SPEAKERS
Jon Kovach has been in the premium audit and loss control vendor business for 35 years, starting out as a loss control inspector for White & White and later trained in premium audit. In 1988 he joined a “start-up” Company known as Golden Coast Survey and Audit Services which at the time was focused on servicing Southern California. Jon stayed on with the company and has held many strategic positions as the company, now known as AFIRM, has grown into an international enterprise. For the last 7 years he has been President of AFIRM, one of the largest and most influential premium audit and loss control vendor company’s within our industry. Jon is a supporter of the various premium audit associations and over the years he has held numerous positions in the local, regional and national organizations. Jon has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration along with his Associates in Premium Audit and Insurance (APA & AINS). His greatest achievement is being a husband and a father, married for 40 years to his wife Janice. Together they have raised 4 children and are now enjoying being grandparents to 2 active little boys.
Shawn Powers earned his undergraduate degree in Business Administration from the University of Alabama - Huntsville in 2004. In 2006, he joined the Wilkinson Insurance Services team as a field representative performing physical audits. Through the years with WIS, Shawn has worn several different hats including a trainer, reviewer, and area manager. In 2016, Shawn furthered his education by obtaining an MBA from Auburn University. Pursuant to having 10 years of managerial experience in the Southeast, Shawn's current position with WIS is Area Vice President. He has 16 field auditors currently under his management umbrella which requires weekly analysis of their performance including meeting company quality and production standards, audit review of specialty carriers, training, mentoring, and other assistance to support upper management at WIS.
Adam Hull is the Managing Director of the Northeast Premium Audit Division for AFIRM. He’s been in the insurance industry since 2005 when he started out as an independent contractor performing premium audits, and loss control surveys, in Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania for ISI Insurance Services. He was born, raised, and currently still resides in southwestern Pennsylvania which offered him the ability to perform the work in four states. Eager to learn as much as possible about the different premium audit positions, he went from premium field auditor to quality control reviewer, and then moved into the operations side with management. He’s currently in pursuit of his APA designation. He truly enjoys the ability to work remotely which allows him to not miss out on life events with his wife and two daughters. He also volunteers at his local fire company and is the current president of his local baseball/softball league where he also coaches his daughter’s softball team.
David Walker is VP of Finance at Wilkinson Insurance Services.
David Harris, APA is the Vice President of Sales & Physical Audit Operations for NEIS. Duties include oversight and management of premium audit field teams and sales representatives. He provides ongoing support and direction to over 250 premium auditors, and is responsible for client retention and carrier audit requirements. Oversight also includes Training, Quality, and Business Development initiatives. David has been in the Insurance Premium Audit and Loss Control industry for 30 years. Experience includes performing audits and surveys, later moving into territory and regional manager positions where he has been responsible for total business unit performance. He also managed phone & remote solutions, automated products, customer service units, and internal processing. During his career, he has been engaged in production, audit and survey review, product development, training and resource development, software development and execution, integration of acquisitions, and many strategic and tactical projects. A graduate from the University of Colorado with a major in Finance, David obtained his Associate in Premium Auditing (APA) designation, and has been active in local audit associations. David joined NEIS, Inc. in 2020, with prior experience at White & White Audit and Inspection, Equifax, ChoicePoint, and Overland Solutions.
Mike Warner began his auditing career with Equifax Commercial Specialists (Overland Solutions) in January 1989 where he spent 13 years. He worked as an Auditor, Loss Control rep, Reviewer, Trainer, Supervisor and Regional Auditor Manager before leaving to work as an Auditor/Trainer for AIG. After a short career with AIG, Mike left them to form his own independent audit company covering the state of Georgia for 5 years. In April of 2008, Mike was hired by Builders Insurance Group where he took the position of Premium Audit Manager.
Paul Peruzzi is currently the Premium Audit Director at IFG Companies for the last six years in Chapel Hill, NC. He oversees management of all Premium Audit Department functions and collections. Paul started in the insurance business as a Field Auditor/Loss Control Representative for a vendor in Upstate, NY in 1986. After two years, he went with a carrier in Central, NY for 25 years as a Field Auditor, Manager and Director. After that, Paul spent two years as an independent consultant and then returned to the vendor business as a manager, until 2016 when he joined IFG Companies. Paul earned his B.S. in Business Management from SUNY Plattsburgh and an Associates in Premium Audit from IIA.
