Eric Brandt was named Executive Vice President and Chief Claims Officer of Allstate Insurance Company in January 2020. In that role, Eric oversees the largest employee group at Allstate-more than 15,000 employees nationwide who handle over 7 million claims annually. Prior to joining Allstate, he served as Chief Claims Officer at Esurance.

Eric has over 25 years of industry experience, as a claims leader for personal, commercial, specialty, and disability lines of business.

Prior to joining Esurance in 2014, Eric was Chief Claims & Risk Services Officer at a global firm specializing in niche insurance in the U.S. Eric also held the Chief Claims role at a leading disability insurer and had many years of personal lines leadership roles with a major carrier in the direct-to-consumer space.

Mike Fiato is currently the Executive Vice President and Chief Claims Officer for Global Retail Markets U.S. Claims.

He is responsible for running the GRM U.S. Claims organization, including oversight of nearly 9,000 employees across Personal Lines Auto Physical Damage, Property and Casualty lines of business. Additionally, he oversees small commercial business insurance and claims functional support teams.

Mike joined Liberty Mutual in April of 2017 and is based in Boston. Prior to joining Liberty Mutual, Mike spent over 25 years at Progressive Insurance where his last role was a General Manager of Claims.

He earned his bachelor’s degree from State University of New York College at Brockport, his M.S. in Labor & Industrial Relations from University of Rhode Island and his Juris Doctor degree from Suffolk University Law School.

Jeanette joined Texas Mutual in 1993 after earning her degree from the University of Texas. She has since accumulated 26 years of valuable experience, serving in a variety of roles ranging from strategic planning to overseeing claim, safety and medical network operations. As COO, Jeanette is responsible for all insurance operations and IT. She lends her time and talent to several charitable organizations, frequently speaks at industry events, was named a 2018 Woman to Watch by Business Insurance, which recognizes women leaders in risk management and recently named an Executive to Watch in 2020 by Risk & Insurance Magazine.

Evan Scarponi is vice president and chief claims officer for Prudential Group Insurance. In this role, he is accountable for leading an organization of more than 550 talented professionals spread across the U.S., with hubs in Portland, Maine, Roseland, N.J. and Scottsdale, Ariz. His organization includes Long Term Disability (LTD), Short Term Disability and Absence (STD/ABS), Group and Individual Life Waiver of Premium, Clinical Services, Vocational Rehabilitation, Customer Solutions and related expert resources. Scarponi and team are also responsible for internal and external strategic partnerships for Group Life and associated Disability claims services.

As a member of the Group Insurance Operations Senior Leadership Team, Scarponi is responsible for implementing new products and services, driving excellence and innovation in Disability and Life claims management, and delivering on Prudential's customer commitments.

Scarponi joined Prudential in 2004. Before taking his current role, he served as vice president of Short Term Disability (STD) and Absence Claims (ABS), which included all aspects of STD and ABS claim operations: short-term disability, statutory disability programs, federal, state and company leaves, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accommodations support and paid leave administration. He also previously held the role of vice president of Long Term Disability (LTD) Claims, which included all aspects of the Long Term Disability claims operation, as well as the Financial Services Team.

Prior to joining Prudential, Evan worked Unum, where he started his career. He earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from Northeastern University and an MBA from the University of Southern Maine.

Scarponi is a past board member on the Disability Committee for the International Claims Association (ICA), a current member of the New England Claims Association (NECA), and an active participant in programs sponsored by the Disability Management Employer Coalition (DMEC).

As a former CIO, President, and practitioner of constant process improvement, Stephanie's 30+ year career in the Insurance industry has provided numerous opportunities to develop, deploy, test, and modify various approaches to process improvement within all levels of an organization. Results driven and measurement focused, she has managed cross functional teams of analysts, underwriters, developers, claims and marketing professionals.

Today as Hanover’s VP., Claims Business Solutions, she is responsible for identifying, evaluating and procuring technology that will reduce expenses, protect indemnity and improve the customer experience. By leveraging Claims training, auditing, technology and operations, she and her teams are able to successfully identify challenges in the organization, verify the breadth and depth of issues, modify processes, train staff and manage change throughout the course of her projects.

Bryant Vernon is the Chief Claims Officer at Aviva Canada and joined the company in May 2018. He is accountable for the operational and financial performance of the claims organization, including auto & property, healthcare, casualty claims, customer service, enablement, as well as the legal and anti-fraud teams. His primary areas of focus are introducing more analytical rigor to claims and transforming the culture to be more transparent, people centric, and accountable for results.

