About the Conference
Introduction
Below are the names and biographies of the illustrious group of speakers who presented at the conference in La Jolla. See the "Download" link after each presenter's bio to download their presentation.
John D Byrnes
The Center for Aggression Management
John D Byrnes is a successful businessman, author and lecturer who became interested in the subject of aggression management after concluding that there were no comprehensive training programs dedicated to preventing aggression in the workplace. His research revealed that conventional approaches to deal with conflict and violence were not working. He therefore created the Center for Aggression Management® to fill this void and provide organizations with the much-needed Aggression Management® Skills. These human-based skills have demonstrated to employers that they can prevent aggression rather than merely react to it; by a cross-section of employers they have proven to be effective in diminishing aggression and increasing productivity.
Byrnes has conducted seminars and workshops for some of our country's largest corporations, organizations and schools: United States Post Service, NASA; Disney Development Company, Florida Hospitals, US Army Center for Civilian Human Resource Management, Mississippi Safe Schools Center, numerous school districts across the country, as well as many National Associations: NSC (National Safety Council), NASB (National Association of School Boards), NDPC (National Dropout Prevention Center), TASB (Texas Association of School Boards), ASIS (American Society of Industrial Security), Alliance for American Insurers, ASLET (American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers), AIA (American Insurance Association), AORN (Association of Operating Room Nurses), VPPPA Annual National Conference: (Voluntary Protection Programs Participants' Association, FWCI (Florida Workers' Compensation Education Conference), Alabama Governor's Safety & Health Conference, The Florida Psychological Association has recommended Aggression Management® Workshops to all its psychologists. Byrnes is an advisor to the Florida Partnership for Safety and Health.
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Alton Cogert
Strategic Asset Alliance
Alton Cogert CFA, CPA, President, founded Strategic Asset Alliance in 1994 as the first investment consulting firm that exclusively serves insurance companies. He is a former member of the Board of Directors and former chairman of the Investment Committee of the National Alliance of Life Companies. He has served as a technical advisor to the NAIC Invested Assets Working Group and the Model Investment Law Working Group. He has been a guest lecturer at the University of Texas, and is editor of Insurer Investment Strategies.
Mr. Cogert has written several articles for BestWeek, including: "Piercing the Seven Deadly Myths of Insurance Investing," "Insurance Investment Management Shifts to the WIRE Paradigm," "Achieving Higher Risk Adjusted Returns," "Outside Money Managers Performance Depends Upon How Well They're Managed," "The Search for a Truly Customized Investment Benchmark," and "The Roller Coaster Ride Of Interest Rates: How To Protect Against Falling Off The Track." His articles about the regulatory process include, "After 125 Years, the NAIC Needs to Get Back to Basics."
Mr. Cogert has more than twenty years of financial institution experience, with more than half of that time in senior financial management. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst, Certified Public Accountant and Chartered Altenative Investment Analyst. Mr. Cogert holds a BS from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the University of Southern California.
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Mujtaba Datoo
ARM Tech / Aon Global Risk Consulting
Mujtaba Datoo has 26 years' experience providing actuarial services within the insurance and risk management fields and has been responsible for ratemaking in medical malpractice, workers compensation and automobile assigned risk markets. Mr. Datoo has extensive experience in ratemaking, loss reserve and funding studies for self-insured workers compensation, automobile liability and general liability programs. He has authored several articles on actuarial topics.
Mr. Datoo graduated from Columbia University and holds the professional designations Associate of the Casualty Actuarial Society, Member of the American Academy of Actuaries and Fellow of the Conference of Consulting Actuaries.
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Tom Dwyer
Rhode Island Interlocal Risk Management Trust
Tom Dwyer possesses considerable background in pooled self-insurance programs for local government. Prior to assuming his current position in 1992 as President and Executive Director of The Rhode Island Interlocal Risk Management Trust, he served for about 10 years on the governing boards for two other State-wide pools. For about eight years, he chaired the Operations and Underwriting Committee of the Connecticut Interlocal Risk Management Agency, and also served for two years on the Board of Directors for the Massachusetts Interlocal Insurance Association. He also led a large consortium of public entities in southeastern Massachusetts into a cooperative trust arrangement for the joint purchase of health insurance benefits, and served as Chairman of that group's Steering Committee of the Board of Directors.
