Event Profile

Go Back

Christine Brown is an Assistant Director with the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation – Captive Division, where she directly supports the Director of Captive Insurance and Deputy Commissioner of Captives in licensing, strategic planning, legislative initiatives and industry outreach. Christine joined the Captive Division in 2003 and has been involved in all aspects of the analysis and examination processes. Prior to joining the Captive Division, Christine spent seven years in public accounting with Johnson Lambert in Burlington, VT, specializing in captive insurance, and with Ernst & Young in Boston, MA. Christine earned a MS in Accounting and MBA from Northeastern University, and a BA in Political Science from Regis College.

As Senior Account Executive for Helmsman, Ryan is responsible for leading the growth of captive TPA business across the country. He is an experienced alternative risk and insurance professional knowledgeable in workers’ compensation, property, and all liability lines of business. Ryan began his insurance career as a program administrator and broker, generating revenue for risk retention groups before transitioning to claims management. Before his current role, Ryan was charged with providing unique solutions and reducing TCOR for self-insured and alternative structures at a well-respected company specializing in claims administration, insurance services, and captive management.

Fred Eslami joined A.M. Best in June 2008 as a senior financial analyst with the alternative risk transfer group, rating domestic and off-shore captive insurance companies. In his portfolio, Fred has the largest number of single parent captive insurers. Prior to joining A.M. Best, Fred was a vice president with Radian Group's financial guaranty team and served for fifteen years in various risk management and reinsurance positions. Prior to Radian, Fred was director of asset management with York Hannover Developments Inc. and was responsible for U.S. operations of the international real estate group of companies. Fred holds a master's degree in international business and relations from University of Pennsylvania and an MBA in administration from Philadelphia University. Fred lives in New Jersey and is married with two children.

John is Performa’s Head of Business Development responsible for leading the firm’s new business development and marketing effort by cultivating relationships with captive managers, captive insurance companies and industry service providers. He has been a conference task force member for various captive insurance associations over the years and is a part of CICA’s Membership Committee. Prior to joining Performa in 2014, he was a Treasury Analyst at UVM Medical Center. He has extensive investment management experience as a fixed income product manager, including 10 years with Standish Mellon Asset Management in Boston followed by similar roles at Dwight Asset Management and Sentinel Investments. John graduated from Lafayette College with a double major in International Affairs & Spanish and earned an M.S. in Investment Management from Boston University’s School of Management.

Danny Linton is a senior consulting actuary with Pinnacle Actuarial Resources working remotely from Nashville, TN. He has been in the property/casualty industry since 2005 and his work has been focused on loss reserving, loss forecasting, captive feasibility studies, capital modeling and cost allocation mechanisms. Specifically, his expertise involves analyses of self-insureds, public entity risk pools, and captive insurance companies. He currently serves on the American Academy of Actuaries Workers Compensation Committee and the Actuarial Standards Board Casualty Committee of the Casualty Actuarial Society.

Cameron is the Founder and CEO of AI Insurance, which makes modern cloud-based claims management software specifically for captives, TPAs, and self-insureds. Cameron is a Northwestern graduate, and has been awarded for his research in human-computer interaction. With a background as a cognitive software engineer at IBM, Cameron is focused on bringing a data-focused approach to the insurance space so that companies can unlock the potential of AI.

Ms. Mapes has practiced law in the Captive Insurance Industry for 21+ years. She and her captive insurance team at Paul Frank + Collins form captives and risk retention groups, and provide legal counsel to these clients on tax, regulatory, entity structures, contract negotiations, and coverage analysis. PF+C Insurance Services provide claims management as well as claims and underwriting audits. Ms. Mapes co-teaches the Risk Retention Group course as a faculty member of the International Center for Captive Insurance Education (ICCIE). She speaks at, or otherwise participates each year in the Vermont Captive Insurance Association (VCIA) annual conference, the largest captive insurance conference in the world. She serves as a guest lecturer at Vermont Law School on the topic of captive insurance, has spoken at RIMS, and at forums on the Island of Bermuda. Ms. Mapes received her law degree at Vermont Law School, J.D. (magna cum laude) in 1988. She serves on several community boards and professional organizations, including the VCIA Legislative Committee and the ICCIE Curriculum Committee.