Bryant earned his MBA and B. Sc. from MIT. Outside of work, he is an avid reader and outdoor enthusiast.

Dave began his career in New York as a multi-line claims rep. He progressed through roles in every claims discipline, learning all aspects of the business. In 1994, he was promoted to a new general manager role in Philadelphia, and later Michigan, where as State Officer he led all Sales, Claims and Underwriting. In 1999, Dave was brought back into Claims and was promoted to Vice President of Field Operations. In 2008, he was appointed as Nationwide's first Chief Claims Officer, where he led the combined operations of Personal Lines, Commercial, Excess/Surplus, Special Investigations, Agribusiness, Environmental, Veterinary/Pet, and Extra-Contractual Liability. He served for many years as a Board Member of NICB, the Chairman of Pennsylvania's Insurance Fraud Authority and a member of the Chief Claims Officers roundtable. In 2019, after a 35-year career, Dave retired from full-time work and now enjoys working as a litigation specialist and expert witness for a number of consulting/legal firms.

Vice President within Property & Casualty Claims Operations, Calvin Strong leads national First Party Injury Claims (PIP/Medical Payments) as well as Auto Subrogation at MetLife Auto & Home. Strong’s group also oversees five department-wide enabling functions, Claims Technology & Digital, oversight for the claims management system, vendor software integrations and project management, level one support, Claims Analytics & Intelligence, advanced analytics, operational analysis and industry benchmarking, Claims Vendor Management, working closely with the business through the selection, onboarding, contracting, and ongoing management of supplier partners, Claims Quality, implementing closed file reviews, quality assurance reviews, and focus reviews to improve skills at the frontlines, and Claims Compliance, ensuring adherence to fair claims practices, government regulations and relations. Fostering an associate driven, service obsessed, effective and efficient environment, Strong’s leads an operation of 225 associates and is responsible for $300 Million operationally and $2.5 Billion across enabling functions.

Background:

Strong joined MetLife Auto & Home in 1994 after serving as a multi-line claims adjuster for five years with the Economy/St. Paul Companies.  Prior to his current role, Strong held several progressive leadership roles including leading two field claim offices, serving as the market strategist for Washington, Oregon and Idaho, claims controller, leader of countrywide casualty, no fault, and inside auto investigative unit strategy, claims training, and claims quality.

He is a member of the Verisk Claims Analytics Executive Council, serves on the Rhode Island Junior Achievement Executive Board, is a former Multicultural Professional Network (MPN) co-chair, is a former President and Board Chair of the Rhode Island CPCU Chapter, a former Rhode Island Mentoring participant, a former Junior Achievement Personal Finance presenter, a Diversity MBA Magazine 2007 Top 50 Under 50 Executive & Emerging Leader, a former Diversity Steering Committee and LIAT Champion, and a former Big Brother.

Education:

Strong holds a BBA in Finance from the University of Iowa, and an MBA from the University of Phoenix (St Louis, MO on-campus program).  He also attained the Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), Associates in Claims (AIC), and the Associates in Personal Insurance (API) designations.

Sam Santiago joined Farmers in 2017 and recently joined the Farmers Claims Team as Head of Claims Strategy & Automation in 2019. In this role, Sam is responsible for developing an overarching topline Claims strategy across Auto, Property and Business Insurance to ensure we’re looking out on the horizon and staying on top of where the marketplace is headed. In this role, Sam has responsibilities for Claims Strategy, Advanced Analytics, Digital Transformation & Emerging Trends and Competitive Intelligence.

With nearly 20 years of experience, Sam has an impressive track record of bringing quality management, strategy deployment, process improvement & digital transformation within the financial services, supply chain and insurance industries.  Her journey has included positions with Liberty Mutual, Toyota Financial Services, and Staples, Inc.

Guy is a 20+ year veteran of the insurance industry and is currently Head of Workers Compensation for Farmers Insurance. In this role, he oversees the P&L for the line of business within the United States. Guy received his BA in Mathematics from the Virginia Military Institute and an MS in Management from Florida State University. He also earned his CPCU designation.

As head of Innovation within the Strategy & Innovation division at CSAA Insurance Group, Olga strives to innovate the company’s future by building new products, services, and ventures that deliver extraordinary value to current and future AAA members.

She is a senior innovation leader with over 15 years of experience building products and creating winning business and design strategies for corporations, tech companies and think-tanks in Silicon Valley, including Stanford Technology Ventures, Citrix, Starbucks, Nordstrom, Sutter Health, Hiscox and others.

