Jessica Hamilton

Building Inclusive, Diverse, and Equitable Leadership Roles

Tuesday 3:30 - 4:30

Trisha Barhorst, VP, PL Claims Property, Nationwide Group
Jessica Hamilton, SVP Sales & Business Dev., Eberl Claims Service
Michelle Licht, VP Sales, ALE Solutions
Baer Philipbar, CPCU, AVP Property Claims Manager, W. R. Berkley Group
Gina Reyes, VP of Claims, Openly Insurance Company

This panel discussion delves into the vital aspects of recognizing women's experience, talent, and acumen as fundamental attributes for leadership roles. Participants will explore strategies for garnering support from board leaders, securing sponsors and advocates, and promoting diversity by including the best diverse women in leadership positions. This discussion also emphasizes the celebration of male allies who contribute to building pipelines for women leaders and highlights the significance of celebrating successful women as role models and advocates. Participants will also examine the importance of equal compensation and learn about opportunities to join women's organizations dedicated to advancing positions, pay, and equal power for all women.

Michael Hamm-Barnett

Catastrophe Response: Automation & Process Innovation

State Approved CE Credits:FL NC

Monday 3:30 - 5:00
Wednesday 10:30 - 12:00

Brandon Donatelli, Chief Revenue Officer, HOMEE, Inc.
Michael Hamm-Barnett, Catastrophe Operations Manager, Citizens Property Insurance
Dr. Theresa Young, MBA, CPCU, ArE, ARM, Sr. Operations Process Manager, CSAA Insurance Group

Address innovation in CAT flow work flows and challenging the alleged ROI on current industry practice

Learn about emerging tools (not products), that can supplement, support, and automate some of the CAT responses

Review case studies that increased NPS over 30 points, decreased costs by over $20M, and requires less staffing

Apply new tools, processes, and innovations to their organizations

Richard Hammond-Moore

Adjuster Safety: Disaster Site Safety

State Approved CE Credits:FL NC OK TX

Tuesday 10:30 - 12:00
Wednesday 3:30 - 5:00

Theresa Chimento, MPH, Project Director, J.S. Held LLC
Marc Gaffrey, JD, Partner, Hoagland Longo Moran et al
Richard Hammond-Moore, General Adjuster, Church Mutual Insurance Group

Develop skills to identify hazardous materials

Recognize who should do the testing and write the protocols

Learn what PPE to wear to stay safer on claims with hazardous materials

Understand the legal issues with hazardous materials on claims

John Hanlon

Contractual Indemnity & Additional Insureds Liability

State Approved CE Credits:DE FL NH NC TX

Tuesday 10:30 - 12:00
Wednesday 8:30 - 10:00

John Hanlon, Director of Complex Claims, Kemper Corporation
Dan Kohane, JD, Senior Partner, Hurwitz Fine P.C.

Distinguish between an insurer's obligations to those who qualify as additional insureds and those who benefit from contractual indemnity obligations

Evaluate how tenders of defense and indemnity should be made under both policy and trade agreement

Describe the protocols to consider when tenders are received under both insurance policy and contracts

Identify the relevant factors when sending or receiving tenders

Rob Hanson

Unifying Stakeholders in the Claims Value Chain

State Approved CE Credits:FL NC TX

Tuesday 3:30 - 4:30
Wednesday 1:30 - 2:30

Rob Hanson, CCO, Accuserve Solutions
Hunter Powell, CEO, Accuserve Solutions
Erica Reed, VP Construction Operations, Elite Claim Solutions

Explore the existing pain points and challenges faced by Insurance Carriers, Policyholders, and Contractors in the property claims process

Showcase the tangible benefits that arise from unifying stakeholders in the property claims value chain

Demonstrate how Accuserve has effectively brought together Insurance Carriers, Policyholders, and Contractors to deliver trusted, timely, and expert-quality solutions

Richard Harer

High Exposure Commercial Liability Claims Handling

State Approved CE Credits:FL NC

Monday 3:30 - 5:00
Tuesday 3:30 - 5:00

Christopher P. Flanagan, JD, Partner, Wilson Elser
Richard Harer, CFE, CFS, CPI, WCCA, Executive Vice President, Command Investigations, LLC
Peter Schifrin, President, Schifrin, Gagnon & Dickey

Analyze aggressive strategies for mitigating a questionable liability large loss claim

Learn about the identification, investigation, and containment of inflated medical treatment/costs and questionable medical providers

Learn how and why time limit demands are utilized by claimant attorneys and strategies on how to address and counteract them

Recognize the impact litigation financing has and how to mitigate or minimize their “return on investment”

Develop and implement an aggressive claims handling and/or litigation strategy rather than a defensive position

Robert Harrell

Commercial Roofing: Damages & Investigations

State Approved CE Credits:DE FL NC OK TX

Wednesday 1:30 - 3:00
Tuesday 1:30 - 3:00

Robert Harrell, XCT, Sr. Product Mgr., Ins. Prod., Verisk
Shannon Pierce, PE, National Practice Leader, Lerch Bates, Inc.

