Akshay Gupta, Ph.D., P.E. Dr. Akshay Gupta is a Principal Engineer and the Director of AIR Worldwide s Catastrophe Risk Engineering practice, which focuses on providing property owners and insurers with detailed engineering services coupled with state-of-art risk modeling both for pre-event planning and risk mitigation and for post-event damage assessment and repair. Dr. Gupta is a licensed professional engineer and is certified in the practice of structural engineering. He specializes in the areas of structural analysis and design and risk engineering with focus on assessment, mitigation, and repair of damage to structures arising from natural and man-made hazards. He also holds the position of Vice President Engineering at AIR Worldwide. Dr. Gupta has more than 15 years experience in analysis and design of steel, reinforced concrete, and wood frame building structures, and specialized structures (equipment, tanks, silos, flares, transmission lines, among others). He has investigated hundreds of structures damaged by the Northridge, Turkey, India, San Simeon, and Hawaii Earthquakes, as well as Hurricanes Frances, Katrina, and Rita. His natural hazard risk analysis and mitigation work extends from individual buildings to portfolios of building structures to large industrial facilities at risk from earthquakes, high winds, or ocean storm surge. His work often includes finite element modeling, linear and nonlinear static and dynamic analysis, physical testing of structures and components, and network modeling. Dr. Gupta holds a Bachelor s degree in Civil Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in India and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Structural Engineering from Stanford University. Dr. Gupta is a member of various professional organizations, is associate editor of the ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering, and author of numerous technical papers and reports.
Andy Kao Senior Account Executive for AIR s Catastrophe Risk Engineering (CRE) Practice. He is responsible for providing support and service to insurers, insurance brokers and corporations for catastrophe risk assessment and property valuation. Prior to joining AIR, Mr. Kao was a business systems and market analyst consultant for technology corporations including Microsoft, Biogen-Idec, and Lucent Technologies. Mr. Kao also spent four years as a research and development engineer at Teratech Corporation. Mr. Kao received a B.E. in biomedical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, and both an M.B.A. and an M.S.I.S. from the Boston University School of Management.
Jason Flaxbeard, Senior Managing Director Beecher Carlson Insurance Services LLC 1655 Lafayette Street, Suite 200 Denver, Colorado, 80218 Telephone: 303 388 5688 Direct: 303 996 5408 Fax: 303 388 5585 Cell: 303 549 9149 www.beechercarlson.com Jason is the sales leader for Beecher Carlson s hospitality and lodging practice as well as the alternative risk operations throughout the US, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. Jason has over 10 years of experience in the insurance industry and over 15 years in the accounting industry. He began his career as a financial auditor with a regional audit practice in England and moved to Bermuda in 1998 to begin his career in insurance. Jason is a graduate of Bath University, England, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in economics. He is also an English Chartered Accountant and a Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter. Jason is a frequent speaker at industry events including alterative risk financing events such as CICA and VCIA.
John Kerns Title: Managing Director Location: New York John is a Managing Director of Beecher Carlson s Executive Liability Practice in New York City. John is responsible as a senior client adviser for many of Beecher Carlson s major clients in structuring and placing Directors and Officers Liability and Professional Liability. John has over 20 years experience within the executive liability marketplace. In addition, John works closely with colleague Andrew Banasiewicz in developing predictive loss models for Directors & Officers Liability. John s responsibilities also include broking and consulting services to clients for all special coverages such as Directors & Officers Liability and related management liability insurance lines. Prior to joining Beecher Carlson s New York team, he was Managing Director in charge of Sales and Marketing for the Mid-Atlantic Region of Marsh USA Inc. specializing in broking of Directors & Officers Liability, Professional Errors & Omissions Liability, the specialized coverage associated with Mergers & Acquisitions such as Representations & Warranties, Litigation Management Buy-out, as well as a wide array of Financial Risk Transfer products. John holds a B.A. degree in English Literature from The Catholic University of America.
LANCE J. EWING Lance J. Ewing has extensive executive experience in the field of risk management and insurance including his current role as Vive President of National Accounts for Chartis Insurance Company. Prior to this position; he served in senior risk management capacities for Harrah s Entertainment, GES Exposition Services and for the City of Philadelphia School District. Mr. Ewing additionally worked for various insurance companies including Lumbermen's Underwriting Alliance, Pennsylvania Hospital Insurance Company (PHICO) and New York Lumberman's Insurance Trust in risk management and risk control capacities. Mr. Ewing received his Master's degree in Law & Justice from the University of Pittsburgh and completed his second Master's degree in Occupational Safety Engineering. In addition to his Associate in Risk Management (ARM) designation and his International Certified Risk Manager (CRM) designation, he is a matriculated Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) candidate and has completed his Enterprise Risk Management Professional designation (ERMP). Lance was National President 2003-2004 for the Risk & Insurance Management Society (RIMS) and was also the Chief Risk Officer (CRO). He teaches risk management as a faculty member for the National Alliance for Insurance Education & Research. He also serves as a Board member for the Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) Board. In 2004, he was privileged to have a scholarship in his name (Lance J. Ewing Educational Scholarship) for the Certified Risk Management International designation. Mr. Ewing was recently honored as the 2008 Risk Innovator of the Year and was the 2007 Risk Manger of the Year (Business Insurance). He has authored several articles on insurance, risk management, crisis management and workers' compensation. He is a frequent speaker on enterprise risk management, claims, disaster recovery and risk financing issues. He has spoken internationally to promote insurance and risk management in Croatia, Romania, Kosovo, Japan, Spain, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Bermuda, Italy, India and the United Kingdom. Mr. Ewing continues to be a strong and outspoken supporter of the insurance and risk management industry.