Olga teaches Design Thinking and coaches teams at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (Stanford University’s d.school), CCA, and the General Assembly. Olga received an MA in Learning, Design & Technology as well as a Fulbright Fellowship from Stanford University. She is also a graduate of the Stanford Ignite, an entrepreneurship program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Mark Foerster is Vice President, Group Operations and Claims. He is responsible for all aspects of claims, from adjudication to administrative services, for all lines of business. His team assists clients in implementing practice management enhancements and other innovations such as predictive analytics, to help achieve the best mutual results. He also is co-responsible for Group business and clients.

He joined Munich Re in September 2000. Mark has over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry. He earned his Honours degree in Business Administration and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Ivey School of Business at Western University. Mark also holds the Certified Financial Planner designation.

Mark has served on a number of not-for-profit boards and is currently on the Children’s Aid Society Toronto board and GTA YMCA Investment committee.

Lori is a 20+ year veteran of the insurance industry and currently leads the Claim Transformation Technology, Quick Claim Handling and First Notice of Loss contact center teams at the Auto Club Group. In this role, Lori leads claim technology transformation initiatives in addition to first notice of loss and fast track auto physical damage and property adjusting teams. Lori received her BA in Business Administration from Wesleyan College and an MBA from Mercer University. Lori has earned her Project Management Professional (PMP®) designation and is Six Sigma Green Belt Certified (SSGBC).

Amrish Singh is the VP of Product at Metromile Enterprise. Metromile is the leading pay-per-mile car insurance company in the U.S. Metromile Enterprise, the company's enterprise software group, enables insurance carriers to improve customer experience, reduce costs and drive operational efficiency using Metromile's innovative AI-based Fraud and Automation platform. Amrish has worked in the enterprise software industry for over a decade and is an expert in using software and machine learning to optimize business processes.

Mike is responsible for product strategy and solutions, commercialization and expansion of the Visa Direct real-time payments businesses at Visa. His team also leads partnerships with leading Banks, Payment Service Providers, Financial Institutions and Corporations to deploy new real-time payment solutions for use cases including - Property & Casualty Insurance, Healthcare, Lotteries & Gaming, On-Demand / GIG Economy, Alternative Lending, Marketplaces, Government, Education, T&E, Payroll, Contract Staffing and Cross-Border Remittances.

He brings over 20 years of payments industry experience from leading product development, product management, marketing, and partnerships working in the U.S., Australia, and UK. Prior to Visa Mike was Director of Consumer Products for PayPal’s North America Consumer Business and he spent 12 years at American Express leading product and marketing teams.

Mike earned an MBA from the University New England, Australia, and graduated from the Corporate Finance Program at the London Business School, UK. Outside of work, Mike advises several technology startups on product design, operations and growth strategies.

Geoffrey R. Branch is a Senior Investigator with the Special Investigations Unit of Swiss Re Corporate Solutions where he is responsible for external fraud investigations as well as serves as the Anti-Fraud Awareness Training Coordinator. Prior to joining Swiss Re, he spent twenty years as a law enforcement officer, sixteen of which with the Florida Department of Financial Services, Division of Insurance Fraud, where he served in many capacities conducting, supervising, and managing criminal investigations for the Division. While with the Division, Geoff specialized in complex white-collar crime investigations involving premium avoidance, money laundering, racketeering, and other organized financial crime schemes.

Geoff earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice from Florida Atlantic University and a Master of Science Degree in Criminal Justice Administration from Lynn University. He is the former Chairperson of the Florida Property and Casualty Insurance Fraud Task Force as well as the Florida Workers' Compensation Insurance Fraud Task Force. Geoff holds the Certified Fraud Examiner designation and most recently participated in the Florida Executive Development Seminar sponsored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He has lectured extensively on the topic of insurance fraud and money laundering in Florida and across the United States.

David M. Borum is an Assistant Vice President within the Global Special Investigations Unit/Enterprise Risk Management of Swiss Re Corporate Solutions. He has over 20 years of public and private sector experience conducting investigations into various white-collar crimes including money laundering, insurance fraud, healthcare fraud and other organized financial crimes.

David holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice from University of Tennessee and a Master of Science Degree in Criminal Justice from Boston University. He is currently pursuing his law degree from Loyola Chicago School of Law. He has completed various Executive Training programs at The University of Notre Dame, Mendoza College of Business. He holds designations as a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), Certified Insurance Fraud Investigator (CIFI), Certified Forensic Interviewer (CFI) and a Senior Claim Law Associate (SCLA). David currently serves as a Director on the Board of Directors for the International Association of Special Investigation Units.

Aimee Stidham is the SIU Manager for Shelter Insurance Companies in Columbia, Missouri.   She has over 20 years' experience in the insurance industry. For the past three years, she has helped build and develop a new and growing special investigations unit.

