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Kathy Ryan, SPHR, is an award-winning author and owner of Pinnacle Coaching Group, LLC.  Over the last 30 years, Kathy has influenced thousands of people in the business and non-profit sectors through her coaching, consulting, speaking and on-site training. Her expertise covers a wide range of subjects including leadership, communication, human resources management, team dynamics, and performance management.

Kathy earned her B.A. degree in psychology and history from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and has been awarded a lifetime certification as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) from the Society for Human Resources Management. She has experience working with diverse industries including insurance, hospitality and entertainment. She is certified in the use of the Myer-Briggs Type Assessment (MBTI), as well as a number of other assessments and tools to support development.

Kathy is author of the book, "You Have to Say the Words" An Integrity-Based Approach for Tackling Tough Conversations and Maximizing Performance, which won a Royal Palm Literary Award from the Florida Writers Association.  Her interactive training program based on the book has helped thousands of managers to improve their coaching skills and drive performance. Her articles on leadership and other personal development topics have been published in numerous magazines including the Insurance Journal. You can follow Kathy’s blog, Inspired Leadership, at www.CoachKathyRyan.com .

Frederick J. Fisher, J.D. is currently the President of Fisher Consulting Group, Inc. and was the Founder of E.L.M. Insurance Brokers, a Wholesale & MGA facility specializing in Professional Liability and Specialty Line risks. He is a Member of the Editorial Board for Agents of America;  a Faculty Member of the Claims College, and Member of the Executive Council, School of Professional Lines sponsored by the Claims & Litigation Management Association and Instructor for the Academy of Insurance.

Since his career began, Mr. Fisher focused on one vision: providing financial security to the client. The result was a successful 40-year career in Specialty Lines Insurance. In 1975, Mr. Fisher began his career on the service side, as an Independent E&O claims adjuster. In 1982, he bought the Company, continued with claims, while expanding the firm’s services to include qualitative claim auditing, risk management & loss control services, and acting as a TPA. In only 4 years, the annual billings increased by 400%. His claim auditing techniques and recommendations resulted in substantial client savings (including the SCRTD now known as the Los Angles MTA). Many Insurers and self-insureds adopted not only the performance standards raised in the audits but adopted his recommended Attorney Management Guidelines as a base, which are still in use today by many major insurers. 

In 1995, he formed what is now known as ELM insurance Brokers, a firm that has acted as an MGA and Wholesale Broker of Professional Liability Insurance and Specialty Lines. From nothing, the firm grew rapidly to a $30 Million dollar facility when sold in 2008. He has lectured extensively on professional liability issues since 1978 and authored over 64 articles in trade journals and periodicals. He is the author of BROKER BEWARE, Selling Real Estate within the Law. He designed a program to conduct on-site pre-underwriting risk management assessments of a clients' professional liability exposures. In 1993, he was elected to the Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS) Board of Trustees. After serving in all Officer capacities, he was elected President in 1997. He remains a Special Materials Expert for several RPLU courses and is the Senior Technical Advisor for The Professional Liability Manual, first published by the International Risk Management Institute in 1990. He has taught over 100 CE classes and lectures. He testifies regularly as an expert witness in cases dealing with the duties and obligations of professionals as well as on coverage and claims-made issues.

Nancy Germond is the Executive Director, Risk Management and Education, for the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, the “Big I.” She is located in Phoenix, Arizona. With almost four decades of risk management experience, her unique insights and abilities help businesses better understand and manage their risk. Nancy has authored scores of risk management-related articles, and white papers and has consulted and presented to public-sector and private-sector insurance organizations. She is a licensed P&C agent and adjuster.

A second-generation insurance professional, Nancy was the first risk manager of the City of Prescott, Arizona, and has worked in the private and public sectors as a claim and risk manager. Nancy holds a B.A. in Communication from Mills College and a Master’s degree in sociology from Lincoln University. She also holds the Associate in Risk Management, the Associate in Claims designation from the Insurance Institute of America, the Insurance Training Professional Designation from the Society of Insurance Trainers and is a Senior Professional in Human Resource Management.

Chris Burand is the Owner/Founder of Burand & Associates, LLC.  Chris is the only insurance agency consultant with an Institute of Business Appraiser’s Certified Business Appraiser Accreditation and one of the very few who are certified by the two largest E&O carriers to provide audits for agencies.  With more than 35 years of experience in the insurance industry, Chris is acknowledged as a leading consultant and is a nationally recognized speaker and author.  His broad experience and wealth of knowledge have enabled him to work with hundreds of agencies, taking great care to learn the client’s goals and understand their needs while developing a solution for their specific situation.

