Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

Kristin M Woodman is responsible for establishing consistent portfolio and project management throughout the Global Specialty organization of Liberty Mutual Insurance, aligning business objectives to technology execution. Prior to Global Specialty, she worked in a variety of roles within Liberty, all focused on improving business outcomes.Before joining Liberty in 2002, Kristin was a consultant for IBM and Lucent, as well as a civilian leader for the United States Marine Corps. She has over 20 years of proven change and thought leadership in the technology field for a variety of industries.

Chris McMahon was Senior Editor for Insurance Networking News.

Sharon Dean is a Product Operations Director for Allstate Insurance Company’s excess and surplus lines carrier, North Light Specialty Insurance Company. Sharon is responsible for leading cross-functional teams within and outside the Allstate organization for the overall product management, underwriting, technology, and marketing for North Light Specialty Insurance Company. Sharon is also responsible for the overall growth and profitability of the excess and surplus lines plus management and compliance of the contracted surplus lines brokers.Since joining Allstate Insurance Company, Sharon has held various risk management and project management positions in both home office and the field, including the Ohio, North Central, and Northwest Regions. In 2004, Sharon was responsible for the overall program development of Allstate’s Your Choice Homeowner product. Most recently, Sharon was given the responsibility for leading the design, development, and implementation of Allstate’s excess and surplus lines strategy.

Merit Smith is VP & director, health care at the Robert E. Nolan Co., a management consulting firm specializing in the insurance industry.

Cynthia Hardy Young's strong business acumen is the result of leading turnarounds, managing profit and loss of multi-billion dollar divisions in publicly-traded companies and practicing as an attorney in law firm and corporate environments with an emphasis on corporate defense, directors' and officers' liability and risk management.ExperienceYoung is the President of Encompass Insurance, a $3 billion division of Allstate Insurance that sells personal lines products through three brands. Encompass has 10 geographic regions and 2 million customers, and its products are sold through a network of more than 5,000 independent insurance agencies across the United States. As President, Young has overhauled strategy. She has transformed the business with revamped technology, operations, sales, claims, finance, strategy, marketing and communications capabilities. Young has reduced expenses by $100 million, delivered average returns of 12.5% 2006 – 2008 and grown targeted segments while reducing non-targeted segments. Young also has raised employee engagement while upgrading, developing and exporting talent across the Allstate organization.Young's prior executive roles include serving as President, Personal Lines Division, Hanover Insurance and Vice President of Product Management, Personal Lines, The Hartford. At Hanover, Young led a $1.5 billion operation and laid the foundation for a successful turnaround by rebuilding the senior management team, building and launching a new product, improving operations and increasing employee engagement. At Hartford, Young had profit and loss accountability for a $1.2 billion region and was responsible for product, pricing and underwriting of personal lines products sold through the agency and direct channels. Young also held various profit and loss management roles at Hartford and Progressive where, as a product manager, she delivered solid profit margins and growth.As an attorney, Young handled claims made under community bank directors' & officers' liability, bankers' blanket bond, trust errors & omissions and employment practices liability products in Progressive's Professional Liability Group. She also was a litigation associate at Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue, the second largest law firm in the world, where she focused on defense of Fortune 500 companies.Young has a keen appreciation for stakeholder interests. She is adept at building and managing regulatory relationships at all levels, building advocacy among corporate constituencies and advancing national, state and local policy issues.Young is the only African-American female in the United States running a multi-billion personal lines operation for a publicly-traded company. She is a respected leader, frequent speaker at industry and community events and is often quoted in trade journals.After receiving her B.S. in Economics from Xavier University of LA, Young received her J.D. from the University of Notre Dame School of Law.Affiliations & HonorsBoard Member, Communities in Schools of Chicago, Strategic Planning Committee and Programming CommitteeMember, American Bar Association's Business Law Section, Corporate Governance Committee & Corporate Director Diversity CommitteeGraduate, Boardroom Bound® Boardology™ Institute; profiled in the group’s National Director/Candidate Database©Boardroom Bound® Chicago Friend

Frank Heaps is the managing director for Innovation in Insurance (i3), and is an adjunct professor of insurance at the Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina.

Anand Rao is a partner at Diamond Management & Technology Consultants.

Steve Murphy is a senior consultant at the Robert E. Nolan Co., a management consulting firm specializing in the insurance industry.