She serves on the Board of Directors for the International Association of Special Investigation Units and is a member of the Government Affairs Committee of the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud.

Aimee is a member of IASIU, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners and the ACFE Greater St Louis Chapter.  She holds several designations including Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) and Certified Insurance Fraud Investigator (CIFI).

Driven, results-oriented, decisive leader with proven success for innovative insurance concepts Cassandra Hand-Gallegos has served the insurance industry since 1989. Claim Executive leading claim organizations and specializing in data analytics, digital business transformation, loss management, risk management, operations, executive analysis and strategic solutions that deliver results to start up and growth organizations. Property & Casualty Insurance Industry advocate delivering reduction in loss ratios on complex claim issues.

Impactful | Accomplished | Visionary

CCMS & Associates is a specialized Claim Adjusting Service using predictive analytics to control emerging claim exposures. Multi-Line Claim Adjusting Services and Third-Party Administration dedicated to solving the challenges of the complex claim in the Property & Casualty Insurance Industry. Causation focused claim investigation. Expert handling and managing complex issues. Assignment of Benefit claim handling experts. Our innovative solutions and strategic claim handling will make a positive impact on claim exposure.

Jamie Yoder is a global executive who has been at the forefront of insurance and technology for nearly three decades. As President of Snapsheet, Jamie leads the company’s go-to-market activities across all business lines, including claims management software, virtual appraisals and payments technology. Jamie works closely with global clients to provide solutions to provide the best claims experience through Snapsheet’s advanced software and technology.

Prior to Snapsheet, Jamie served as PwC’s Insurance Advisory Leader – advising clients on a range of management issues, including business design and transformation initiatives such as digital innovation, customer experience, operational and IT strategy, operating model design, change management and growth. He also led the global research program on the Future of Insurance. Prior to PwC, Jamie led the insurance practice and served on the management committee at Diamond Management & Technology Consultants, which was acquired by PwC in 2010.

Jackie currently leads the Corporate Claims function at ERIE Insurance. Her team is responsible for claims strategy, processes and procedures, and ensuring compliance. In this role, Jackie and her team work closely both inside and outside the business to ensure ERIE is delivering best in class claims service to our Agents, Customers and Employees. She began her career with ERIE in 1996 and has held various roles in claims and learning and development in both field and corporate roles. Jackie has her MBA from Capella University, and her Chartered Property Casualty (CPCU), Associate in Claims (AIC) and Associate in Insurance Services (AIS) designations. In her free time, she likes to read and travel.

Frank Carni is Head of Auto Claims for Farmers Insurance. Frank is responsible for strategy and operations for all aspects of auto and personal liability claims. He recently led a transformation of the Auto Claim department which included structure, process, technology and vendor relationship redesigns.

With over 25 years of claim leadership, he has led organizations on the national level for Farmers Insurance and Hanover Insurance in the areas of personal auto, commercial auto, property liability and general liability. Frank also held field leadership positions with Hartford and Progressive in areas of property claims, auto claims, call center operations and product management.

Education: B.A. Accounting, University of West Florida; Executive MBA, University of Texas at San Antonio; Designation: Sr. Claim Law Associate

As Vice President of Personal Lines for Founders Insurance Company, Shannon is known for revitalizing the claim operation. She creates sound strategies supported by data and industry trends which allows her to guide the organization through tremendously difficult times.

Shannon’s career in insurance began in 1997 with State Farm Insurance. There, Shannon gained significant experience in casualty and liability claims, subrogation, special investigations, human resources and company-wide claim management change efforts. After almost 17 years of remarkable service with State Farm, she joined Nationwide Insurance in San Antonio, Texas to lead the Texas Region of nonstandard auto claims. In 2016, Shannon relocated to Chicago and served as the Director of Loss Control for Ally Insurance. She built their first data and business analytics team, focused on risk management and loss control. In early 2018, Shannon became the Vice President of Founders Insurance Company where she is an Officer and Board Member.

Shannon holds several industry designations including the Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), Associate in Claims (AIC) and Associate in Risk Management (ARM). She completed the Fraud Claims Law Associate (FCLA), Legal Principles Claim Specialist (LPCS) and Casualty Claim Law Associate (CCLA) designations. She is a member of the CPCU Society and the International Association of Special Investigators (IASIU). Shannon holds a Master’s in Arts from Gonzaga University in Organizational Leadership and the Certificate in Servant Leadership.