Identify common types of commercial roofing systems found in the United States and applicable performance considerations

Outline claim investigation procedures and complexities regarding damages to these roofing systems

Describe methods for working with contractors and managing varying levels of roof repairs and replacement strategies

Explain building code considerations when faced with repairs and replacements

Tim Havlir

PLRB Presents! Tech Challenges & Opportunities

Tuesday 8:00 - 9:30

Mike Brode, VP Meetings & Education, PLRB
Lars Daniel, EnCE, CCO, CCPA, Practice Leader-Digital For., Envista Forensics/AREPA
Tim Havlir, JD, Counsel, PLRB
Neel Sus, CEO, Susco Solutions
Alissha Watley, Sr. Meetings Manager, PLRB

Fitness Wearables and Trucking: Transforming More Than Waistlines
Presented By: Lars Daniel EnCE, CCO, CCPA, CTNS, CTA, CIPTS, CWA, Practice Leader - Digital Forensics, Envista Forensics
The escalating popularity and sophistication of fitness and wearable devices increase their value as a source of digital evidence, as these devices can provide forensic artifacts about when and where something happened, such as a medical event while driving, or to determine the historic sleep quality and duration of a driver as part of a lifestyle analysis.

How Personal Transformation Drives Digital Transformation
Presented By: Neel Sus, CEO & CPO, Susco
This talk will explore how leveraging paradigms in digital transformation can yield massive breakthroughs in personal transformation and vice versa. Topics will include “The Power of Why,” common pitfalls in allocating enough time & money, and defining stakeholder engagement.

What’s the Scenario? with PLRB: Help! They Stole My Facebook Followers!
Presented By:
Tim Havlir, Coverage Counsel, PLRB
Mike Brode, VP Educational and Technical Services, PLRB
Alissha Watley, Sr. Meetings Manager, PLRB
In each episode of PLRB’s new podcast “What’s the Scenario? with PLRB”, the PLRB team addresses a claims or coverage scenario and answers interesting insurance questions. In this live taping, they’ll tackle this scenario: The two head pastors of a megachurch had a falling out. One pastor left to start his own ministry, but just before he did, he changed the megachurch's Facebook password. He now has exclusive control of the account and sole access to the 100k+ followers, so the church filed a theft claim with its first-party insurer. Is this a direct physical loss to the church's property? Are Facebook followers even "property" with any means of valuation? Subscribe anywhere podcasts can be found, or check us out on YouTube.

David Heemann

Alternate Dispute Resolution: Effective Use of Experts

State Approved CE Credits:FL NC

Monday 1:30 - 3:00
Tuesday 3:30 - 5:00

Pete Fowler, Chief Quality Officer, Pete Fowler Construction
David Heemann, JD, Claims Coverage Counsel, Enumclaw Insurance Group
Jennifer Kalvestran, JD, Partner, Anderson, McPharlin & Conners

Understand the types of ADR and when to use them in resolving insurance claims.

Recognize the roles of the ADR participants

Learn how to effectively use Consultants and Experts in ADR.

Review ADR case studies where Consultants and Experts changed the outcome.

