FACULTY
ASHLEY L. BELLEAU is a shareholder in the New Orleans office of Lugenbuhl, Wheaton, Peck, Rankin & Hubbard. She has more than 30 years of experience as a commercial litigator and an arbitrator and mediator, and handles insurance disputes under fidelity, professional liability, and general liability policies. Ashley has been recognized on numerous award lists, including the 2023 Top 50 Louisiana Super Lawyers and Top 25 Women Louisiana Super Lawyers lists, Best Lawyers in America© and a Recognized Practitioner by Chambers and Partners USA in its Commercial Litigation category. Past National President of the Federal Bar Association, she currently serves as the American Counsel Association's President and a Vice-Chair of the ABA's Fidelity and Surety Law Committee.
P. AUSTIN BRAKEBILL is an associate in the Dallas, Texas office of Clark Hill PLC. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Baylor University and earned his law degree, cum laude, from the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law. He was the Editor-in-Chief of the SMU Law Review Texas Survey.
PAUL EMERSON is an attorney with over 20 years of experience handling financial lines and professional lines claims. He has represented a wide range of domestic and international carriers as coverage, monitoring and defense counsel. Paul is now in his ninth year at Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance, where he leads the Third-Party Claims team in Canada.
CLAUDINE ENGLISH is Zurich North America’s Employment Practices Liability, Crime and Fidelity Product Officer. She’s been practicing law for over 25 years and has 17 years of experience in the insurance industry. She is a subject matter expert in EPL, D&O, Fiduciary, Crime, Kidnap/Ransom & Extortion, Workplace Violence, and Financial Fidelity lines of business. Claudine has drafted several industry leading insurance policies for all lines of management liability business, including ERISA and financial institution bonds, both at Zurich and in her prior role as the Public and Financial Institutions Product Counsel at Chubb. She routinely lectures on all aspects of ERISA, fidelity and management liability insurance, and labor and employment law.
ROBERT M. FLOWERS is Vice President, Management Liability First Party Claim for Travelers in Hartford, Connecticut. He is a graduate of the University of Nevada-Reno. Bob’s team is responsible for a variety of First Party Management Liability products, including Commercial Crime, FI Bond, First Party Cyber, ID Fraud and Kidnap and Ransom claims.
AMANDA M. GATTI is a Senior Claims Attorney at ABA Insurance Services Inc. She helps insured financial institutions navigate claims and coverages under Director and Officer Liability, Employer Practices Liability and Cyber Liability policies, as well as Financial Institution Bond. Prior to joining ABA Insurance Services Inc., Amanda was a civil litigation attorney with a focus on professional liability defense. She was recognized as an Ohio Super Lawyers Rising Star in 2018, 2019 and 2020. Amanda graduated from Ohio University with a Bachelor of Arts and she received her Juris Doctorate from Case Western Reserve School of Law.
CARL M. GRANT is a Senior Claim Counsel at Travelers assigned to the First Party Claims team handling claims under Commercial Crime policies, Cyber policies, Financial Institution Bonds, and Kidnap & Ransom policies. He joined Travelers in July of 2014. Prior to joining Travelers, Carl worked for AIG in the Fidelity Bond Department handling fidelity claims involving commercial companies and financial institutions for 14 years. Carl is a graduate of the University of Rochester with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and a graduate of the Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law School with a Juris Doctorate.
ANNE A. JUNTUNEN is a Claims Team Lead with Coalition Inc., based in San Diego. Anne has spent her career advising clients on specialty coverage matters in the United States and Canada, with a focus on crime and cyber insurance policies.
JAMES A. KNOX, JR. handles cyber, technology, media and crime claims for Hiscox USA. Jim was an associate, partner and equity partner in major Chicago law firms. He represented domestic and international insurers in coverage investigations, dispute resolutions and litigation, with many successful outcomes in both trial and appellate practice. He represented sureties facing and prosecuting claims and litigation on bonds issued for construction contractors. He also handled many other types of bond claims.
TED LANSDALE is Senior Claim Counsel at Travelers where he handles a variety of first-party claims under the Commercial Crime, Cyber, Kidnap & Ransom policies as well as the Financial Institution Bond. Previously, he was associated with a Boston law firm where he handled professional liability matters. He holds a B.A. in economics from Colgate University and a J.D. cum laude from New England School of Law.
