GEICO Announces Officer Appointments

GEICO recently announced a number of officer appointments:

• Michelle Trindade, vice president of the competitive advantage leadership group at the company’s corporate offices in Chevy Chase, Md.
• Kevin Kawa, assistant vice president, select GEICO staff counsel operations.
• Lee Meeler, assistant vice president of claims for GEICO’s San Diego regional office.
• Angela Rinella, assistant vice president of regional claims operations at GEICO’s office in Fredericksburg, Va.
• Eric Stafford, assistant vice president of GEICO’s Indianapolis office.

Michelle Trindade joined GEICO as a sales counselor in 1997 and assumed the role of supervisor the following year. She completed assignments in sales and service areas and became a sales manager in 2001, and a sales director in 2004. Trindade was promoted to sales and service director in 2006 and then joined the company’s competitive advantage group in Chevy Chase, where she championed a project to improve GEICO’s sales process.

In 2009, Trindade completed GEICO’s Executive Assistant Program before being named assistance vice president of underwriting in the Fredericksburg regional office.

Kevin Kawa served as staff counsel director for the company’s regional operations in Macon, Georgia, since 2011. He joined GEICO in 1996 as managing attorney of the staff counsel office in Chicago, which consisted of two attorneys and an assistant; that office now includes 10 attorneys. Kawa earned his juris doctor degree from DePaul University in Chicago, Ill.

Lee Meeler joined GEICO as an emerging leader at the company’s Macon, Ga., regional office in 2004. He served the Macon office in a number of rotational positions including sales, service, claims and planning. In 2008, Meeler supervised claim service representatives and telephone claim representatives and then became co-manager of the region’s report center. In 2009, he was promoted to claims manager and then assumed responsibility for the region’s continuing unit. In 2010, Meeler transitioned to GEICO’s Marlton, N.J., claims office where he served as manager prior to becoming the liability director in Woodbury in 2012.
Angela Rinella started her career at GEICO in 2002 as a telephone claim representative in the company’s Woodbury regional office. In 2004, she was part of the team that opened GEICO’s regional office in Buffalo, N.Y., and she was instrumental in establishing Buffalo’s claims department. She later served in several management positions. In 2009, Rinella completed GEICO’s Management Seminar and, a year later, became the liability director for GEICO’s Lakeland regional office.
Eric Stafford began his career at GEICO in 1994 as an underwriter and transitioned into the management and training team for sales before being selected as planning and control manager of GEICO’s Fredericksburg regional office. He held a number of positions at GEICO’s corporate offices in Chevy Chase, starting as the director of productivity before being selected as part of the implementation team for the Competitive Advantage Process. He earned GEICO’s Black Belt designation for process improvement and led the company’s customer retention efforts as the retention process coordinator. In 2008, he relocated to GEICO’s Virginia Beach office and served as the region’s service and underwriting director before being named director of sales and service.

In addition, Jeremy Connor becomes assistant vice president of claims for GEICO’s Lakeland, Fla., office. He previously served as assistant vice president in the GEICO Fredericksburg, Va., location. Gary McKenzie has relocated to GEICO’s Fredericksburg office as assistant vice president of claims. Previously, he headed GEICO’s Indianapolis service center.

Source: GEICO