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SPEAKERS
Tentative| More Details Forthcoming
John Kennedy is a professional speaker, strategist and author who, for over two decades, has been building and delivering leadership, team work, sales, service and success strategies to companies, agencies, associations and to over 500,000 audience members worldwide…one innovative idea at a time. John has crafted a rock solid reputation by delivering the right results in an accelerated manner…he is “the catalyst” for change, growth and innovation and would love to share his experience with you on your time and on your terms.
Dan Swensen is Vice President of Operations and People Development at Lowry & Associates, Inc. He oversees the entire remote audit operation while working closely with the Carrier Specialist Team. As VP of People Development, he implements best practices within the different teams and departments of the company to foster enhanced synergy and cohesion. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Utah in Communications, Dan began working with LAI as a field auditor in 2006. In 2017, he moved into a field mentor position, then a year later was appointed Director of Learning and Development before coming into his current role. Dan has been the driving force behind LAI’s E-Learning and onboarding platform, revolutionizing auditor development and the onboarding process. He also implemented a new field support and mentoring program, including virtual mentoring sessions for field auditors.
Jason Fox
Fred Lowry Jr. has been in the insurance industry for the past 35 years involved in loss control and premium auditing. He has been President of Lowry & Associates, Inc. since 1989. He has been actively involved in the auditor associations: Past President of National Society of Insurance Premium Auditors (NSIPA), past President of Insurance Auditors Association of the West, and past President of the National Association of Independent Insurance Auditors and Engineers. Fred considers it a sincere honor to be the recipient of the NSIPA Lifetime Achievement Award, NSIPA Betty Gerdes Award, NSIPA President’s Award, and the IAAW Dana Sparrow Award. He received a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and a minor in English from Brigham Young University. His hobbies include mountain biking, golf, skiing, outdoor activities and his family. Since his early childhood, he has had a great interest in the Winter and Summer Olympics and one of his fondest memories was being selected as a torchbearer on opening day of the 2002 Winter Olympics. He is involved in his community where he serves as a City Councilmember in his hometown of Draper, Utah and is currently president of the Canyons Education Foundation that provides support to the 35,000 students and 5,000 employees in the local school district. He considers his greatest accomplishment being married to his wife Jill, their 6 children, and two grandchildren.
Josie McCain
Daniel Trociuk
Roxanne Walker is currently a Senior Field Operations Analyst for the Pennsylvania Compensation Rating Bureau (PCRB) and Delaware Compensation Rating Bureau, Inc. (DCRB). In this role, Roxanne’s responsibilities include review and analysis of test audits, resolving payroll allocation disputes, consulting on technical matters, issuing classification decisions, conducting test audits in the field, training and mentoring PCRB/DCRB Field Representatives and presenting educational seminars. Roxanne is also responsible for developing and maintaining the Test Audit Portal, which is the web application used by the PCRB/DCRB to communicate with carriers for test audit purposes. Roxanne is a graduate of Temple University and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications. She is an active member of the Philadelphia Insurance Auditors’ Society (PIAS) and was named Auditor of the Year in 2018.
Kevin Kramer has served in the commercial property & casualty insurance industry since 1985, both on the carrier and vendor side. He has held various positions in the premium audit profession including Director of Premium Audit and Premium Receivables for a carrier and Vice President of Quality Assurance, Training & Development and On-line Audit Services on the vendor side. Kevin is currently the Vice President of Quality Assurance & Development for NEIS. He received a BA in Business Administration & Economics from Augsburg University and an MBA in Finance from University of Illinois. Kevin holds industry designations of APA, CIPA and PMP (Project Management Professional).
Christopher J. Boggs, CPCU, ARM, ALCM, LPCS, AAI, APA, CWCA, CRIS, AINS, is Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America (IIABA or the Big "I") Virtual University executive director. During his 30+ year insurance career, Boggs has authored over 500 insurance and risk management-related articles on a wide range of topics and has written 15 insurance and risk management books.
Michael Henry has been in premium audit for over 36 years working for regional and national carriers. He is currently the Premium Audit Manager for the New Jersey and West Regions for Selective Insurance. Michael is the President of the Insurance Auditors Association of NJ (IAANJ) and has served as an officer for more than 15 years. Michael received the Northeast Regional Insurance Auditors Association Al Cote Auditor of the year in 2014. He has been a presenter and conference leader at numerous audit association events during his career. Michael has worked with The Institutes as a SME and content editor to update and revitalize the Associate in Premium Audit Program.