COURTNEY A. NICHOL is a partner in the Michigan office of Gordon & Rees. Her practice focuses primarily on complex commercial litigation, insurance coverage and cyber security matters. Ms. Nichol regularly counsels and represents clients on insurance coverage issues, with an emphasis on fidelity bond, cyber and commercial crime policy claims. She also has extensive experience representing insurers across the nation in all aspects of complex litigation involving coverage disputes, product liability, defective technology, data breaches, cybercrime and commercial contract disputes. Ms. Nichol earned her J.D., cum laude, from Wayne State University Law School and her Bachelor of Science degree in Brain Behavior and Cognitive Science from the University of Michigan.
DOLORES PARR has over forty-two years’ experience handling claims under Financial Institution Bonds, Commercial Crime Policies, Directors and Officers Liability and other business risk policies and performance and payment bonds. She recently retired from Zurich American Insurance Company where for the past seventeen years she managed the team that handled all fidelity and crime claims for Zurich. She currently is working for SDC CPAs, LLC. A member of the Maryland Bar since 1977, Ms. Parr is a graduate of Towson University (B.A. magna cum laude 1974) and the University of Baltimore Law School (J.D. 1977). She also has a Master of Liberal Arts degree from Johns Hopkins University (MLA 2005) and an Associate in Fidelity and Surety Bonding from the Insurance Institute of America.
DAVID M. REARDON currently serves as the Assistant Inspector in Charge for the Boston Division, which includes a geographic area spanning seven states. Inspector Reardon manages four investigate squads, responsible for the full gamut of law enforcement and security operations, a Postal Police unit responsible for security and law enforcement response at critical Postal Service facilities and oversees critical division wide programs, including evidence and threat management training. Inspector Reardon attended Suffolk University and Suffolk University Law School, both in Boston, Massachusetts, and is admitted to practice in Massachusetts, before both state and Federal courts, and before the U.S. Supreme Court.
PATRICK T. RYAN is a Senior Associate of Clyde & Co US LLP in Boston, Massachusetts. He concentrates his practice in the areas of insurance law, insurance coverage, surety law and fidelity law, construction and commercial litigation. Patrick received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of the Holy Cross and received his Juris Doctorate from Suffolk University Law School. Patrick has extensive experience representing insurers in coverage investigations, the evaluation of complex coverage disputes and bad faith claims in connection with fidelity and crime insurance policies, financial institution bonds, and cyber liability policies.
DEE STUDLER is a Certified Public Accountant and Certified in Financial Forensics, and the founding and managing member of SDC CPAs, LLC, a global investigation and forensic accounting firm specializing in handling crime claims, fidelity (including employee dishonesty and employee theft), lack of faithful performance and cyber claims for the insurance adjusting and insurance defense industry. Dee is a Member of The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, an associate of The American Bar Association and a past vice chair of TIPS Fidelity and Surety Law. Dee received her Masters in Accountancy from the University of Texas, graduating Summa Cum Laude. She completed her undergraduate work at Indiana University, receiving a Bachelor of Science in Accounting.
SUSAN KOEHLER SULLIVAN is a Partner with Clyde & Co US LLP. She has more than 30 years of experience as a commercial litigator, focusing her practice on corporate insurance matters. She handles insurance coverage investigations and disputes (including through trial or arbitration) under numerous types of policies, including fidelity, directors and officers, employment, professional, property, excess and general liability policies. Susan has been identified as one of the “Best Lawyers in America” in the area of Insurance.
IGA W. TODD is a partner in the Chicago office of Gordon & Rees. Ms. Todd’s practice focuses on insurance coverage and cyber security. Ms. Todd represents domestic and international insurers in claims under fidelity and financial institution bonds, commercial crime policies, computer crime policies, cyber security policies, data breach policies, and professional liability policies. Ms. Todd frequently counsels insurers on coverage issues relating to employee dishonesty and theft, forgery, cybercrime, cyber security, data breaches, and loan losses. Ms. Todd earned her Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School and her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.