Tiffany Allen
Territory Manager, Public Sector Services, Travelers
Tiffany Allen has worked in the risk and insurance field for 31 years. She credits her understanding of insurance and risk management to her early career experience as an underwriter and more recent 14 year adventure in risk management for multiple government agencies in North Carolina. In 2014, Tiffany left her county family and joined an insurance family. From 2014-2020, Tiffany served as a senior risk control consultant for public sector services. Tiffany now serves as the territory manager for public sector services in the mid-Atlantic region. During Tiffany’s public sector career, she served on and guided safety committees and saw first-hand what a difference an engaged safety committee can make for an organization.
George Dalton, ARM-P, MCM
Assistant Director of Loss Control, Public Entity Partners
George Dalton has been a member of the Loss Control staff since September 1998, and has served as a risk management resource for the municipalities, schools, utilities, housing authorities, human resource agencies and other governmental entities throughout Tennessee. George provides risk identification surveys for safety & liability exposures, and frequently conducts safety and liability loss control training classes for TML Pool participants. He also assists in developing publications and bulletins. George received the ARM designation in 2001 and his RMPE certificate in 2003. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Personnel Management Association (TPMA), and remains active with TnPRIMA, TCMA and TRPA. He is a Certified Playground Safety Inspector (CPSI) through NRPA and the Playground Safety Institute.
Michael Fann, ARM-P, MBA
Director of Loss Control, Public Entity Partners
Michael Fann has more than 30 years’ experience in providing risk management consulting & training for local governments, school systems, universities and associations. He is an award-winning author and speaker, working with clients and audiences from across the United States. He serves full-time as a risk control resource for more than 500 entities participating in the risk management pool. Fann is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University (finance & political science) and Ole Miss (MBA - management). He has participated in international exchanges with colleagues from the United Kingdom, China and Australia. A former two-time member of the Board of Directors of PRIMA, he also served on the Board of the Public Entity Risk Institute (PERI) from 2013 to 2016. In 2014, he was the 11th recipient of PRIMA’s Distinguished Service Award. He has also received TnPRIMA’s Abbie Hudgens Distinguished Service Award, the Southeast Loss Control (SELC) Group’s Distinguished Service Award, the National League of Cities’ John G. Stutz Award, Public Risk Magazine’s Author of the Year Award and the University of Tennessee Institute for Public Service’s Project of the Year Award. In 2019, Michael was conferred with the honor of “Fellow in Professional Practice” by the University of Tennessee’s Master of Public Policy & Administration (MPPA) Program “to recognize accomplished & experienced professionals whose careers exhibit the highest standards of performance excellence…” by a vote of the MPPA faculty.
Sou Ford
Atlantic/SE Cyber Team Leader, Willis Towers Watson
Sou Ford leads the Atlantic / Southeast Cyber Risk Team. She is responsible for the consulting, negotiating and development of Cyber/Privacy and Errors and Omissions placements with responsiblity for the following areas: Washington DC, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Florida. Sou has been working with Cyber specific risks since 1998 and has more than 28 years of experience in Executive Risk FINEX coverages, specializing in large and complex transactions, both as an underwriter and broker. Sou’s career started in 1991 in the training program at Aetna Bond. She also served at Reliance National as an E&O Underwriter. Prior to joining Willis Towers Watson in 2010 and the Cyber Risk Team in 2016, Sou spent 3 years as the Senior Executive Risks broker at Beecher Carlson and prior to that 12 years with Marsh in their FINPRO Practice.
Sou is a recognized expert in the field of Cyber Risk insurance and is a frequent speaker and lecturer at Cyber Risk industry events. In 2019 Sou was recognized as a 2019 “Power Broker” in the Cyber category.
Geoffrey R. Jones
Senior Claims Attorney, Midwest Employers Casualty
Geoffrey R. Jones is a senior claims attorney with Midwest Employers Casualty. He has been with MEC for nine years and is responsible for claims/litigation consultation and oversight, nationally. His experience includes resolving high-exposure cases with multiple stakeholders, which also includes influencing and consulting with top management on important workers' compensation claim-related decisions that can greatly impact their organization. Geoff's experience and skill-set has led to significant savings for public entities and better outcomes for their injured workers.
Michael Lacroix
Medical Director, The Hartford
Michael Lacroix is a licensed psychologist and has attained Diplomate status from the American Board of Psychological Specialties. He has worked in the overlapping areas of disability and Workers’ compensation for the last 30 years, in a variety of clinical, management, program development and consulting roles. He has also done quite a bit of research over the years, and published many peer-reviewed publications and papers. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences, including PRIMA.
Amy Larson
Risk and Litigation Manager, City of Bloomington, MN
Amy Larson has more than 18 years’ experience as the risk manager for the City of Bloomington, MN, including the past eight years as the risk and litigation manager. She is responsible for the overall planning, management, administration, organization and coordination of the city’s risk management program; review and negotiation of city contracts; and litigation management. Amy is a licensed attorney in the state of Minnesota and a frequent presenter for many national PRIMA events, including PRIMA Institute, the national conference and speaker's bureau. Amy currently sits on the national PRIMA Board of Directors and the Minnesota Chapter of PRIMA. She also served as the president of national PRIMA in 2017-2018 and was a member of the Public Entity Risk Institute (PERI) Board of Directors from 2012-2017.
Michele Molinario
Partner - Jones, Skelton & Hochuli, PLC
Michele Molinario focuses her practice in the areas of law enforcement defense, correctional defense, employment law and governmental liability. An experienced trial attorney, she has tried both state and federal jury and bench trials and administrative law hearings. For 20 years, Michele has dedicated her legal career to defending correctional institutions, and public entities and their employees, including police officers, detention officers, emergency responders, public works directors, and traffic engineers, etc. Her 14 years of experience working as a civilian at the Tempe Police Department in the Narcotics and Special Enforcement Unit has afforded her an insider’s perspective with the various training exercises related to non-lethal and lethal force incidents, hostage negotiations, K9 deployment, and tactical breaching methods, etc.