Lisa Costello Vice President of Government Affairs American Hotel & Lodging Association Lisa Costello is the vice president of government affairs at the American Hotel & Lodging Association. She oversees HotelPAC, the lodging industry's largest and most influential political action committee, and utilizes her extensive experience in Washington to strengthen the lobbying efforts of AH&LA's governmental affairs department. She also monitors federal legislative activities and represents AH&LA on travel and tourism issues and other related legislative issues. An avid golfer, Costello is the driving force behind the annual HotelPAC Broadmoor Classic. This annual golf tournament is the single largest fundraiser for HotelPAC. The funds raised are used for the PAC's mission of helping elect members of congress who recognize the importance of the lodging industry. After graduating from the University of New Hampshire with dual degrees in criminal justice and political science, Costello began her Washington career as a congressional aide in the office of then-representative Robert Smith (R-N.H.). She later moved into the private sector, working in the government affairs shops of the Independent Insurance Agents of America, the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents, and the U.S. Telecom Association which she took a three month leave of absence from when tapped to become a congressional liaison for the 1996 Republican National Convention in San Diego, CA. She then joined the American Hotel & Lodging Association as Director of Political Affairs in 2001.
Nancy Green, CPCU, ARM Executive Vice President, Strategic Account Management Nancy Green has been with Aon since December, 1986. In her role as Strategic Account Manager, she works as a national resource assisting client service teams in bringing solutions to Aon s largest accounts, and she helps coordinate delivery of Aon products and resources to support those solutions. In addition, she helps facilitate the quick exchange of market intelligence across the network of Aon offices so that Aon can learn about something impacting one large account and immediately proactively assess whether other large accounts might have similar situations. She works in partnership with Account Executives world-wide to ensure they have everything they need to service Aon s largest clients. Background: Prior to her role as Strategic Account Manager, Ms. Green was responsible for senior-level client service, new business production, risk management consulting and coordination of team resources for risk management clients. She headed up a Client Service Team handling property/casualty/executive risk programs for Fortune 500 accounts. She was responsible for premium in excess of $90 million annually. Bachelor of Arts Cornell College CPCU (Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriter) ARM (Associate in Risk Management) Named Power Broker for 2007 and 2008 for Hospitality by Risk & Insurance Magazine Founder and organizer of Aon s Quarterly Speaker Series Frequent speaker at RIMS conferences and other industry events Copyright 2010 Aon 44
Milliman Bio Russell J. McGuire ARM, ALCM, FIRM Senior Consultant CURRENT RESPONSIBILITY Russell has dual responsibilities to provide enterprise risk management (ERM) consulting to clients and to manage the design, development, and implementation of resources for use in the ERM process. Specific focus is placed on practical, repeatable solutions for risk assessment, risk mitigation, and governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) challenges. He helps identify and mitigate risks to clients objectives and also assists clients in meeting and exceeding regulators and stakeholders requirements for risk management. EXPERIENCE Russell began his career with a P&C insurer, then insurance brokers, moving into and establishing risk management services for clients in a broad range of industries, including insurance, healthcare, manufacturing, energy, manufacturing, and central and regional government. Russell has developed and implemented risk identification, analysis, and management systems, including Monte Carlo simulations. Prior to joining Milliman, Russell was corporate risk officer with Alliance Data, where he had specific responsibilities for identifying and aggregating risk information across multiple lines of business. He facilitated the development of a vendor risk program and implementation of an enterprise-wide risk management reporting function to the main board. He successfully prepared and responded to bank regulators risk-based examinations of Alliance Data as service provider to its banks. EDUCATION DipBS Post-graduate Diploma in Risk and Insurance, Massey University Certificate on Corporate Governance, Tulane University Fellow, Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance Fellow, Institute for Risk Management, U.K. AFFLIATIONS Member, RIMS ERM Committee, coauthor of the RIMS Emerging Risks paper, Delegate to RIMS Technology Committee Member, advisory panel to CPCU/IIA on development of enterprise-wide risk management certification RIMS National Conference speaker on GRC, ERM, risk mapping, risk simulations RIMS regional conference speaker on vendor risk RIMS Japan speaker on ERM implementation Risk manager in residence program speaker at Ball State, Indiana, and MTSU, Tennessee Russell was previously a risk management consultant with Tillinghast Towers Perrin and established a risk management practice for Watson Wyatt based in New Zealand, serving the Asia/Pacific area, with clients in the Asia/Pacific, North America, and Western Europe. 10000 N. Central Expressway, Suite 1500 Dallas, TX 75341-4177 Tel +1 214.863.5185 Fax +1 214.863.5501 Cell +1 972.832.9874 Email russell.mcguire@milliman.com milliman.com
Thomas S. Thornton, III is a shareholder with the firm of Carr Allison, P.C., and practices in its Birmingham, Alabama office. Mr. Thornton is a member of the Birmingham and Alabama State Bar Associations, as well as the Defense Research Institute. He is currently chair of the USLAW Network Retail Practice group and is a Member of the Medicare Advocacy Recovery Coalition. He has spoken on a wide range of topics from defending and claim handling best practices with regard to premises liability, liquor liability, product liability and general tort and workers compensations claims. Mr.Thornton also serves as National CMS Compliance Coordination Counsel for his national business and insurance clients. Mr. Thornton has focused his litigation practice in representing and advising the retail, restaurant, and business industry in general in the defense of claims for his regional and national clients in Alabama, Mississippi and the panhandle of Florida.