Simplot is an international food and agriculture company with more than 12,500 employees running operations around the globe and distributing products to more than 60 countries worldwide. Simplot’s integrated portfolio of businesses include mining, fertilizer manufacturing, farming, ranching, food processing and other agriculture related interests.
At Simplot, our Purpose is to Contribute to Feeding Our World, which we achieve through our Mission of Bringing Earth’s Resources to Life.
Shannon’s expertise in reputation management and incident response is built on real-world experience. Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Shannon served as the director of communications for the City of Detroit. In that post she played an integral role in the city’s response to the 3-day Northeast blackout of 2013. From there, her crisis communications leadership expanded to include class action and high-profile litigation, data breaches, employment and labor crises, regulatory threats, and workplace safety, to name a few. Based on her crisis response background, research, and industry best practices, Shannon developed Communications Command Center, a desktop and mobile app to technology-enable the risk-informed crisis communications plans her team creates for global and regional clients.
Shannon is APR accredited by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and is certified in Crisis Communications and Business Resiliency by Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is FEMA certified in early terrorism warning and response and earned a PRSA masters course certification in crisis communications. Shannon graduated from Wayne State University in Detroit with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in public relations.
Shannon and her husband and their three children live in Portland, Oregon. When she’s not working or parenting, she’s gardening or hitting the trails with Hilda, the family poodle, training for a trail race.
During Q2 2016 David was appointed to his current role as President of our Global Client Practice – in this capacity, David is responsible for enhancing the engagement that Marsh enjoys with our largest and most influential clients and increasing the scope and impact of the differentiated value that together we create.
David joined Marsh in 1995, and now enjoys more than 37 years of experience in the risk and insurance industry, including senior leadership positions in the areas of Country and Regional CEO, Global Client Engagement, Alternative Risk Financing, Captive Management, Financial and Professional Risks, and complex claims advocacy.
An active supporter of the Marsh Global Inclusion & Diversity Strategy, David is the Co-Executive Sponsor of the Marsh African Heritage Colleague Resource Group. In this role, he assists in the development of the strategic plan, acts as a sounding board for new policy, and champions the CRG with other senior executives by sharing the Group’s missions, activities, and progress.
David is also a member of the Marsh & McLennan Global Leadership Council.
Carla specializes in assisting clients to identify and mitigate personal, corporate and professional liability risks. Her practice is concentrated on Cyber, Technology Errors and Omissions, Directors’ and Officers’ Liability, Employment Practices Liability, Fiduciary Liability, Crime, Kidnap & Ransom, and Professional Liability including medical malpractice. She consults with companies to uncover any liability exposures and then provides solutions to help mitigate those liability exposures.
Carla has been in the insurance industry since 1982. She began her insurance career in the management liability underwriting department for financial institutions. She works with a vast array of clients including multi-hospital healthcare systems, private and public corporations, not-for-profit organizations and independent professionals. With Carla’s experience and knowledge, she is frequently asked to speak on D&O and cyber liability risks.
Prior to his current appointment, Bradshaw had been vice president and operations manager, Forest Products operations since 1999 and before that served six years as account engineering officer. He joined the company in 1986 as a loss prevention consultant in Dallas.
Bradshaw received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Texas Tech University.
Penni Chambers oversees the procurement and maintenance of corporate domestic and international insurance for Hillwood Development Group, L.P - a Perot Company. Hillwood is a leader in the development and acquisition of industrial, office, and multifamily properties across North America and Europe. Hillwood is actively engaged in all stages of development including land acquisition, master planning, building design and construction. Since its inception in 1988, Hillwood has developed over 86 million square feet of industrial space and has land holdings providing another 99 million square feet of future development.
Ms. Chambers joined RIMS global Board of Directors in 2021 and served as president of the RIMS Dallas Fort Worth Chapter in 2019.
Penni holds a B.S. in Biomedical Science from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. She also holds the Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC), Associate in Risk Management (ARM), and Certified Risk Manager (CRM) designations. Penni is licensed for Property & Casualty as well as Risk Manager in the State of Texas.