Carleen Patterson, ARM-P, CIC, CRM
Public Entity & Higher Education Practice Leader, Alliant Insurance Services, Inc.
Carleen Patterson is the national Public Entity and Higher Education Practice Leader at Alliant Insurance Services, Inc. She works with higher education and public entity clients across the United States providing insurance brokerage and risk management expertise. Carleen has been in the insurance industry since 1988 and joined Alliant Insurance Services, Inc. in January, 2020. Prior to Alliant, Carleen served in a similar role for a large, international broker. She has risk management, claims, and insurance brokerage experience; and has spent the last 21 years specializing in self-insurance and insurance brokerage and consulting for higher education institutions as well as large public entity clients. Her expertise is in the design and implementation of large property and casualty insurance programs.
Rachel Paul
Senior Attorney, Midwest Employers Casualty
Rachel Paul has more than 25 years of experience as an attorney and ALJ, handling disability determinations and defending workers’ compensation claims. She has been with Midwest Employers Casualty (MEC) for 12 years and currently provides support to the catastrophic claims unit. Prior to joining MEC, she was an assistant attorney general in Missouri, handling labor and employment cases including complex workers’ compensation claims and representation of the Second Injury Fund.
Joseph Popolizio
Partner - Jones, Skelton & Hochuli, PLC
Joseph Popolizio maintains a diverse complex litigation practice representing public and private sector clients in the areas of governmental liability, civil rights, law enforcement and corrections defense, wrongful death, and personal injury. Representing public entities, Joe defends governmental entities, law enforcement personnel, elected officials, municipalities, and private correctional facilities in cases involving claims for civil rights violations under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, including wrongful death and excessive force claims in police and detention settings, as well claims for racial profiling and discriminatory policing under Title VI and 42 U.S. Code § 14141. Joe has also defended governmental clients in complex, high-profile matters involving the Department of Justice and the ACLU.
Tamika Pucket
Chief Risk Officer, City of Chicago, IL
Tamika Pucket is the first appointed chief risk officer for the City of Chicago, IL. She is responsible for implementing and managing the city’s enterprise risk management governance framework to include the implementation of policies and procedures necessary for the identification and management of organizational risks. A career risk manager, Tamika possesses over 15 years of experience managing complex, public sector enterprise risk management programs. She possesses specialized experience in the areas of risk assessments, workers’ compensation, contractual risk transfer and training programs. Tamika was recognized as a 2018 Insurance Business America Leading Risk Manager.
Lisanne Sison
Managing Director, ERM, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.
Lisanne Sison has over 15 years of experience providing consulting services to a broad spectrum of entities ranging from airports to universities. She is a national resource focused on providing accessible and meaningful enterprise risk management consulting support that is tailored to the needs of each individual client, and also has a background in internal audit / compliance reviews, business process improvement reviews, strategic planning facilitation and more.
Margaret Spence, RMPE
CEO, C. Douglas & Associates, Inc.
Margaret Spence is a transformational leadership development expert, keynote speaker, business strategist and champion for women in the C-Suite. Determined to create a glide path for diversity and inclusion in executive leadership, Margaret launched The Employee to CEO Project, a global initiative aimed at increasing the representation of women, with specific emphasis on minority women, in C-Level leadership roles. Her bold mission is to empower 10,000 women, over the next five years, into executive leadership and ultimately into the C-Suite. Margaret has authored three books.
Richard Spiers, CPCU, ARM, ARe, AIC
Claim Consultant, Spiers Consulting, LLC
Richard Spiers has been in the insurance industry since 1980 and has been a claim executive in the reinsurance and excess marketplace since 1985. He was with Genesis Management and Insurance Services for over 20 years. Richard has extensive experience handling the wide array of claims faced by public entities, K-12 school districts and the higher education sector. Based in Chicago, he has also worked for Transamerica Insurance Group, Northbrook Excess and Surplus Insurance, CNA and Allstate Reinsurance. He is a graduate of Northern Illinois University, a member of the Society of CPCU, and holds associate designations in risk management, claims and reinsurance. Richard has been developing and presenting insurance industry-related training sessions to a variety of client and industry groups for over 25 years.
Mauricio Velasquez, MBA
President & Founder, Diversity Training Group
Mauricio Velasquez is now a regular speaker for PRIMA. He has spoken at several of programs and is a speaker on PRIMA’s recent webinar series. Mauricio earned a BA from the University of Virginia and an MBA from The George Washington University. Mauricio and his firm, Diversity Training Group, are working with more than a half dozen PRIMA state conference and individual members presently. Mauricio is a risk minimizer in the areas of diversity and inclusion training, sexual harassment prevention training, toxic employee/workplace training, emotional intelligence, unconscious bias, trust and engagement training and expert witness. Mauricio provides assessment, diagnosis and accelerated 360 executive coaching services as well.
David Weightman
Risk Control Manager, Public Entity Practice, The PMA Companies
David Weightman is a risk control manager for PMA Companies and directs the risk control services provided to PMA’s public entity clients. David has more than 30 years of experience in the safety and risk control field and has a degree in occupational safety and health from Millersville University and an MBA from LaSalle University. He holds the Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), Associate in Risk Management for Public Entities (ARM-P) and Associate in Loss Control Management (ALCM) designations and is a Certified Safety Professional (CSP). He has also served as a faculty member of the Insurance Society of Philadelphia, is a frequent speaker at risk management conferences and a contributor to PMA’s Organizational Safety Institute.