Mr. Dwyer currently serves on the Board of Directors of the National League of Cities-Mutual Insurance Company (NLC-MIC), chairing the Company=s Underwriting Committee. NLC-MIC is a not-for-profit mutual insurance company which provides property and casualty reinsurance to state-wide risk-sharing pools.
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- Download Building Code Enforcement IMLA Article.
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- Download Lawsuit Lotto.
- Download Letter to the Editor re Town Official Indictments.
- Download PM Magazine article by Bauer with authorization.
- Download Station Fire Outrage (4 yrs) - Editorial - PJ.
Connie Edwards
Sedgwick
Connie Edwards is an Account Executive with Sedgwick Claims Management Services, Inc. in Pasadena, California. Connie has twenty-four years of experience in claims administration and management in California. She has seventeen years experience working with California public entities including school districts.
She joined Sedgwick CMS in 2001 as a Claims Supervisor and promoted to Account Executive, Assistant Vice President in 2003. Prior to joining Sedgwick CMS, Connie worked as an Account Manager for another California TPA specializing in public entities. Prior to that, she was a Claims Examiner for another national TPA.
Connie has two professional designations from the Insurance Educations Association and her self-insured license for the State of California. She has her Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management through the University of Phoenix.
Vance Forrest
Aegis Corp
Vance L. Forrest, Vice President Risk Management Services vforrest@aegis-wi.com As Vice President of Risk Management Services, Mr. Forrest is responsible for the overall risk management efforts of the company. He, along with Blair Rogacki, is responsible for the marketing, safety program development and implementation of the Owner Direct Insurance Purchase (ODIP) for the Wisconsin County Mutual Insurance Corporation. Mr. Forrest has over 19 years of loss control and risk management experience, working for both insurance carriers and insurance brokers.His first-hand contractor experience, along with his insurance carrier loss control training experience, has been very complimentary to the successful approval of the ODIP program. Mr. Forrest majored in Industrial Safety at the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater and was employed most recently as the Administrative Vice President of Riley Construction Company. He has also worked as a Loss Control Specialist for Maryland Casualty Insurance Company and as a Senior Loss Control Consultant for CNA Insurance Company, as well as a Loss Control Manager for Frank B. Hall and Company. He has been with Aegis Corporation since 1997.
Download "Going for the Green: Loss Control that Protects the Bottom Line"
Ann Gergen
League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust
Ann Gergen is the associate administrator of LMCIT, responsible for general oversight of LMCIT operations and activities. Ms. Gergen has worked for the League since 1997 and in addition to her current role with LMCIT has served as the benefits program manager and the director of technology services. Prior to joining LMCIT, Ms. Gergen was director of emergency medical services for the seven-county metropolitan area. Ms. Gergen holds a BS from the University of Wisconsin, MA from Hamline University and a JD from Hamline Law. Ms. Gergen frequently speaks on risk management and liability issues, and is an adjunct professor at St. Mary's University.
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- Download Police Use of Tasers
- Download To Protect, Serve, and Document
- Download Use of Deadly Force: Use of Force Reports
- Download Use of Force: Legal Issues
Tim Greer
Colorado Intergovernmental Risk Sharing Agency
CIRSA is a public entity self-insurance pool established by an intergovernmental agreement of its member local governments (cities, towns, special districts and special purpose authorities). CIRSA serves Colorado local governments statewide in the areas of property/liability coverage, workers’ compensation coverage and related risk management services.
He initially served for three years as Chairman of the CIRSA Board of Directors before being appointed by the Board to serve as Executive Director, a position that he still holds today after 24 years. In the past 24 years, CIRSA has grown from 18 to 231 members.
As Executive Director, Tim is responsible for carrying out the Board’s directions, as well as the overall administration of the organization. He has an administrative staff of 45 people who perform claims management, legal, underwriting, finance, marketing, loss control, and information technology functions.