Don Jones is the Head of Claims in MMUS Insurance Operations at MassMutual, leading the charge to achieve our vision of becoming a digitally enabled organization with richer customer data, streamlined processes, and automation to pay our claims faster, more accurately and provide service on the customer's terms.

Don has more than 25 years’ experience in the industry, including nearly two decades in claims leadership. Most recently, Don provided private claims consulting to a wide range of clients. Prior to that, he spent many years with Nationwide Insurance in senior leadership roles of increasing scope and responsibility of the firm’s property and casualty claims organization.

Over his career, Don has specialized in setting strategic direction and executing key business transformation initiatives, including technology adoption and digitization as well as process optimization, automation and continuous improvement solutions.

Don can be contacted at djones46@massmutual.com.

After a 25-year career in the insurance industry, Lenny Richileau joined Commerce bank as an Insurance Industry Consultant in 2015. As the lead consultant for the bank, Lenny is responsible for guiding the development of claims and insurance payment and payment process solutions for the industry. During his time at Commerce Lenny has helped develop a full suite of payment products that allow an insurance customer to receive payment in under 30 minutes. Additionally, working with the Commerce Team Lenny has helped develop funding solutions to allow insurance companies to retain float income while making faster payments.

Prior to joining Commerce, Lenny spent his prior 13 years at Nationwide Insurance where he was a claims director leading a team of 140 specialized claims adjusters and claims consultants. Lenny has also held leadership positions at Markel Insurance Company and Hanover Insurance in the claims, underwriting and product areas.

James Lapic is Chief Technology Officer and co-founder at Zipwhip where he oversees the company’s industry innovation, global connectivity and overall messaging operations. Lapic played a critical role in unlocking the technology capabilities to text-enable landlines and toll-free numbers, a major catalyst for the company’s pivot to business text messaging. Lapic is a self-taught IT and telecom professional that has strategically grown his career and teams for nearly 20 years. His deep background in messaging started long before Zipwhip, including authoring industry guidelines on business messaging, building messaging platforms for Nextel and pioneering interactive viewer-engagement campaigns for television programs such as American Idol. Lapic is regarded as a true innovator and thought leader throughout the messaging ecosystem.

Drew McBride is currently the Auto Claims Process Manager for Farmers Insurance.

He leads a team of Process & Strategy Leads focused on innovating with our customers in mind, improving the claim handling process, and identifying opportunities to improve accuracy and efficiency.

Drew joined Farmers in July of 2005, and has held a variety of claims and leadership roles in several locations.  Prior to joining Farmers, he spent several years in the Loss Prevention and Education Services industries.

He earned his B.S. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and holds several certifications in Project Management, Change Management & SAFe/Agile methodology.

Don is a business development leader for the Healthcare and Insurance line of business on the Biller Mission at ACI Worldwide. He has over 25 years industry experience working with the industry’s largest insurance carriers and financial institutions in electronic payments, client services and technology. Don has guided carriers and plans such as NJM Insurance, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Horizon BCBS of NJ and UPMC for their consumer payment deployments. Don’s primary responsibility at ACI Worldwide is to lead his team of New Business Developers to pursue new business opportunities, define requirements, identify best practices and recommend solutions for electronic payment and bill presentment applications. Don holds a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the State University of NY at Albany and an MBA in Marketing from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

21 years with SAP, the last decade focused on serving Financial Services and the Insurance Industry.

Daniel lives in Buffalo, NY with his wife of 32 years, Doreen, and has two adult sons. Daniel holds a MBA and a Bachelor’s Degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He enjoys church music, his house on lake Erie and attempting the game of golf.

Julie Kheyfets leads the North America business for Tractable, where she works closely with collision industry players who are adopting Tractable’s industry-leading technology. Tractable has deployed AI for vehicle damage appraisal for 15 carriers across 12 countries and processed over $1B+ in claims.

Prior to Tractable, Julie spent time at Facebook and in the Insurance Practice at the Boston Consulting Group. She is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Business School.

Ted leads the development of Tokio Marine Group’s digital initiatives and launches innovative solutions, such as AI driven digital claims operation, new UW methods based on big-data analysis, and operational efficiency improvement. He implements and supervises PoCs to verify the feasibility of business plans and shares the results with core stakeholders of the Tokio Marine Group. Formerly, Ted engaged in the Global Business Development division of Tokio Marine Japan and also worked in Europe as Tokio Marine Kiln’s Spain Branch Deputy Manager and Italy Branch Manager.

James Swayze, Executive for CoreLogic Insurance Solutions, leads the enterprise-wide strategy and transformation initiatives carried by the global property claims team within CoreLogic.

