Claims People: AF Group, Sedgwick and Cohen Ziffer

AF Group, the Lansing, Michigan-based parent of Accident Fund Insurance Co. of America, has appointed Paul Kearney as chief claims officer.

Kearney most recently served as second vice president, workers’ compensation field product line claims manager at Travelers Insurance. Over the course of his career, Kearney has been recognized for successfully developing specialized claim solutions and medical management strategies to improve claim processes, AF Group said in a press release.

Kearney worked in management positions at Travelers for nearly 11 years before starting with AF Group, according to his Linkedin profile. He was director of claims for Assurance America in Atlanta from 2004 to 2009 and chief operating of Fleming and Hall Third Party Administrator from 2001 to 2004.

Kearney earned a Master’s in Business Administration from South University in Savannah, Ga. and a bachelor’s degree from Morehouse College in Atlanta. He holds Associate in Insurance Services and Associate in Claims designations.

AF Group is a monoline workers’ compensation insurer based in Lansing, Michigan. Its subsidiaries are Accident Fund Insurance Co. of America, Accident Fund National Insurance Co., Accident Fund General Insurance Co., United Wisconsin Insurance Co., Third Coast Insurance Co. and CompWest Insurance Co.

Sedgwick has appointed Adam R. Fisher as chief data officer, a newly created position.

The Memphis, Tenn.-based claims administrator said Fisher will lead efforts to use data better serve customers, “optimize its offerings, and develop new and innovative market solutions.”He will accelerate Sedgwick’s capabilities in advanced analytics, decision optimization and artificial intelligence across all of the company’s global lines of business, the company said in a press release.

Fisher was senior vice president for product and solutions at DemystData in New York City from January 2019 until now, according to his Linkedin profile. He was head of data products for Enigma Technologies in New York from May 2017 to January 2019.

Fisher worked at Sedgwick early in his career, focusing on client data analytics and benchmarking, the company said. With his return to the company, he brings additional years of technology leadership experience in modernizing and scaling data ecosystems, Sedgwick says.

Fisher holds a bachelor’s degree from University of Georgia, an MBA from Babson College and Six Sigma Black Belt certification.

Robin Cohen, an attorney who specializes in insurance recovery, has launched a new law firm in New York City with more than 20 staff members.

The new Cohen Ziffer Frenchman & McKenna practice includes Cohen’s former partners at the McKool Smith Law firm: Adam Ziffer, Kenneth Frenchman and Keith McKenna. Cohen led the McKool firm’s insurance recovery practice before launching the new practice.

The Cohen firm’s leadership team will also include Audrey Wilson, who will serve as chief operating officer.

The firm said in a press release that the team earned a first-of-its-kind decision on flood limit clauses that allowed the New Jersey Transit Corporation to access up to $400 million in coverage after Superstorm Sandy. Their trial wins include a jury verdict worth more than half a billion dollars in an asbestos coverage case on behalf of Warren Pumps LLC that changed the law on all-important allocation questions.

Cohen said the firm “expects highly valuable insurance issues to continue proliferating in the coming years – from property damage claims arising from natural disasters to a likely influx of director and officer claims arising from reinvigorated securities enforcement in the new presidential administration.”

“We know how to lead policyholders through their most important insurance disputes – often with the future of their organizations on the line,” Cohen stated. “This was the right time to start our own firm. Our tight-knit team has never been stronger, and the issues confronting our clients have never been more consequential.”