Simone A. Crawley, founder and CEO of Crawley Cultural Consulting, is a respected subject matter expert who has helped countless organizations shift and, more importantly, prevent toxic cultures. Her expertise uniquely positions her to empower c-suite executives, HR managers, and diversity professionals to set a tone of inclusion that ensures success. Her passion underscores an understanding that the work of diversity, equity, inclusion, and antiracism requires buy-in. Her career includes an extensive public policy background and seven-year tenure in a state legislature. During this time, Simone also advocated for the Black electorate as President of the Ohio Young Black Democrats. At 26, Simone accepted the role of Executive Director for the Multiethnic Advocates for Cultural Competence (MACC). Her tenure included advocating for systems change to address significant health disparities impacting diverse cultures. Simone championed the initiatives the statewide nonprofit to implement cultural competence across Ohio systems. This work motivated her to launch and expand the Crawley Cultural brand. Combining key concepts Simone coined the mnemonic device Cultural CASH (cultural competence, cultural awareness, cultural sensitivity, cultural humility). She is a highly sought after speaker and master trainer. Simone is a certified instructor of both the Adult and Youth Mental Health First Aid curricula and holds a degree in Political Science from The Ohio State University.
Dr. Nicole Cobb has worked in education for 25 years as a teacher, school counselor and administrator at the district and state level. Her professional experience has allowed her to link research to practice in the field of school counseling, specifically as it relates to school climate, social-emotional learning, college access and school counselor effectiveness. Before joining the faculty in the school-counseling program of the Department of Human and Organizational Development in the Peabody College of Education at Vanderbilt University she was the Executive Director of School Counseling for Metro-Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) and was appointed by Governor Bredesen as Director of School Counseling for the State of Tennessee during his term in office. She currently serves as Associate Chair for the Department of Human and Organizational Development and is the Director of the Human Development Studies Master’s Program.
Eric Jones is the Divisional Assistant Vice President over Premium Audit for Summit. He has worked in Workers’ Compensation insurance over the last 15 years. During that time he has spent over 14 years assisting in combating premium fraud. As part of that role he oversees the Special Investigative Unit assigned to investigate premium fraud issues. Additionally Eric chairs the Premium Committee for the Florida Workers’ Compensation Fraud Taskforce which is made up of multiple carriers, law enforcement, trade organizations, employers and attorneys whose function is to fight workers’ compensation fraud. Eric has a Masters’ degree in Educational Leadership. Prior to working in insurance, Eric was part of the public school system where he taught social studies courses and coached multiple different sports.
Valda Evans is Director of Premium Audit at AF Group.
Joseph Gubbins is VP of Training and Development at Wilkinson Insurance Services.
Nick Holdridge is an Associate Vice President - Western States for AFIRM. Nick is also the VP of Governance on the NSIPA Board of Directors. Nick has been in the Industry for more than 15 years. Starting out performing premium audit. 3 years into his career he moved onto the quality review team where established skills for quality and timeliness. Over the next few years he moved into a management role within Afirm, managing the physical operations on the east coast and phone center operations. Nick is currently the operations AVP of Afirm over the West coast operations. Nick has a passion for premium audit and enjoys the challenges of the industry. Nick has served as President of both his local and regional chapters (RMIAA, IAAW). Outside of Afrim he enjoys spending quality time with his 3 children (Brodie, Carter, Noah), coaching youth sports, fishing, camping and the occasional golf outing.
Richard Pope began his career in oilfield accounting in 1976. He moved into insurance in 1992 as a claims adjuster with American Interstate Insurance Company (now Amerisafe, Inc.), becoming the Western Regional Claims Manager in 1995. He brought this claims background into the premium audit field in 2003 working for OSI and then for Union Standard Insurance Group (a W. R. Berkley Company) as their head of Premium Audit since 2005. He has served Union Standard as the Premium Audit Manager, Director of Premium Audit, and, currently, the Assistant Vice President of Premium Audit. He revitalized their premium audit department, helping develop W. R. Berkley’s PATS Premium Audit Management System in 2006, the Audit Cube in 2008, as well as initiating an automatic audit endorsement protocol for the company in 2017. Pope is the Past President of the Insurance Auditor’s Association of Dallas, a past Executive Vice President of the Insurance Auditor’s Association of the Southwest, and a former Vice President of the National Society of Insurance Premium Auditors. He is an active presenter of insurance topics and has presented for IAASE, IAASW, IAAW, NSIPA, PAAS and other premium audit and insurance organizations. He is the 2020 recipient of NSIPA’s Eugene Bowers Lifetime Achievement Award.