Chris combines education, experience, and knowledge from multiple perspectives at proven levels that few other consultants or educators can provide.  This enables Chris to provide holistic solutions.  Chris’s services help agencies, individuals, and carriers identify strengths and opportunities, optimize productivity and profits, implement real-world strategies, leverage resources, and develop realistic plans of action in order to maximize profitable growth.

Chris established Burand & Associates in 1992 (originally known as Growth Planning).  As a consultant, Chris has consulted with hundreds of agencies and many major insurance carriers.  He built and now facilitates two insurance agency networking associations.  He is also a featured speaker across the continent.  To date, he has presented more than 400 seminars and educational programs, and his articles have also been published more than 500 times.  He is a monthly columnist for The Insurance Journal, a past columnist for American Agent & Broker for eleven years, and his articles have appeared in Rough Notes, The National Underwriter, A.M. Best, many regional insurance publications, and many other trade publications.  He also publishes Burand’s Insurance Agency Adviser for independent insurance agents.

Areas of Expertise

Insurance Agency Appraisals:  Chris Burand’s professional services include appraisals for Acquisitions and Sales, Buy/Sell Agreements, Mergers, Dissolutions, and Perpetuation Planning.

Contingency Contract Analysis:  Contingency contracts offer opportunities to increase compensation through negotiations and strategically placing business.  Chris Burand’s Contingency Contract Analysis® service provides the information agents need to take advantage of those opportunities.

Note:  Chris Burand and Burand & Associates, LLC are advocates of agencies which constructively manage and improve their contingency contracts by learning how to negotiate and use their contingency contracts more effectively.  We maintain that agents can achieve considerably better results without ever taking actions that are detrimental or disadvantageous to the insureds.  We have never and would not ever recommend that an agent and/or agency implement a policy of, or otherwise advocate, increasing its contingency income ahead of the insureds’ interests.

PEP® (Productivity Enhancement):  Chris’s innovative statistical algorithm method for identifying procedural consistency, compliance, activity cost, and opportunity cost savings.

Carrier MD® Stability Analysis:  A unique analytical method for creating opportunities to learn negotiating points and insurance carrier stability from an agency’s perspective.

Producer Compensation Plans:  Chris Burand develops plans that increase profits and motivate producers.

Chris Christian stumbled into insurance in 1985 as a temporary employee at GAF Insurance Services, a bank-affiliated insurance agency in San Diego.  After six years with GAF, Chris moved to the carrier side, opening the San Diego branch office of RLI Corp, an underwriter of specialty lines of insurance.  The San Diego office was dedicated to Directors and Officers Liability coverage, and was the launching pad for Chris’s specialization in professional liability.

Chris left RLI in 1997 to establish her own underwriting facility at London American General Agency and branched out thereafter into professional liability broking.

Chris joined U.S. Risk in November of 2005 and six months later relocated herself, her significant other, and 26 animals to Tennessee, where she continues her pursuit of the art and science of professional liability broking, and contributes to the industry as a frequent speaker, author and association participant.

Chris Amrhein, like most true believers in insurance, stumbled upon this business accidentally; specifically, after graduating from college and needing a job.

After beginning in this business as a life-health agent, he graduated to property-casualty sales where he first met the greatest mine of comedy material extant today, the ISO forms. Following several years as a producer and independent agency manager/owner, Chris spent many years as a full-time educator/VP-Education for the Florida Association of Insurance Agents and VP-Education for the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America. Those years found him traveling about the country teaching seminars on everything from agency management to the claims made CGL. It has also taught him the absolute truth of Jimmy Buffet's famous observation about those who make a career of the property-casualty business: "If we weren't all crazy we would go insane."

Chris is now a speaker, consultant, seminar leader and training developer, and resides in Lorton, Virginia, with the love of his life (and wife) Donna and youngest son Alexandru (17). His two older sons - Patrick, 34 and Kevin, 32 – are doing quite well without him. His email address chris@insuranceisfun.com and website www.insuranceisfun.com, say it all.