James previously served as CEO & founder of Symbility, and has been at the helm of its successful evolution as a global InsurTech provider. James was born and raised in Toronto but throughout his career has worked extensively in the United States, France and Germany.

Sasha is Duck Creek’s Principal Product Manager for the Duck Creek Claims product with responsibility for defining the R&D initiatives for the Claims product. She also works with industry analysts and technology vendors to bring the latest in technology to the P&C Claims space through the Duck Creek Claims platform. She offers a perspective on the Claims technology agenda and challenges of a diverse set of P&C carriers.

Jessica DeCanio is Head of Claims Training for Farmers Insurance. In this role, she is responsible for leading the training team, which develops the technical expertise and leadership capabilities for the company’s more than 10,000 Claims employees. Recently, Jessica led an initiative at Farmers to use Virtual Reality (VR) to transform employee training, pioneering the practice in the insurance industry, to train new claims adjusters on how to evaluate claims within a VR experience.

Jessica joined Farmers Insurance in 2007 as a training consultant in Independent Agent Operations where she onboarded new account managers and changed the mindset around individual development plans. In 2011, she took on an enterprise learning role within the University of Farmers on the Learning and Organization Development team. In this capacity, she was focused on building professional, management and leadership development programs for the company. 

With 20 years in the learning and development field, Jessica first started her career as a public relations manager for a training company. She specialized in developing communication and leadership skills where she got a deep immersion into learning and consulting by filling roles in marketing, operations, sales and coaching. 

Jessica was born and raised in West Michigan. She attended Grand Valley State University and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in 2000 and a Master of Business Administration in 2004. In 2015, Jessica, her husband, Dave, and two sons, Jackson and Brady, made the move to Southern California where they enjoy an abundance of sunshine and year-round outdoor activities. 

Jorey Chernett is the CEO and founder of Authentic4D, an FDA-approved, medical software company, serving the medical and insurance claims and litigation management industries. Jorey has more than 20 years of medical technology experience, previously co-founding and serving as President of E4D Technologies, a leader in digitizing dentistry, culminating in a sale to 3M. Jorey has previously worked in venture capital and started his career in investment banking. He received his Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in Finance with honors from Indiana University.

Lauren Brown is Director of Marketing and Strategic Partnerships at Compex Legal Services, the nation’s leading record retrieval provider to law firms and insurance carriers. Lauren is responsible for Compex’s marketing and customer experience initiatives, as well as the company’s relationships with industry partners including technology platforms and service providers. Lauren also leads the development of Compex’s community initiatives, including the company’s development of thought leadership and participation in industry events. Lauren is based in Chicago, IL.

Lance has performed in several roles within personal lines claims for over 23 years. During this time, he has led teams in property, auto physical damage and bodily injury. Lance takes great pride in developing high performing teams and stimulates innovation at all levels of the organization. In his current role, Lance regularly works on continuous improvement and strategic initiatives at both the department and enterprise level. Over the past five years, Lance has directly participated in the digital transformation efforts of the organization in an effort to drive productivity and consistency gains. He has attained several certifications and designations in his career including the Associate in Claims and a Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt.

Tom Reuter is the Director of Digital Payments for Deluxe. Tom applies over two decades of experience to help leading insurance carriers of all sizes achieve a successful digital transformation journey. His primary focus is to deliver innovative digital payment solutions to the market with a consultative approach.

Renee Cacchillo is EVP, Customer Experience Officer at Safelite® Group, a multifaceted vehicle glass and claims management service organization, where she is responsible for Customer Experience, Brand, and Safelite® Solutions.

Cacchillo joined Safelite in 2011 and has held leadership roles in service delivery, brand development, technology and experience design.

Today, she successfully leverages the company’s core competencies in aligning the customer experience, marketing efforts, technical enhancements, and sales and claims management.

Cacchillo has a BS in business administration and an MBA from the University of Kansas. She resides in New Albany, Ohio, with her husband and their twin daughters.

George Naftzinger is currently the Director of Business Development & Strategy for Carpe Data, an industry leading provider of next generation data to the insurance industry. Prior to joining Carpe Data, he retired from Allstate Insurance Company after a 44-year career. At the time of his retirement, he was the Director of Third Party Injury Business Design, a position he held for six years. His responsibilities included identifying and incorporating new and innovative products and services into the injury claim handling process.

Ian McLeod is Carpe Data’s Director of Product, Claims, ensuring that the company's clients receive the maximum value from their solutions. His knowledge of our process and products comes from Carpe Data's predecessor company, Social Intelligence, where he spent five years as the the Director of Product Development. Prior to Social Intelligence, Ian was a contractor at Fortune 500 biotech companies implementing facility operations procedures. Ian received his BA in Business and Managing for Sustainability at California State University, Chico.

