CLAIMS

Sedgwick Claims Management Services, Inc., an independentprovider of third-party claim administration services, appointedExecutive Vice President Paul J. Posey to chief operating officer(COO). In this new capacity, Posey will be responsible for allSedgwick CMS operating groups engaged in the direct delivery ofclaim services on behalf of clients.

Posey has been with the company for 12 years and previouslyserved as both chairman and president of the American Associationof Independent Claims Professionals.

OTHER SERVICES

David S. Zweighaft, CPA, CFE, has joined the New York office ofRGL Forensics, an international forensic accounting firm. Prior tothis post, Zweighaft operated his own forensic accounting andlitigation consulting firm.

ASSOCIATIONS

The Council on Litigation Management (CLM) made changes to itsadvisory board, announcing that Domenick DiCicco, SVP, chief legalofficer for Zurich North America, and Helen Gillcrist, vicepresident and manager of Enterprise Legal Services of LibertyMutual, will serve as the Council's Advisory Board Chairman andVice Chairman, respectively, for two-year terms.

DiCicco and Gillcrist succeed Michael Boutot and Kevin Quinley,who will both continue to serve on the board. Dean K. Harring,CPCU, CIC, and chief claims officer for QBE the Americas, alsojoined the board.

The Collision Industry Electronic Commerce Association (CIECA)Board of Trustees elected officers for the 2009 year. Michael Lloydof California Casualty Management Company will serve as chairman,and Robert Turchan of Pride Auto Body, representing EverestPartners, will act as vice chair. Additionally, David McClune ofthe California Autobody Association will assume the role oftreasurer, while Denise Caspersen, Automotive Service Association,will operate as the secretary.

NEW RELEASES

Now available from Soho Publishing, Claims Made &Reported: A Journey Through D&O, E&O, and OtherProfessional Lines of Insurance traces the development of theprofessional lines insurance industry from 1688 — at the inceptionof Lloyd's — to 2008. Author Larry Goanos interviewed more than 400industry professionals to write the book, which provides aneducational overview of the industry in the U.S., Bermuda, andEngland. Copies are available for purchase only on the publisher'sweb site, www.sixthandspringbooks.com.

Audatex North America Inc. released the Winter 2009 volume ofits industry trends publication, Audatex Directions. Thefeature article in this latest installment explores what is drivinghybrid repair costs, examining how subtle design differences canresult in higher part prices, repair costs, and limitedalternative-part availability. This edition also marks theintroduction of a series of articles about Lean Six Sigma forcollision repair. The series outlines how proven Lean methodologiescan improve shop productivity, customer satisfaction, andbusiness-growth potential. For more information or to download thepublication, go to www.audatex.us.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC)'s2006 Homeowners Insurance Report provides data aboutmarket distribution and average costs per policy form and amount ofinsurance. The recently released report includes country-wide andstate-specific premium and exposure information for non-commercialdwelling fire insurance and homeowners' insurance package policies.It also contains a discussion of how certain economic, demographic,and natural phenomena impact homeowners' insurance prices. Moreinformation can be found at www.naic.org.

Casualty Actuarial Society offers Estimating Unpaid ClaimsUsing Basic Techniques as a comprehensive resource forpracticing actuaries and actuarial candidates. Jacqueline FrankFriedland authored the new text, consolidating numerous papers thataddressed estimating unpaid claims on the CAS basic educationsyllabus. As Ms. Friedland notes, “two major benefits of oneeducational publication are consistent definitions of terms andexamples that are used with multiple estimation techniques.” Togain access to the text, go to www.casact.org/pubs.

VENTURES

CIECA re-chartered its Customer Satisfaction Indexing (CSI)committee. The precipitating reasons behind the action were renewedinterest by the industry and collaborative spirit among membercompanies such as Allstate, CSi Complete, Customer Research, Inc.,CynCast, Mitchell International, and Performance Feedback.

The committee's mission is to facilitate appropriate collisionindustry segments and vendors' electronic communications of CSIinformation. These electronic communications standards wouldencompass the collection of data from repair facilities andinsurers, a survey process, and the dissemination of information toappropriate stakeholders. For more information about CIECAstandards, go to cieca.com.

Baseline Management Company, Inc. introduced new catastrophemodels for hurricanes and earthquakes. The risk modeling andtechnology firm developed the models in conjunction with AppliedResearch Associates, Inc. (ARA) and URS Corporation (URS). The setcan be accessed as a service through Baseline's hosted, web-basedplatform. They incorporate tested concepts and draw uponpeer-reviewed science and engineering.

GAB Robins, a provider of loss adjusting and claim managementservices, is selling its international subsidiaries as well itsforensic engineering unit, EFI Global, Inc. The deal excludes thecompany's U.K. business, which could be purchased by the unit'smanagement from GAB's majority owner, Brera Capital Partners, LP,and operated under the name GAB Robins U.K. Limited.

Cunningham Lindsey Group Limited, LLC, which provides similar,third-party adjustment services as GAB Robins, was announced as thebuyer of EFI Global. According to its web site, EFI Global providesforensic engineering, fire investigation, environmental, andspecialty consulting services for commercial, industrial,institutional, insurance, government, public, and privateentities.

DRC Services Group, a debt management company, offers a newservice to assist insurers in automating and resolving theirnon-performing auto subrogation claims. The added resource isdesigned to help insurers reduce the growing portfolio ofsubrogation claims, which reportedly reach upward of $225Bannually. The goals of the Resolved Claims program are to provide along-term solution that holds responsible parties accountable whileallowing insurance carriers to recover more of the revenue to whichthey are legally entitled. Go to resolvedclaims.com for programdetails.