Kay Payer
Lesley O’Brien is currently the Director of Filings and Research overseeing research, item filings, and the dispute resolution process. Her team is responsible for conducting research on national classifications, rules, and forms in NCCI’s underwriting manuals, managing the item filing process for state and national item filings, and managing NCCI’s dispute resolution process. Since joining NCCI in 1992, she has worked in various departments including Customer Operations and the Residual Market.
Lesley graduated from Nova Southeastern University with a bachelor of science degree in business administration. In addition, she has earned the Associate in Management (AIM) professional designation.
John Dennis is currently the manager of the key account team for the East coast. John has been associated with the industry since 1985 as a vendor auditor, starting and operating his own "fee company" in NY before switching to the carrier side. John has worked for Cigna, Royal Insurance, where he was promoted to Audit Specialist, Maryland Casualty, Zurich, the technical services department of AIG. Joining Guarantee Insurance as a manager in 2012 John was prompted to regional manager, East Coast Manager to Director of Premium audit. Guarantee evolved to Patriot Insurance where John was promoted to AVP, VP ultimately being named President of Patriot Audit Services once the company once the parent company went public. John has been involved in every facet of audit including M&A. John served on the PAAS WC and GL/Auto subcommittees in the early 90's. Being involved with NSIPA from the late 80's until today always available to serve the industry, John has presented at the local, regional and national levels of NSIPA and is a past President of NISPA as well as a Bettey Gerdes recipient.
Salina Lau is currently a Field Support Mentor for Lowry & Associates, responsible for training and mentoring all physical, virtual and phone auditors. She has been associated with the industry for approximately 20 years. She has held several positions throughout her career including reviewer, physical auditor, supervisor and manager of Premium Audit. She is a graduate of Cal State Northridge with a degree in Business.
Mike Warner is the Director of Premium Audit for Builders Insurance Group in Atlanta, GA and is responsible for the premium audit functions. He began his audit career in 1993 as a premium auditor for Equifax Commercial Specialists before working his way up to a branch manager for Overland Solutions. Mike also worked for AIG and Essential Premium Audit Solutions prior to joining Builders Insurance Group in 2008. He is a graduate of Columbia International University, Columbia, South Carolina.
Andrew Mueller
Nathaniel Russell
John Schober started working as an insurance premium auditor for Charles E Hock Associates back in 1990. At that time, he and most others were still writing up audits on paper. There were a few audit programs written for DOS and Windows 3.0 was officially announced in May of that year. By 1993, John had co-developed and was marketing his own insurance premium audit software program for Windows 3.1. His first client was the NYCIRB. Today, over 250 insurance companies use Visual Software’s suite of software products to manage and complete their insurance premium audits, along with dozens of auditing firms and over 100 independent auditors who collectively service hundreds of insurance carriers overall. John has served as a Regional VP for NSIPA and is a past President of the Northeast Regional Insurance Auditors Association.
Kurt Lang is the Premium Audit Manager for the Heartland Region (7 Midwest states) and West Region (5 Western states). He has the following designations, CPCU, CIPA, APA, AU, AM. He has over 35 years' experience as a premium audit manager.
Gary Higgins has been working in the premium audit field since 1982. The first 19 years were spent as a field premium auditor for carriers such as Liberty Mutual, The Hartford, Cigna, ACE-USA, and Utica Mutual. From March 2002 to December 2014, Gary worked for PAAS® as both General Liability and Education Managers. In January 2015, Gary took on the role of Director of Operations at PAAS. Gary achieved his APA designation in 2004 and also holds a Bachelor of Science degree (cum laude) in Accounting from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.
Greg Rohner is currently the Senior Auditor-National Accounts with Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies and is based out of Chicago, IL. In this role, he performs audits mostly on larger, complex accounts nationwide. Since starting a career in Premium Audit in 1987 immediately upon graduation from Moorhead State University as an audit trainee with Brandanger and Associates, Greg has worked in a variety of field and management roles throughout his career in both vendor and carrier environments and joined Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies in September 2014.
Chief Chris Welch oversees the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation Fraud in Florida. During his 24-year law enforcement career, he has garnered extensive knowledge in the areas of criminal investigations, policy development, evidence room management, high liability training, and state law enforcement accreditation standards. He is a graduate of Troy University with a degree in Criminal Justice, currently serves as the chairperson for the Florida Workers’ Compensation Fraud Task Force, and previously volunteered on the board of directors for a local Crime Stoppers organization. Chief Welch is also a former board member of the Florida Police Accreditation Coalition and has prior service as an assessor with the Florida Commission for Law Enforcement Accreditation.