While innovative, this program draws upon many of the same risk management principals used by the military, business, and industry. Units including the Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics School and the Navy Top Gun School call upon him to give motivational talks. This ‘risk management for risk takers’ approach has proven effective in communicating risk management principals to young aggressive servicemen and women.
Jim has expanded this risk management methodology into other sports including freestyle motocross, base jumping, mountain biking, whitewater kayaking, high-altitude running, and commercial helicopter operations. Most recently Jim has developed a motorcycle safety awareness and advanced training program called “Semper Ride” that motivates young Marines to increase their decision-making ability and physical skills. This program has resulted in a 50% reduction in Marine motorcyclist off duty fatalities over the last four years.
Mary Daly is a Principal at Oliver Wyman Actuarial Consulting, Inc. She is co-leader of the Los Angeles office where she provides property/casualty consulting services to a variety of clients. Mary has worked with a wide range of coverages, including workers’ compensation, general liability and auto liability. Projects have included reserve analyses and loss projection studies.
She is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society (FCAS) and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries (MAAA).
Bill’s prior employers include Deloitte & Touche, BearingPoint, Perot Systems and the US Navy. He has a graduate degree from Rollins College and an undergraduate degree from the University of Oklahoma. Boomer Sooner!
Adamantia is currently assisting medical providers in CA and Utah to prepare and submit project worksheets to FEMA in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She is assisting with reviewing and preparing documentation required for the Streamlined Project Application (SPA) and the PA program and navigating the regulation changes and different available COVID-19 funding sources to avoid duplication of benefits.
In the past, Adamantia has assisted a large medical provider with the analysis, preparation, and presentation of their insurance claim due to COVID-19 losses. She also assisted a large Automotive Association with their preparation and presentation of their insurance claim due to an event cancellation as a result of the COVID-19 restrictions. Other areas Adamantia has assisted: a large global services firm with the preparation of significant insurance claims pertaining to COVID-19 losses; the City of Santa Rosa and Sonoma County with their FEMA and federal funding recoveries after the 2017 Wildfires. Adamantia assisted with educating the city and the County on the documentation required for the reimbursement process. She also assisted with developing Hazard Mitigation funding applications, Public Assistance project implementation, and compliance with federal laws and regulations.
Harlan Hammond, MBA, ARM, CPHRM, DFASHRM, is the Assistant Vice ¬President for Corporate Risk Management at Intermountain Healthcare, where he has worked since May 1986. He previously worked as a financial auditor with Arthur Andersen in Seattle focusing on healthcare. His current responsibilities include managing Intermountain’s property and casualty self-insurance and commercial insurance programs.
Harlan received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Utah, followed by an MBA degree from the University of Washington in Seattle. He served in various capacities with the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management (ASHRM), including twice as a board member and as faculty for the ¬Barton Certificate in Healthcare Risk Management Program. He served two terms as president of the Utah Society for Healthcare Risk Management (USHRM), and also served as president of the Utah Chapter of RIMS.
He and his wife, Julia, live in Holladay where they enjoy time with family and exploring our amazing state of Utah.
Cindi Heffernan joined McLarens, an international claims adjusting firm, in November of 2020 as a National Account Executive for Major Accounts. She has over 30 years’ experience in the insurance industry in claims, underwriting, account management, production, and brokerage management. Ms. Heffernan graduated collage with an insurance specialist degree and went on to earn her Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriters designation. She has specialized in risk management and insurance portfolio development for the port industry for over 20 years and has been active in the development of port industry specific manuscript policy form and programs designed to incorporate the unique challenges and exposures specific to port authorities. Ms. Heffernan has also handled major catastrophic hurricane claims.
She has held positions with McGriff, Sedgwick/Marsh, Hugh Wood Inc. and Alliant as the National Ports Practice leader and Managing Director. Ms. Heffernan is a frequent speaker at industry conventions and seminars and is an active member of the AAPA Finance and Risk Management committees, RIMS and local and regional associations.
Chris’ experience with Surety work includes all aspects of performance for defaulted contractors. This includes pre-default assessments and consulting, project status assessments, cost-to-complete estimates, rebid/award for completion contracts, and project management throughout completion. Chris also has experience in the preparation and independent review of claims for both the principal and obligees.