As a Tax Senior at Crowe Horwath LLP, Alicia is the lead client service provider for many of the firm’s multi-national and international insurance clients. She has experience with both U.S. domiciled and internationally domiciled insurance companies. Alicia has worked with commercial property & casualty insurance companies, life insurers, single parent captives, risk retention groups, association captives, cell companies, risk pools, and reciprocal insurance companies. Her roles at the firm include overseeing the preparation of federal and state income tax returns, preparation of tax related compliance for GAAP and SSAP 101 reporting and performing research and consulting on federal and state insurance related issues.

Jeff Packard has over 40 years of expertise in the insurance industry, with an emphasis in the marketing and sales of alternative risk transfer products coupled with an expertise in the underwriting arena. He is an Assistant Vice President for the Captive Division of The PMA Insurance Group, a multi-lines property and casualty carrier with a specialty in workers’ compensation. Since 1990, Jeff has worked in the alternative market area, including serving as Senior Regional Vice President for Mutual Risk Management, a Bermuda-based company that specialized in providing for Fortune 500 companies, captives and rent-a-captive solutions for their insurance needs. He continues to teach underwriting and financial classes for insurance professionals, and lectures at The Fox Business School of Temple University, in Philadelphia. He also enjoys public speaking engagements throughout the insurance industry.

Joerg Reinholdt joined Chubb as a Vice President of Foreign Casualty for the New York Region in 2004. In September of 2007, Joerg took on a Zonal Role for Foreign Casualty for the NY and Northeast Regions. In November of 2012, he assumed the role of SVP – National Field Operations across all nine Regions for Foreign Casualty. Starting in November of 2014, Joerg assumed responsibility for the International Risk Management Portfolio within Global Casualty. Before joining the company, Joerg was the Assistant Manager for AIG in their Northeast Home Foreign Casualty operation. Joerg also has prior experience on the Risk Management side as Manager of Corporate Risk Management at Texaco. Joerg graduated from the Wirtschaftsakademie, Kiel in Germany with a double major in finance and marketing.

With over 30 years experience underwriting Casualty business, Theresa is responsible for Primary Casualty’s US Risk Management business for AXA XL. She manages a team of Regional Underwriting Managers throughout the country solving complex insurance issues for large commercial clients. Based in San Francisco but spending time in each of the regions to assist in navigating unique opportunities including growing AXA XL’s captive and Group Captive portfolio.

Kevin joined Opus Investment Management in 2017 and leads the sales and marketing efforts. He has over fifteen years of industry experience, thirteen of those years have been within business development. Prior to joining Opus, Kevin was with Symmetry Partners as an Advisor Services Consultant and worked in Business Development roles with F-Squared, MetLife & Travelers Life & Annuity.

Anne Marie Towle, CPA and PC License, leads Global Captive Solutions team at Hylant. She has over 25 years of experience working with captives and other alternative risk transfer vehicles. Prior to joining Hylant, Anne Marie was an Executive Vice President with JLT, and formerly a Senior Consultant with WTW for over 7 years. She also spent time as a Senior Manager in public accounting and 10 years in taxation, where she provided consultancy services to captive owners. Anne Marie has been recognized in the Captive Review Power 50 for the past 5 years. She’s involved in several captive associations, including as Board member for VCIA, Vice-Chair for NCCIA and ICCIE. She holds a B.B.A. in Accounting from Western Michigan University.

Andrew Baillie is the Program Director of Global Insurance for the AES Corporation, a global power producer and distributor headquartered in Arlington, Va., with operations in 15 countries around the world. Andrew supports risk management oversight and the procurement of insurance for the AES Corporation for development and operational assets globally as well as managing the company’s large, Vermont-based Captive Insurance Company. Andrew has worked for AES since 2006, during which time the company’s risk management and insurance programs have developed to become world leaders among energy industry peers. In addition to almost 20 years of experience in global insurance program management, Andrew has been a regular presenter at conferences and events.