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- Download CIRSA BOARD OF DIRECTORS OPERATING POLICIES.
- Download Executive Director Succession Plan.
- Download Ibarra Succession Planning Essentials.pdf.
Steve Kahn
ARM Tech / Aon Global Risk Consulting
Steven P. Kahn has 2 years' experience as an underwriter, over 25 years as an independent consultant, and is the former editor of Practical Risk Management. He has worked with scores of pools, serving governmental, public and private entities throughout the country.
Mr. Kahn's pooling assignments include feasibility standards, implementations, pool audits, evaluating expense levels, analysis of staffing plans, assistance with reinsurance renewals, cost allocation plan design and other types of projects.
Mr. Kahn is past President of both the Risk Management Research Council and of the Orange Empire CPCU Chapter. He holds an MBA from the University of Georgia. Mr. Kahn has authored many articles on risk management topics and is a frequent speaker at risk management conferences.
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Peter Le Resche
Aon Benfield Fac - Captives
With over 35 years experience with Aon and its predecessor companies his current responsibilities include treaty and facultative placements on behalf of the Aon captive client base with the world wide commercial reinsurance market. He has a broad knowledge of the use of captives in the risk retention and transfer process and has spoken at various seminars and conferences on these topics.
He started his insurance career as a Loss Prevention Engineer with Factory Mutual International in London, England in 1971. He joined Aon Global Risk Consultants (AGRC and formerly the Reiss Organization/IRMG) in England in 1974 being made Manager of Engineering for European Risk Management in 1975. He transferred to Bermuda in 1983 being responsible for the treaty placement of IRMG’s property pooling joint venture facility. He moved to the USA in 1992. Effective January 1, 2008 the transaction responsibilities of Aon Global Risk Consulting (AGRC) in North America transferred to Aon Benfield Fac to give a broader base to their capabilities. Aon Benfield Fac covers property, casualty and special lines (construction, terrorism, warranty etc.) as reinsurance behind captives. The transaction team is based in the Aon Parsippany, New Jersey office.
He holds a BSc Honours degree in metallurgy from the University of Manchester in England and is a Chartered Insurer and a Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute (FCII) of the UK.
Download "Caddying your Pool through the Hazards in Today's Insurance Market"
Dick Lyles
Leadership Legacies
Dick Lyles is the CEO of Leadership Legacies, LLC, a global consulting company that serves business leaders by offering them a comprehensive and integrated line of products and services that significantly increase the performance of their organizations and the people within them.
He is the author of four books and a frequent guest on radio and television programs and speaks at conventions, conferences, and executive retreats around the world. Whether he is delivering a keynote address, consulting with clients, coaching protégés, or leading his management team, Dick Lyles is known for his ability to energize people and develop powerful results -- producing relationships -- in essence, he "walks the talk" of Winning Habits and Winning Ways.
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Michelle Murphy
InnoPro Performance Solutions
Since 1991 Michelle Murphy and her team of consultants have been focused on helping organizations build stronger more resilient businesses through the effective development and communication of practical 'real world' strategy.
She is past president of the National Speakers Association's largest chapter based in San Francisco and has served at the national level as a member of the associations Strategic Planning Committee. She is president of InnoPro Performance Solutions.
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Gerry Preciado
Bickmore Risk Services & Consulting
Mr. Preciado leads the employment practice consulting group at Bickmore Risk Services and Consulting (BRS). Prior to joining BRS, Mr. Preciado spent several years as an attorney and member of the employment practice and counseling groups of several West Coast law firms. He has more than 12 years of experience in the employment practice liability (EPL) consulting field, with extensive knowledge and experience in sexual harassment and discrimination prevention training. Mr. Preciado has trained thousands of public entity managers and supervisors in the areas of sexual harassment and discrimination prevention, developing leadership skills, organizational culture shifting, and many other employment-related fields.
Download "Employers Stop the Madness: Quit Sending Your Employees to Sexual Harassment Training!"