Dr. Skiba, also known as Dr. Fraud ®, is an international expert on economic crime and is referred as one of the top crime fighters in the world. He worked in the insurance fraud industry for 22 years in claims and special investigations at Allstate and Interboro insurance and is now an international consultant, trainer, and speaker on fraud. Dr. Skiba is currently consulting with INFORM, an international claims and fraud solutions company, as Vice President of International Counter Fraud Strategies where he oversees global counter fraud projects across the globe including projects in Malaysia, Argentina, South Africa, and Italy. He has also been a university professor for 15 years and is currently Department Chair of Fraud Management at Colorado State University Global. He holds an MBA and a PhD with a research focus on economic crime. He can be seen in many media outlets including SiriusXM radio, a monthly publication column “Ask Dr. Fraud”, and recent engagements with The London Telegraph and Fox News Brazil. He is also an instructor for the U.S. ATF and a member of the Academic Council of the United Nations System. He is an accomplished author and recently published a book entitled “The Psychology of Fraud”.

Elisa’s focus at VPay is to provide strategic leadership and drive company growth. Elisa brings over 25 years of B2B strategy and marketing experience to her role at VPay. Elisa has worked as a senior executive with a variety of Fortune 100 technology leaders and start-ups in healthcare and technology. Her ability to seamlessly shift between creating strategy and delivering on operational objectives fosters inventive thinking and creative solutions – allowing her to deliver measurable results that contribute to increasing the bottom line while elevating brand loyalty.

Dave Smith graduated from Cal State Long Beach with a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance in 1989. He married his wife Julia in 1993 and has two daughters, Maddie and Reagan.

Dave has worked in the Collision Industry since 1989. Dave worked at Enterprise Rent A Car for 24 years. Starting as a management trainee and was promoted to VP of Strategic Sales Solutions in 2011. During this time, Dave was an integral part of the team that saw Enterprise’s Insurance Replacement business grow to a $3.5 billion dollar business.

During Dave’s tenure, he led a team focused on the development of workflow tools and pricing strategies. These tools and strategies helped transform the interaction of BodyShops, Insurance Companies and Enterprise.

This workflow was deemed unique and novel leading to Dave being named an inventor on 12 US patents.

In 2014 Dave joined the Caliber Collision management team. During Dave’s tenure Caliber has grown from $750 million in revenue to a $4.1 billion dollar company. As the VP of Supply Chain, Dave took led a team to scale Caliber and their Vendor Partners to Industry leading performance.

Dave was promoted to Senior Vice-President Supply Chain Strategy in 2017.  Dave continues to focus on building long term partnerships and processes with all parties in the Collision/Claims Industry so all parties are restored to the rhythm of their lives.

After starting his career with Ageas UK as a personal lines claims handler, Phil has worked for Zurich for 26 years. With a direct and digital marketing background, he moved into General Management in 2012 and now heads up the UK Personal Lines business. Phil has very broad expertise across the entire insurance value chain and with his heavy marketing focus and claims handling background, he has a strong grounding in “customer” and what makes for an excellent experience.

Outside of insurance, he’s a keen road cyclist, golfer and amateur cook, and currently perfecting the art of Sourdough in “lockdown”.

Nick is the VP of Connected Claims for IMS and controls all strategic and operational activities relating to the use of telematics claims data for the group. Nick has developed IMS’ Claims as a Service which deepens the application of data for our clients to realize industry leading benefits in financial savings to indemnity costs for personal and commercial lines insurance, fleet and daily rental. Adding exceptional additional value to all TGG telematics products and further deepening the client account relationships.

From an insurance background, Nick has worked for a number of leading UK insurers including RBS Insurance, Direct line Insurance and The Cooperative insurance in senior roles within claims and supplier management of specialist tech services to enhance the claims process. Nick also chaired the technical board of Thatcham Research for four years, leading the strategic direction of UK vehicle repair industry standards.

Ed Rochfort is the Chief Product Officer for IMS, a subsidiary of Trak Global Group (TGG), one of the world’s top three providers of connected car data solutions to insurers, mobility operators, and governments, where he is bringing years of experience harnessing maximum value from telematics to help IMS customers access new capabilities and build insurance and mobility solutions that deliver truly needle-moving outcomes.

Rochfort comes from a commercial insurance background having developed a number of successful products which used risk management technologies to reduce accident frequencies. He recently relocated to IMS’s North American headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario from the U.K., where he was managing director and a co-founder of Carrot Insurance, a leading telematics digital insurance brand which uses an engagement and reward program combined with proactive risk management interventions to offer young drivers a modern alternative to traditional auto insurance.

