Executive Summit 2006 - Planning Committee

Sponsors

Introducing the 2006 Executive Summit Planning Committee:

Jim Court, Vice President and Chief Information Officer, First American				Jim Court was named Vice President and Chief Information Officer for First American Property & Casualty Insurance Group in 1999. He is responsible for the vision and implementation of Information Technology at First American Property & Casualty Insurance Group. He has been with the company since early 1999, and has planned and implemented the technology infrastructure and applications to support the company's growth. His experience includes 25 years in high-technology industries and financial services. Prior to joining First American P & C, Jim held Operations Management, and Technology Management positions at Square D/MGE UPS Systems, and Printronix, Inc. Jim holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Information Systems from the University of Redlands, an Associate Degree in Electrical Engineering, and is in the process of completing his MBA at Pepperdine University.

Gary J. Gaspar, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, North American Company for Life and Health Insurance and Midland National Life (Sammons Financial Group)				Gary started his insurance career in 1973 at John Hancock. He held increasingly responsible positions at Massachusetts Mutual and Acacia Mutual. He began his employment at North American in 1985 as Vice President of Insurance Systems.

Ross Gosnell, Vice President of Information Systems & Technology, Delta Dental of Illinois				Ross Gosnell was named Vice President of Information Systems & Technology for Delta Dental of Illinois in 2000. He is responsible for strategic and tactical direction of IT for Delta Dental of Illinois and its wholly owned subsidiary TruAssure Insurance Corp. Previously, from 1997-2000 Ross was Director Regional Operations for Deltanet, a division of Delta Dental of California, responsible for account management and outsourcing of IT for Deltanet clients. Prior to that he was Vice President of System Development for North American Business Systems, responsible for development of custom solutions for a wide variety of clients; and Corporate Director of Information Technology for Selfix Inc

Joel Gelb, Vice President, Chief Information Officer, The Main Street America Group				Joel Gelb joined The Main Street America Group in 2001 as vice president and chief information officer (CIO). Joel has overall responsibility for the development and implementation of technology plans to support Main Street America's business strategy and management of infrastructure needed to execute its strategy. Joel has extensive experience in technology and insurance information systems management. Prior to joining Main Street America, he was senior vice president and CIO for Frontier Insurance Group, based in Rock Hill, N.Y. Prior to his position with Frontier, Joel held IT management roles with Group Health Insurance and Swiss Re/North American Reinsurance Company, both based in New York City. Joel earned his bachelor's degree at State University of New York--Stony Brook and master's degree at Johns Hopkins University.

Craig Lowenthal, Managing Principal & CIO Integro Insurance Brokers				Craig is Managing Principal and Chief Information Officer for Integro Insurance Brokers. Joining as a member of the executive management team in June 2005, he has global responsibility for the applications, infrastructure, telecommunications and technology of Integro Insurance Brokers. Craig has been a technology professional in the insurance industry for over 17 years. In his previous role as Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Hartford Financial Products, a unit of The Hartford, he led the effort to reestablish Hartford Financial Product's business after the offices at 7 World Trade Center were lost. At Hartford Financial Products, Craig was responsible for the systems, telecommunications and technology of the company. His responsibilities also extended to company security and facilities. Prior to joining Hartford Financial Products in 2000, Craig was Managing Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Reliance National Insurance Company. In his many management positions at Reliancehis responsibilities included e-business, electronic messaging, collaborative development, marketing/advertising systems, human resources/payroll systems, reporting and decision support systems, financial business systems, reinsurance business systems and international systems. He also held positions at Credit Suisse First Boston (formerly DLJ) and Deloitte & Touche. Craig is active in the Insurance Accounting & Systems Association (IASA) and Long Island chapter of the Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP). He is a member of the AICPA, and the NY State Society of CPA's (NYSSCPA). He holds a BS in accounting from the State University of New York at Albany and is a CPA licensed in New York.

Sharon Ritchey, Senior Vice President, Property and Casualty Operations, The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.				Sharon is responsible for Service and Operations located in 10 centers across the country. These centers service commercial and personal insurance agents, policyholders, as well as centers handling sales and service for the company's affinity AARP Personal Lines program. Sharon, who has 20 years of management experience in the financial services industry, joined The Hartford in April 1999 as the Chief Operations Officer for the affinity unit in personal lines. Before joining The Hartford, she worked at GE Capital. Sharon earned her Bachelor of Arts and Master's of Business Administration degrees from Eastern Kentucky University.

Piyush Singh, Vice President of American Financial Group, Inc., and Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Great American Insurance Co.				Piyush has responsibility for information technology services for AFG's P&C insurance operations and a number of AFG corporate functions. Piyush has more than 12 years of insurance industry-specific experience, much of it related to transformation of front office insurance operations. He earned a Bachelor of Science with Honors in Physics from Hindu College, Delhi, a Masters in Computer Applications from University of Delhi, India, and a Masters of Business Administration from Bradley University in Peoria, Ill. Additionally, Piyush attained his CPCU designation and completed the Advanced Executive Education program offered by the AICPCU at the Wharton School of Business.