Current Industry Activities:

• Member, CPCU Oversight Committee
• Member, Accredited Adviser in Insurance (AAI) Advisory Committee.
• Primary Author (AAI textbooks):
• Foundations of Insurance Production – Personal Insurance
• Multiple-Lines Insurance Production – Commercial Liability Insurance
• Agency Operations and Sales Management – Principles of Agency Management
• Monthly columnist (1993-present) - "Policy Issues" - Insurance Journal & American Agent & Broker Magazine
• Faculty member: IIABA’s Virtual University; Society of CIC James K. Ruble Seminars
• Developer of “Street Level Ethics” Program for AICPCU/IIA

Past Activities:

• Chairman. IIABA Future One Producer Development Task Force
• Member, IIABA Future One Subcommittee on Customer Service
• Author/Editor - Florida General Lines, Customer Representatives and Adjuster Study Manuals
• Member, IIABA Agency Management & Technology Committee

John O. Eubank, CPCU, ARM, is CEO and President of Professional Insurance Education, Inc. He was previously employed by the Insurance Services Office, Inc., as the Regional Operations Manager for its subsidiary Commercial Risk Services, Inc.

Mr. Eubank attended Vanderbilt University and was graduated from Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois with a BS degree in Fire Protection and Safety Engineering.

His professional affiliations have included Regional Vice President of the Society of Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriters (CPCU), PMLG of the Honorable Order of Blue Goose, member of the National Fire Protection Association, and member of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers.

Mr. Eubank serves as a trainer and speaker for various organizations including the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America affiliates. He has also conducted training for the Great American Insurance Co., Hoosier Insurance Co., the Society of Certified Insurance Counselors (CIC), Society of CPCU, The National Association of Insurance Women (NAIW), the North American Retail Dealers Association and the Southern Agents Conference.

Mr. Eubank is recognized as one of the premier insurance educators having served as a National Faculty member of the Society of CIC since 1976, a national faculty member of the IIABA Virtual University, and is the recipient of the Professional Leadership Scroll from the American Institute for Property & Liability Underwriters and the Insurance Institute of America. He has researched, developed, written and published dozens of technical manuals and articles in business and trade periodicals.

As Director of Workers Compensation for The Seltzer Group and East Coast Risk Management, Stacey has 13 years experience as a workers’ compensation adjuster and 20 years experience consulting in the workers compensation arena.

Stacey holds her Property/Casualty/Life/Health agents license, (CISR) Certified Insurance Service Representative designation, (CWCP) Certified Workers Compensation Professional, from the University of Michigan, (NJWCP) New Jersey Workers Compensation Professions, and (CWCA) Certified Workers Compensation Advisor. Stacey also holds an insurance fraud investigation certificate and is a current instructor for the Institute of Workers’ Compensation Professionals. Stacey specializes in consulting with many employers and employees on workers compensation issues and compliance.

Stacey’s areas of expertise are in claims investigation, mitigation through client, employee, and physician relationships, hiring processes, return to work programs, reserve practices, claims handling advice and coordination with Human Resources and Safety department.

Winter Wheeler is an in-person and online-based mediator and arbitrator. She is a former civil litigator who brings an extensive and comprehensive body of experience to her current practice. She specializes in several areas, including wrongful death, catastrophic injury, personal injury, premises liability, nursing home, legal malpractice, medical malpractice, products liability, toxic torts, automotive and trucking liability, civil rights, false imprisonment, municipal liability, water runoff, construction defect, contracts, entertainment, and family law with a specialization in domestic violence.

Most recently, Winter was a senior attorney at a prominent midtown Atlanta law firm. Winter is skilled in handling complex matters involving a diverse range of cultures, including Spanish-speaking clients. A graduate of Georgetown University and Tulane Law School, Winter has always combined her passions for culture, diplomacy, and the law. Winter was raised in Miami, Florida, and returns as often as possible.

Winter is very active in the legal community. Winter is a member of the National Bar Association and is a Board Member of the Women Lawyers Division. She is a member of the American Bar Association and serves as a Board Member of the Women in Dispute Resolution Committee. She is a member of the Lawyers Club of Atlanta and serves as the Co-Chair of the Membership Committee. She is a member of the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys, the Gate City Bar Association, the Georgia Asian Pacific American Bar association, and is also on the Board of the Georgetown Club of Metro Atlanta. She has been honored by the National Black Lawyers three times as Top 40 Under 40, as well as Top 100 for 2020. She spends her free time volunteering in her community and enjoying her husband and four children.