Mark Snodgrass
City County Insurance Services
Mark Snodgrass is the IT Administrator for City County Insurances Services (CIS), a public entity-self insurance pool serving Oregon cities and counties. Mark has worked for CIS since 2001 where he oversees the company's technology infrastructure. While at CIS, he has strengthened the organization's technology presence by developing a member portal and corporate intranet to streamline processes and improve efficiencies. Part of Mark's previous work experience includes working for the League of Oregon Cities as their IT Administrator. Mark graduated with a bachelor's degree from Corban College in Salem, Oregon.
Download "Club Selection is Everything: Building or Buying a Pool Administration System"
Paula Chu Tanguay
ASCIP
Paula Chu Tanguay Paula Chu Tanguay is the Chief Executive Officer for the Alliance of Schools for Cooperative Insurance Programs (ASCIP), the nation's second largest property/liability, workers' compensation, and health benefits pool serving California public schools. ASCIP provides insurance, risk management, and loss control/safety services to its members.
Paula has 29 years of experience in the insurance and risk management industry, including prior responsibilities as the Director of Risk Management for the City of Fullerton and as the Risk Manager for the Orange County Transit Authority.
Paula also served as chapter President for the Public Risk Management Association and for the California Association of Joint Powers Authorities. She has testified before State Senate sub-committees on various risk management-related legislative proposals and she continues to provide training in school business mentorship programs for both CASBO and USC. She is an honors graduate of the University of Southern California.
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Tami Tanoue
Colorado Intergovernmental Risk Sharing Agency
Tami Tanoue has been the in-house General Counsel/Claims Manager for CIRSA since July, 2002. She was previously in private practice with the firm of Griffiths, Tanoue, Light, Harrington & Dawes, where she served CIRSA and several other public entity self-insurance pools as contract general counsel, and was City or Town Attorney for several Colorado municipalities. Prior to that, she was Staff Attorney for the Colorado Municipal League, where she represented the collective interests of Colorado municipalities. Tami is a regular speaker on local government liability topics, and has written several publications on liability issues.
Dawn Watkins
Los Angeles Unified School District
Dawn Watkins is the Director of Integrated Disability Management for the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). LAUSD is the second largest school district in the nation with over 100,000 employees and approximately one million child and adult learners.
Dawn has over twenty five years of Risk Management experience working in both public and private employers. She joined LAUSD Risk Management Division in 2004, where she held progressively responsible positions which led to her appointment as the Director of Integrated Disability Management in 2007. She also had the opportunity to serve as Interim Chief Risk Office at LAUSD for a period of one year.
In addition to the $100 million dollar workers’ compensation program, Dawn is responsible for programs such as employee absence management, reasonable accommodations, return to work and protected leaves. Under her leadership, LAUSD s won national recognition as the 2008 recipient of the Theodore Roosevelt Award for excellence in workers’ compensation and disability management. In 2008, Ms. Watkins was recognized as a “Risk Innovator” for excellence in risk management. Both recognitions were sponsored by Risk and Insurance magazine, a leading industry publication.
Download "Establishing an Award-Winning Return to Work Program"
Randy Wheeler
Aon eSolutions
Randy Wheeler is the managing director of Aon eSolutions, the client technology arm of Aon Corporation. Wheeler has over twenty five years of experience in the technology industry. In the last fifteen years, he has focused on helping risk managers leverage technology solutions that drive efficiency, reduce losses and improve outcomes.
As the chief system architect, Wheeler oversees the development of "next" generation insurance solutions, leveraging the power of browser-based technology and the Internet. As a tribute to his leadership, Wheeler received the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in the "Realizing Business Potential" category.
The company's flagship product, iVOS® won the 2006 IASA Technology Achievement Award for delivering solutions with measurable business impact in insurance.Wheeler has delivered several presentations on insurance solutions, recently to RIMS, AGRIP, ARM Tech, and Florida Workers Compensation Institute (FWCI). He authored a chapter in Aspatore's Inside the Minds book on "Insurance Strategies", and has also written about technology for insurance trade publications, such as Public Risk, Best's Review, National Underwriter, and Claims Magazine.
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