Ian Davis currently serves as Senior Vice President, Captive Insurance Manager at M&T Bank, where he directs the identification, development, expansion and maintenance of the customer base for the bank’s captive insurance portfolio. Davis joined M&T after having served as Director of Financial Services at the Vermont Department of Economic Development, leading the marketing and business development activities in support of the state’s captive insurance industry. He holds a Master of Public Administration and B.A. in Political Science from the University of Vermont.

Kevin Mead, President of VCIA, and steward of this year's conference, has a wealth of association management and financial experience that demonstrates his leadership ability. Prior to VCIA, he engineered a merger of three global independent accounting associations and forming PrimeGlobal, which represented 2,000 partners and 14,000 employees in 90+ countries. Kevin then facilitated rapid membership and revenue growth, increasing the net income 25% from 2 billion to 2.5 billion USD for PrimeGlobal. After PrimeGlobal, he was the Vice President of Resource Development for Spokane County United Way, a chapter of the biggest charity in the world, and most recently was the Executive Director of a rare disease foundation. He raised over 3 million dollars for United Way, and while in the rare disease space, won international grants for the foundation supporting patients, most notably in Kenya. Holding two master’s degrees related to association management and finance, Kevin is a perfect fit to lead VCIA, build out the captive industry’s flagship conference, increase VCIA membership and membership value, while evolving the organization amid the current pandemic and economic challenges.

Colonel David W. Shevchik, Jr. is the Commander, 158th Fighter Wing, Vermont Air National Guard, South Burlington, Vermont. He is responsible for ensuring the Wing is ready to defend, execute combat operations, and sustain follow-on forces. He is entrusted with operation, readiness, training, morale and welfare, installation support and quality of life for 1,000 personnel assigned to the 158th Fighter Wing. Colonel Shevchik attended the United States Air Force Academy and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in 1999 upon graduation. He attended Undergraduate Pilot Training at Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi, and follow-on F-16 training at Kelly Field, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. Colonel Shevchik then served in multiple positions while assigned to the 77th Fighter Squadron at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. He completed a year tour in the Republic of Korea as a Brigade and Division level Air Liaison Officer. Upon his return to Shaw Air Force Base, he served in various positions within the 79th Fighter Squadron and the 20th Fighter Wing. In 2007, Colonel Shevchik transferred to the 158th Fighter Wing, Vermont Air National Guard. He attended the United States Air Force Weapons School 2009 and served in various positions within the 134th Fighter Squadron. Colonel Shevchik served as the Maintenance Squadron Commander from 2013-2016, and then attended the United States Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. Following his return to Vermont, Colonel Shevch

With 15 years of experience working in the captive insurance industry, Josh brings his expertise to his role as account executive. Josh has experience in all aspects of captive insurance management, this includes captive formation, implementation, feasibility, management & supervision, compliance and reporting. He also has experience in many captive industries including but not limited to higher education, healthcare, insurance, manufacturing & distribution, banking and other P&C applications. Josh has managed captives in many domiciles for various captive types including risk retention groups, single parent captives and group captives.

Aaron Hillebrandt is a principal and consulting actuary with Pinnacle Actuarial Resources in the firm’s Bloomington, Illinois office. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Illinois State University, where he has been a mathematics lecturer. He is an honorably discharged sergeant and combat veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He currently serves as a vice-chair on the Casualty Actuarial Society’s (CAS) Annual and Spring Meeting Planning Committee, a faculty member of the American Academy of Actuaries (AAA) Seminar on Effective P/C Loss Reserve Opinions, and a member of the VCIA conference task force.

Tim Padovese is the President and CEO of Ophthalmic Mutual Insurance Company (OMIC) since 2002. OMIC is a risk retention group (RRG) insuring over 5,800 ophthalmologists nationwide which translates to a 60% market share. In addition to the responsibilities associated with the company’s operations and its success, Tim works with all ophthalmologists that are members of their sponsoring organization the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO). Tim holds a Bachelors degree in Economics from the University of Pittsburgh and a MBA from Golden Gate University in San Francisco. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and is married with two sons both in the insurance industry. Tim has over 40 years of insurance experience with the last nineteen at OMIC. Prior to joining OMIC, Tim spent 22 years with Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co. in key underwriting and marketing positions and at NORCAL Mutual as Vice President of Underwriting.