Winter is also co-author of the bestselling book, #Networked, which tells the story of how she developed a thriving mediation practice during the COVID-19 pandemic.

David Paul is a principal at ALIRT Insurance Research, a firm specializing in the analysis of insurance company financial performance trends.  ALIRT’s quarterly insight into the underlying financial strength of life, property & casualty and health insurers allows distributors and buyers of insurance products to better understand macro financial trends in U.S. insurance markets as well as anticipate financial stress and/or rating downgrades of insurance partners before they occur.  ALIRT also provides in-depth intelligence on carrier financial performance to insurers and asset managers.

David was a founding member of ALIRT Insurance Research (1999), building out the company’s life, property/casualty, health, and international analytical models/services.  David co-directs the company’s research staff, manages internal IT initiatives and product development, pens a number of the firm’s insurance industry research pieces, and is actively engaged in client service and business development.

David has over 25 years of experience in insurance research and financial analysis and is active in the industry as an author and public speaker.

Nationally recognized as one of the top insurance professionals for his leadership and dedication to the insurance profession, Scott Margraves has over thirty years of “hands-on” commercial property & casualty experience.  As a front-line producer, Scott weathered five major hurricanes, three “five-hundred-year floods” and multiple catastrophic fire claims.  Scott is an insurance industry expert that brings extensive experience in all aspects of property & casualty insurance, policy forms, claims, safety programs, HR coordination, and contract integration.  Expertise includes Agent E&O, Bad Faith, & Certificate of Insurance (COI) tracking and compliance.

After graduating from Texas A&M University in 1986, Scott worked in Washington DC as a congressional assistant for four years. He moved back to Texas and began his insurance career.  Scott served as president of the Independent Insurance Agents of Houston and Reveille Club and achieved Lifetime Committeeman status for the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo. 

Scott resides in Houston, Texas with his wife, Lory Margraves, and their dog, Rooster.  Lory & Scott are proud parents of three adult children.  

James founded a Workers' Compensation consulting firm, J&L Risk Mgmt Consultants, Inc. in 1996.  J&L's mission is to reduce our clients’ Workers Compensation premiums by using time-tested techniques.  J&L’s claims, premium, reserve and Experience Mod reviews have saved employers over   $9.8 million in earned premiums over the last three years.  J&L has saved numerous companies from bankruptcy proceedings as a result of insurance overpayments.
  
Experience

James has over 27 years of experience in insurance claims, audit, and underwriting, specializing in Workers' Compensation.  He has supervised, and managed the administration of Workers’ Compensation claims, and underwriting in over 45 states. His professional experience includes being the Director of Risk Management for the North Carolina School Boards Association.  He created a very successful Workers’ Compensation Injury Rehabilitation Unit for school personnel.  

Education

James's educational background, which centered on computer technology, culminated in earning a Masters of Business Administration (MBA); an Associate in Claims designation (AIC); and an Associate in Risk Management designation (ARM).  He is a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) and a licensed financial advisor. The NC Department of Insurance has certified him as an insurance instructor.  He also possesses a Bachelors’ Degree in Actuarial Science.

Awards

LexisNexis has twice recognized his blog as one of the Top 25 Blogs on Workers’ Compensation. J&L has been listed in AM Best’s Preferred Providers Directory for Insurance Experts – Workers Compensation for over eight years. He recently won the prestigious Baucom Shine Lifetime Achievement Award for his volunteer contributions to the area of risk management and safety.  

  
Associations/Publications

James is on the Board of Directors and Treasurer of the North Carolina Mid-State Safety Council.  He has published two manuals on Workers’ Compensation and three different claims processing manuals.  He has also written and has been quoted in numerous articles on reducing Workers’ Compensation costs for public and private employers.  James publishes a weekly newsletter with 2,000 readers.

Joseph Junfola has spent over 40 years as an insurance claims professional. He has specialized in long-term exposure, or continuous property damage/bodily injury/toxic tort claims on a national basis for close to 30 years. He has specialized in construction defect, product liability, and design professional liability claims, including construction accident claims, particularly third-party-over actions in New York.

In his early days, he handled automobile bodily injury claims, both on a primary and umbrella basis, in the State of New Jersey. He first qualified as an expert in the evaluation of automobile bodily injury claims in Federal Court in the early 1990's.

He has since formed Junfola Claim Consulting Services to provide coverage and claim analysis, policy language review, litigation support, and more. He has also joined the Insurance Risk Management Institute as an Expert Commentator.