From 2016-2021, Johnson served as president of former subsidiary, Medici Ventures. Medici focuses on using blockchain technology to democratize capital, eliminate frictional middlemen and re-humanize commerce. Medici made investments in and grew many cutting-edge blockchain technology and fintech businesses. This innovative portfolio is using disruptive technology in projects that range from bringing populations out of poverty to overhauling securities markets. In early 2021, Medici’s assets were converted into a Fund overseen by Pelion Venture Partners.
Johnson joined Overstock in 2002 as general counsel and has held various positions within the company, including member of the board. He has been an integral part of Overstock's growth from a small start-up to a publicly traded company with over $3 billion in sales and nearly 2,000 employees.
Prior to Overstock, Johnson worked for TenFold, practiced corporate law in LA and served as a judicial clerk at the Utah Supreme Court. Johnson received his Juris Doctor degree from the J. Reuben Clark Law School at BYU.
Education B.A., Applied Mathematics towards Statistics, UC Berkeley
Mr. Koonce is the Chief Claims Officer, for Sedgwick. In this role, Koonce is responsible for product development and innovation, industry analysis and thought leadership, best practices and compliance standards, legislative and regulatory relationships, and continued involvement in client programs for Sedgwick’s lines of business. Prior to his current role, Koonce was the Managing Director responsible for Sedgwick’s casualty retail business unit in which he oversaw program results and service execution across the company’s retail customer base. This included use of innovation and technology to improve client outcomes and customer experience.
Prior to joining Sedgwick, Koonce was senior director of risk management for Walmart Stores, Inc., the nation’s largest private sector employer. In this role, he managed the retailer’s domestic property and casualty claims program. He simultaneously served as president of Claims Management, Inc., Walmart’s wholly owned third party administrator.
An attorney by trade, Koonce was previously an administrative law judge for the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission and an appellate court justice for the Arkansas Court of Appeals. Koonce has served on various state self-insured association boards, as well as the National Council of Self Insurers (NCSI), and National Unemployment and Workers’ Compensation (UWC). He continues to serve as a member of several local non-profit boards and industry risk management advisory boards.
Koonce earned his BBA degree in economics from Harding University and his JD degree from the University of Arkansas in Little Rock. He is licensed to practice law in the State of Arkansas and is a member of the American and Arkansas Bar Associations.
Steve was a board member of the Washington RIMS Chapter for seven years, serving as President in 2005, and he is a current board member of Starbucks Vermont-domiciled captive insurer.
Steve has a degree in Political Economy from the University of California at Berkeley, and he lives in the Seattle area with his wife and 10-year-old twins.
Before founding Pulpstream, Pankaj was the founder and CEO of LongJump, one of the first Platform as a Service offerings. LongJump was acquired by Software AG for $35 million under his guidance. Subsequently, he led Software AG’s cloud initiatives as general manager of Agile Apps.
Pankaj holds 2 patents in object modeling for network policy management, as well as policy-based network architecture. He earned his degree in computer science and engineering from the G.S. Institute of Technology and Science. His business philosophy centers on empathizing with customers to build powerful solutions that relieve their pains. He is committed to delighting his customers and making them successful, which is a value he shares with his team.
Prior to assuming this executive role, Dave led the company’s growth from $50 million to over $3.5 billion as Sedgwick president and chief executive officer—a position he held since 1995. Under Dave’s leadership, Sedgwick grew from a boutique, regional third-party claims administrator to the premier global provider of innovative business solutions in the areas of workers' compensation, disability, absence management, property loss adjusting and more. Today, Sedgwick has more than 27,000 colleagues throughout 65 countries who take care of people and organizations by delivering cost-effective claims, productivity, managed care, risk consulting and other solutions.
Dave has over thirty-nine years of experience in risk management services. He is a frequent speaker at national and regional industry conferences. In 2016, EY honored Dave with its Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Southeast U.S. Region. He previously developed and taught the American Management Association course on Advanced Risk Management Strategies: Managing the Total Cost of Risk. In 2002, Dave was recognized by Business Insurance as one of the 35 “Rising Stars” in insurance worldwide. And, he co-authored the book The Art of Self-Insurance. Dave has served on the board of the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute and is past chairman of the board of the Integrated Benefits Institute.
