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Claims Journal magazine is pleased to announce the following members of its newly established editorial board: Steven Plitt, Ken Levine, Renee Callantine, Gary Hinson, Kenneth Tolson and Melissa E. Raymer.
Phoenix-based attorney Steve Plitt is a nationally recognized expert in insurance law, has authored numerous insurance treatises and articles, including contributions to Insurance Journal and Claims Journal. He has a national expert witness practice.
Ken Levine is a founding partner of Pennsylvania-based Nelson, Levine, de Luca & Hamilton, a national law firm that focuses exclusively on insurance. Levine personally assists clients with large loss property subrogation matters. He has been an active member of the National Association of Subrogation Professionals (NASP) since its inception, and concluded his second year as president in 2012.
San Francisco-based Renee Callantine is a partner at the law firm of Meckler Bulger Tilson Marick & Pearson. A frequent writer and lecturer on insurance-related topics, her practice primarily involves representing insurers in coverage disputes, including litigation over alleged bad faith claims handling and contribution actions between insurers. She has extensive experience in property and casualty claims, ranging from personal lines homeowners and automobile policies to complex commercial lines policies. As a CPA, she is often asked to assist with claims and litigation involving complex business interruption losses or other complicated accounting issues.
Based in Manchester, N.H., Gary Hinson is vice president of claims at RiverStone Claims Management LLC. RiverStone is the runoff specialist for Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited. Previously, Hinson held claim officer positions in AIG, Tokio Marine, and ACE organizations.
Kenneth Tolson is vice president and chief information officer at Crawford & Co. He is responsible for setting technology strategy for Crawford’s U.S. Property & Casualty division. Before becoming CIO in 2011, Tolson spent six years as vice president and manager of the East Region of U.S. Property & Casualty.
Melissa E. Raymer is the commercial liability claims manager for Minnesota-based Western National Insurance Group. Raymer grew up working in her parents Farmers Insurance Group agency in Eau Claire, Wis. She began her career in claims with Farmers Insurance Group as a multi-line field representative after college. She’s also held claims positions at Liberty Mutual and National Car Rental. Raymer was president of the Twin Cities Claims Association in 2010 and completed her MBA in Risk Management program at Walden University.
Nevada-based Employers, a nationwide small business insurance specialist, has named Dwight L. Robertson, M.D. medical director.
In this role, Dr. Robertson will provide strategic physician oversight for the clinical direction of medical services for Employers, as well as medical expertise with respect to the company’s clinical policies, procedures and programs. He will work closely with the claims leadership team in the management and development of the company’s workers’ compensation provider networks.
Dr. Robertson has significant experience working for insurance carriers, having previously worked at Zenith National Insurance Co., The Travelers Insurance Co. as well as AIG.
EagleEye Analytics, a predictive analytics provider for the property/casualty industry, named Doug McCracken senior vice president of sales and marketing.
McCracken has more than 20 years of experience in sales, marketing, pricing and management, and has held executive positions at both GMAC Insurance and Infinity P&C.
Most recently, he was a vice president at GMAC Insurance, where during a nine-year period he held sales and marketing leadership positions for both the direct and agency channels. Prior to GMAC Insurance, McCracken spent six years at Infinity P&C in a product management leadership role.
At EagleEye, McCracken’s role is a key executive position, designed to expand the company’s services and relationships with insurance carriers.
Specialist insurer Markel International has appointed Hannah Purves as its new claims director. Based in London, Purves will lead the company’s international claims team.
Purves joins Markel after spending six years with specialist insurer Beazley, where she worked as part of the UK E&O claims team and then as head of the company’s PCG claims department for political risk, contingency, terrorism and product recall. Before joining Beazley, Purves worked as an insurance/reinsurance lawyer for Mayer Brown Solicitors.