A staunch believer in continuous learning and improvement, Joe has earned the following professional designations: CPCU, RPLU, RPLU+, SCLA, AIC, ASLI, ARe, AU, ARM, CRIS, AIS, MLIS, AIC-M, and AIDA. His continual drive for education has seen him earn these additional certificates: Executive Certificate in Negotiations from the Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame, the Home Inspection Certificate through Rutgers University and the National Institute of Building Inspectors, and the Certificate in Law and Legal Process from Southern New Hampshire University.

He has published several articles and an eBook, Construction Defect Claims, A Handbook for Insurance, Risk Management, Construction, & Design Professionals.

William C. Wilson, Jr., CPCU, ARM, AIM, AAM is the founder of Insurance Commentary.com. He retired from the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America in December 2016 where he served as Assoc. VP of Education and Research and was the founder and director of the Big “I” Virtual University for over 17 years.  He is the former Director of Education & Technical Affairs for the Insurors of Tennessee and, prior to that time, he was employed by Insurance Services Office, Inc.  He is a graduate of the Illinois Institute of Technology with a B.S. degree in Fire Protection & Safety Engineering.

Bill was a licensed insurance and surplus lines agent, and his professional affiliations have included past president of the Middle Tennessee Chapter of CPCU, member of the board of directors of the national CPCU society, PMLG of the Honorable Order of Blue Goose, International, member of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA) National Education Committee, member of the Certified Insurance Service Representative (CISR) National Advisory Committee, member of the National Underwriter FC&S editorial board, member of the Society of Insurance Trainers and Educators (SITE) and its SITE Journal editorial committee, member of the National Writers Association, chairman of the Tennessee Insurance Commissioner’s Education Advisory Committee, member of the Middle Tennessee State University Insurance Liaison Committee, and member of the Nashville State Technical Institute’s Business Management Advisory Committee. He is currently a member of the American Association of Insurance Management Consultants (AAIMCo).

Bill has served as a trainer and speaker for various organizations, including the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America and 43 of its state affiliates, the CPCU Society national convention and chapter programs, the National Association of Insurance Women (NAIW), the Southern Agents Conference (SAC), the Risk & Insurance Managers Society (RIMS), the International Risk Management Institute (IRMI), and the Society of Risk Management Consultants (SRMC).

He has conducted hundreds of technical seminars, workshops and convention presentations—from Hawaii to Maine and Alaska to Florida—as well as programs on time management, presentation and public speaking skills, seminar development, and many others.  He has been the top-rated presenter at several CPCU National Conventions and his programs are always highly rated by attendees. He has presented seminars or webinars to as many as 5,000 attendees in a single session.

He was the recipient of the IIABA L.P. McCord National Education Award for having the #1 ranked state insurance education program in America and has won six other national education awards, including the George M. Gottheimer Memorial Award which is presented periodically to a CPCU Society member who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of insurance education, risk management or insurance consulting and, most recently, the Jeff Yates Lifetime Achievement Award which is the IIABA’s highest honor for nonagents.

Bill has researched, developed, written, and published dozens of technical articles, manuals and CDs/audio tapes, and has authored articles in business and industry trade periodicals such as Presentations magazine, American Agent & Broker magazine, Independent Agent magazine, Tennessee Insuror magazine, Tennessee Business magazine, the CPCU Journal, CPCU Interest Group newsletters, and the SITE Journal.

He has been quoted as an expert in a number of mainstream publications, including Readers Digest, Kiplinger's, and Money magazines and the Wall Street Journal, and he has been cited as an expert resource/interviewee for local television and radio media. He has also served as an expert witness in litigation.

According to Nashville NBC television affiliate WSMV, “Bill Wilson is an expert when it comes to insurance.”  Dr. William T. Hold, president of the Society of Certified Insurance Counselors in Austin, Texas has said that, “Bill Wilson is recognized by his peers as one of the premier insurance educators in America.” Bob Rusbuldt, CEO of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America says, “Bill Wilson is the nation’s foremost leading expert on form, coverage, and technical issues.”

Bill now blogs on insurance industry issues at www.InsuranceCommentary.com and delivers keynote presentations in conjunction with his consulting practice. He is also working on several book projects in addition to playing lead guitar with the band The Old Dogs. Email Bill at InsuranceCommentary@outlook.com.