Ashleigh Hochstettler

Complex Contents Adjusting

State Approved CE Credits:FL NH NC OK TX

Tuesday 3:30 - 5:00
Wednesday 8:30 - 10:00

Kelly Bridgewater, Adjuster Team Lead, Sedgwick
Ashleigh Hochstettler, AIC, AIM, AINS, Manager - Large Loss Claims, Auto-Owners Insurance Group
Charles McMartin, Director-Contents Solutions, Sedgwick

Understand of the valuation process including the calculation of co-insurance and underlying coverages

Address complexity stems from perceived values, unique purchasing habits and hands off nature of the insured

Identify “cons” of content claims and how misrepresentation occurs and is overlooked

William Hoover

Permissive Use in Auto Liability Claims

State Approved CE Credits:FL NC

Tuesday 8:00 - 9:30
Wednesday 8:30 - 10:00

William Hoover, Esq., SCLA, Vice President Property Claims, Skyward Specialty Insurance
Anthony Kassube, SCLA, Casualty Claims Rep., Farm Bureau P&C Group
Jonathan Schwartz, JD, Partner, Freeman Mathis & Gary, LLP

Assess the availability of liability coverage when the driver is unlicensed or the driver's license is suspended or revoked

Identify and resolve coverage issues that arise when the permissive user is an employee and claims to be driving in the course and scope of employment, especially in accidents involving employees driving their personal vehicles

Describe different tests applied by courts for addressing situations in which the use of the vehicle deviated from the initial scope of permission given

Evaluate liability coverage where a third person uses a car via another person who did have permission to use the car

Charleen Hoskins

Reservation of Rights & Declination Letters

State Approved CE Credits:DE FL NH NC OK TX

Tuesday 8:00 - 9:30
Wednesday 1:30 - 3:00

Charleen Hoskins, Founder, President & CEO, TPAS, LLC
David Jarrett, JD, AVP-Legal Counsel, Western Reserve Group

Recognize when a reservation of rights letter is needed

Identify the components and content of a reservation of rights letter

Describe how to deal with the insured’s response to a reservation of rights letter

Analyze the differences and consequences of reservation of rights versus declination letters

E. Holland Howanitz

Soft Skills for Hard Claims Situations

Wednesday 10:30 - 12:00
Tuesday 3:30 - 5:00

Gregg Golson, CPCU, ACS, AIC, AIM, VP-Program Director, J.S. Held LLC
E. Holland Howanitz, JD, Partner, Tyson & Mendes

Learn how to resolve claims conflicts better

Adapt to our industry’s technology and culture changes and stay viable

Use empathy to apply good-faith claims handling skills

Apply the new skills immediately via posed dilemmas

Kevin Huelsman

Residential Kitchen Fires: Decoding Complex Investigations

State Approved CE Credits:DE FL NH NC OK TX

Tuesday 10:30 - 12:00
Wednesday 1:30 - 3:00

Grant Allen, Claim Technical Specialist, American Family Insurance
Kevin Huelsman, Technical Education Trainer, Alpine Intel
James Mahaney, NE Regional Fire Manager, DONAN
Megan McCarthy, Large Loss Property Manager, American Family Insurance
Christopher Sanders, CPCU, MSIM, AIC, Claim Technical Specialist, American Family Insurance

Review the Origin and Cause (O&C) Investigation Approach

Learn about additional Resources to Assist in Determination of Component Failure

Determine observations and identifying indicators during the study (NFPA 921 reference to appliance investigations)

Learn to investigating the Range Controls

Andy Hutchinson

The Future of Insurance

Tuesday 10:30 - 12:00

Dan Donovan, Head of Customer Success, Shift Technology
Bryan Falchuk, President & CEO, PLRB
Andy Hutchinson, CRO, Digital Solutions, Crawford & Company
Jeremiah Kiefer, Founder | CEO, Deft Group

Changing Risks Means New Opportunities for Adjusters Jeremiah Kiefer, The Deft Group The nature and complexities of the exposures we face is changing. That means the nature of claims is changing, but also means the opportunities for claims experts are growing. Jeremiah Kiefer of The Deft Group shares his view of how these changing dynamics mean today’s adjusters can become risk and underwriting experts to help ensure the sustainability of our industry.

What Does Good Look Like When It Comes to Fraud? Dan Donovan, Shift Technologies Fraud is an ever-moving target as those perpetrating it evolve their methods and sophistication. What do the patterns emerging in how fraud plays out and what does that mean for what Good looks like in how we respond to or get ahead of it? Dan Donovan of Shift Technologies shares the insights they see from across the industry and how insurers and claims professionals should think going forward to stay ahead of the problem.

Navigating Increasing Claim Complexity to Make Better Decisions Andy Hutchinson, Crawford & Company Getting the claim to the right person as quickly as possible can be the difference between a typical claim and a high severity situation. As claims get more complex, and the pathways each claim can take spiderweb, can new solutions like AI and Machine Learning change the game by empowering claims professionals to make better decisions, faster? Learn what we can already do now, and where technology will take us going forward.