Over the last decade, Rochfort has led Carrot in proving the power of telematics data in insurance and played a major role in transforming the market for the better. Since the company launch in 2011, Carrot has won many industry awards, including a recent win for Best Customer App Experience in late Fall 2019.

Nino Tarantino leads IMS as CEO of the Americas after serving as CEO of North America for Octo Telematics from 2010- 2018. An insurance telematics industry leader, Nino grew Octo from inception to $75M. Mr. Tarantino was named Influencer of the year at the 2018 Telematics Detroit Awards and won best telematics product in 2017. Nino earned his Master’s in Telecommunications Engineering in Rome and began his career with Telecom Italia. He later held management positions with Iridium, the first global satellite phone company, Anoto/Ericsson and Acotel where he launched one of the first premium SMS/MMS services in North America with the 2004 Olympics coverage.

Marcel Gordon is VP Product at Shift Technology, a company delivering AI-native solutions to the global insurance industry. In his more than a decade in Product Management, Marcel has tackled a number of different challenges, from building new products from scratch, to applying high level product strategy to billion dollar businesses. At Shift Technology, he leads a team that aims to digitize insurance and streamline claims processing.

Karen Furtado, Partner, is a well-known authority on insurance technology and how it fuels transformation within insurance companies. Her focus is helping insurers prepare for the future of the industry through the decisions they make today. Karen’s deep understanding of how to effect change guides insurers in the development and implementation of their transformation roadmaps. Her comprehensive knowledge stretches across foundational technologies such as policy admin, billing and claims, the implications of InsurTech, and enhancing adaptability and flexibility in a changing market. Her commitment to promoting innovation, encouraging the exploration and adoption of transformational technologies, and developing proactive ways to plan for the future draws those seeking an edge. In a highly competitive world, Karen brings exceptional knowledge and experience to the challenges of connecting solutions to business and IT requirements for both insurers and vendor clients.

For more than 30 years, Karen has held leadership positions across the insurance industry. She was previously the Vice President of CGI's Insurance Practice, where she had responsibility for the development of their strategic direction and oversight of CGI's insurance software services, hosted services, and core insurance BPO practice.

Luke joined USAA in 2017 as a member of the P&C Claims Innovation Team.  Luke and team are focused on continuously leveraging the latest industry and member insights to deliver a world-class experience for USAA’s members and employees while driving significant market differentiation in line with the USAA Standard of Innovation.

Luke started his insurance career as a Claim Representative Trainee with Progressive in 2004.  He held a variety of leadership positions during his 10+ years at Progressive prior to joining innovative startup pay-per-mile insurer, Metromile in 2014.

At Metromile, Luke led the strategy, development, implementation, and oversight of Metromile's Claims program from inception to production with a keen focus on maximizing process efficiency and developing industry-leading technology.

Luke received a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Baker University where he played basketball for the Wildcats.  His most notable accomplishment to date was meeting his wife, Brittany (who also played basketball at Baker).  Brittany and Luke are blessed with 4 beautiful children:  Maverick (2008), twins Hawk and Noelle (2010), and Boomer (2017).  The Harris Family loves sports, the great outdoors, and living life to its fullest.

Brian Gaab is the Managing Principal of Core Innovation at CSAA Insurance Group, a AAA insurer. The company has been serving AAA members for over 100 years offering automobile and homeowners insurance through partnerships with AAA clubs. The company is rated A by A.M. Best and is one of the top property and casualty insurers in the United States.

Brian joined the company in 2013 in corporate strategy, and in 2015 began with the new Strategy & Innovation function for CSAA IG where he focuses on implementing new technologies inside the company to make insurance simple, proactive, and personal for AAA members.

Dan Donovan is the Head of Customer Success for Shift Technology, a provider of AI-native solutions for the global insurance industry. In this role, he and his team support Shift clients with strategic guidance and counsel related to how artificial intelligence and business analytics can benefit fraud detection and claims automation processes, while at the same time supporting overall digital transformation and modernization initiatives. Dan is an expert in the field of insurance fraud and claims analytics. His more than 25 years of insurance industry experience comes from nearly two decades leading fraud investigation and claims operations for Liberty Mutual in Boston, and six years working in the insurance technology sector.

Jan has worked over 30+ years in the P & C insurance industry and spent the last 24 yrs w/Nationwide Insurance.

Jan has experience working in product, sales, claims & call center project management. She oversees large vendor relationships and manages over $40m in vendor expense.