on the Move award winner, a member of the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel and APIW, and an advisory board member for the CLM.  She is a graduate of Seton Hall University and Delaware Law School and is admitted to the bar in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.  In her most important role, Krista is the proud mother of two adult daughters.

Quin W. Netzel, Esq.  has been Chief Claims Officer for Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance since 2012.  While at LA Citizens, Quin has been instrumental in reducing the Company’s exposure to on-going class action litigation from Hurricane Katrina. Quin also initiated a first-of-kind program with The Home Depot, the nation’s largest home improvement retailer, to provide property restoration services to policyholders.

Prior to LA Citizens, Quin was a Director with Aon’s insurance consulting division and worked with over 60 US and Canadian P&C Insurance carriers to conduct peer group benchmarking and determine opportunities for companies to better manage loss costs.

Quin also served as Chief Operating Officer of Florida Citizens Property Insurance and held senior management positions with ACE USA, Renaissance Re and State Farm. Quin is a licensed attorney.

William G. Winget co-founded Winget, Spadafora & Schwartzberg, LLP in 1993. His practice primarily focuses on the investigation and adjustment of complex claims under fidelity and surety bonds, directors and officers liability policies, and the spectrum of professional liability and fiduciary liability insurance products. Mr. Winget also concentrates on the defense of insurers in coverage litigation before state and federal courts, the defense of financial services professionals and broker-dealers before arbitration panels and state and federal courts, as well as the prosecution and defense of UCC claims on negotiable instruments. Outside of his core practice areas, Mr. Winget successfully has handled a wide variety of cases and assignments at the request of the firm’s clients, including defamation actions, commercial contract disputes and copyright infringement claims.

Mr. Winget received his B.A. in English from Georgetown University in 1981 and a Masters of Arts degree in history in 1982. He received his J.D. in 1986 from St. John’s University School of Law, where he was named to the Moot Court Senior Board.

Mr. Winget is admitted to practice law in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut in addition to the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the Districts of New Jersey and Connecticut. He is a member of the American Bar Association (Tort and Insurance Practice Section) and the Professional Liability Underwriting Society. Mr. Winget serves on the PLUS Communications Committee, supervising the editorial content of the PLUS Journal as to banking and fidelity/surety matters.

Publications

“A Covered Bridge Too Far: The Second Circuit Weighs-In With An Expansive View of D&O Coverage For Investigation-Related Costs in MBIA v. Federal”, Plus Journal, August 2011
“New York Court Decides That Banks and Mortgage Companies May Be Liable to Ponzi Scheme Victims Under Theory of Ordinary Negligence”, WSSLLP website, July 2011
“Disappearing Document Dilemma”New York Law Journal,1996
“Conflicts of Law Raise Questions of Coverage”New York Law Journal, 1995
Seminars

“When the Mega-Client Gets Mad: Liability of Life Insurance Agents Serving High Net Worth Customers,” 2011
“Private Equity & Insurance”, 2011.
“Options Backdating – Defense Strategies, Investigations and Professional Liability Coverage,” 2007
“Truth or Consequences – A Practical Guide to Rescission of Director’s & Officer’s Policies and Selected D&O Claims Handling Issues”, 2007.
“D&O Underwriting & Claims In A Difficult Economic Climate”, 2007.
 

Frances O’Meara is a partner in WSHB’s Los Angeles office. She is a nationally-recognized professional malpractice attorney who concentrates her practice on errors and omissions defense for attorneys, accountants, architects, insurance agents, real estate brokers, appraisers, doctors, and nurses. Frances is certified by the California State Bar as a Certified Legal Malpractice Specialist. She advises professionals and law firms on legal professional and ethical issues, issues relating to risk management and loss control, and cyber security and data privacy risks.

Frances works directly with major insurance carriers throughout the United States, non-insured attorneys, large corporations, healthcare providers, and financial institutions. She has extensive experience in D&O financial lines and commercial litigation, with an emphasis on fidelity, fiduciary, and surety claims investigation and litigation. Frances also represents medical malpractice claims related to healthcare management, assisted living, dental malpractice, and nursing.

She is experienced in defending general liability matters arising from premises liability, trucking, automobile, and accident claims involving property damage, personal injury, and wrongful death. Her clients have included bars, restaurants, property owners, general contractors, subcontractors, architects, engineers, and trucking companies.

Frances also enjoys experience in employment litigation, including discrimination claims, employment contracts, and retaliation and sexual harassment claims. She additionally handles fidelity and bond matters throughout the State of California.