The Papé Group, Inc. is the premier mobile capital equipment dealer on the west coast, serving customers in the heavy construction, forestry, material handling, warehousing, commercial transportation, agriculture, turf, and trenching industries. Founded in 1938, the company now has over 145 locations and 3,700+ employees in 85+ cities across 9 western states.
A 30-year veteran of the company and named a “2021 Executive to Watch” by Risk & Insurance magazine, he was previously senior vice president, chief client experience and sales officer.
Before that, Plesce served as vice president, operations manager for FM Global’s Washington, D.C., USA operations. Earlier in his career, he served as an operations manager, operations vice president, client service manager and business development executive. Plesce joined the company in 1991 as a senior account executive.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing from Juniata College in Pennsylvania, USA.
She has assisted clients in a variety of industries through their disaster recovery and management of the insurance claim process. Jill’s experience includes handling some of the largest insurable and public assistance losses resulting from the Superstorm Sandy, Joplin Tornado, Japan Earthquake, flooding in Queensland, Christchurch Earthquake, Hurricanes Ike, Katrina, Wilma, and the 2004 Hurricanes as well as September 11.
She has assisted private, not-for-profit entities and state and local governments with receiving and managing FEMA flood claims and CDBG-DR grants as well as the monitoring of federal funding through sources such as FEMA, NFIP, HUD, NFIP, and various transportation agencies.
She has worked extensively with policyholders to develop claims management teams to respond quickly and effectively to crises including working with an insurer’s consultants to facilitate the claims process for clients. In addition to this claims experience, Jill has managed insurance investigations and assisted in several insurance claim and valuation related disputes.
Prior to joining EY, Jill spent four years working in Arthur Andersen’s Value Solutions group and two years at a smaller accounting firm focusing primarily on litigation, forensic accounting and business valuation.
Chad Rosenberg is a Principal of Rosenberg & Parker where he oversees client and surety relations as well as marketing and technology. He has over 30 years of experience as a surety underwriter and broker. Chad began his career with Reliance Surety Company in 1987 and held underwriting positions in the home office in Philadelphia, and in offices in Seattle and Sacramento.
Chad presently handles the surety programs for publicly traded and privately held corporations in the energy, manufacturing, construction, technology, pharmaceutical, environmental, and waste hauling industries.
Chad has given formal presentations on surety related topics to many construction trade associations and Risk & Insurance Management Society, Inc. (RIMS) Chapters, as well as insurance companies, banks, law firms and accounting firms. He has authored numerous articles and publications, including the popular books Commercial Surety for Dummies and International Surety for Dummies.
Chad obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from the University of Virginia. He is currently the District Governor Elect for his Rotary District and serves on the Rotary Youth Exchange Committee. The father of five children, Chad and his wife Jennifer reside in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania. In his precious free time, Chad is a fly fisherman, a skier, and a cheese enthusiast.
Raised in Utah, he attended secondary school in West Africa and London and received his Bachelors and Juris Doctor degrees from Brigham Young University. In his spare time, he and his wife, Irene, can be found with their family in the mountains and on the lakes near West Yellowstone, Montana.
Dr. Strayer’s research examines attention and multitasking in real-world contexts such as driving an automobile. He has published over 175 scholarly articles in this area and for the last 20 years has focused on understanding driver distraction stemming from multimodal interactions in the vehicle.
Before joining Aon in 2014, Gaurav practiced as an M&A attorney for seven years, first at Shearman Shearman & Sterling in New York, and then at Fenwick & West in Silicon Valley.
Gaurav lives in the SF Bay Area and spends most of his time outside of work trying to keep up with his three daughters (ages 8, 6 and 3).
Brad has previously worked at Lockheed Martin, SkyWest Airlines and Marsh. He graduated from the University of Utah with a Bachelors in Organizational Communication and a minor in Japanese.
Brad and his wife, Sharee, have five children. He enjoys 80s rock music, small gym workouts, and traveling with his family (even if it is non-rev). When riding on a plane, Brad will always choose the aisle seat.