Neeraj Arora
Director of Analytics, Insight and Innovation Group
Farmers Insurance

Neeraj Arora is currently the Director of Analytics at Insight and Innovation, Farmers Insurance (a subsidiary of Zurich International).

Neeraj leads a team of actuaries, statisticians and business managers who act as internal consultants to a variety of business groups within Farmers, including Product Management, Underwriting, Claims, Customer Experience, E-business, and Marketing. The team proactively and reactively identifies opportunities to leverage data to gain actionable insight on consumer behavior, and instigates change by influencing action.

Prior to joining Farmers in September 2007, Neeraj was a Business Manager at Capital One, responsible for creating and implementing strategies for maximizing value from current customers. During his tenure at Capital One, he has also handled 'New Account Acquisition' processes and Collections' agency management.

Neeraj holds a Bachelor of Architecture from School of Planning and Architecture, India; and a MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow.

Steve Clement
Senior Vice President and Director,
Information Technology Strategic Initiatives Office
Wachovia

Steve Clement is a Senior Vice President and Director of Wachovia's Information Technology Strategic Initiatives Office. In his role, Clement is accountable for innovation, strategy and strategic planning, CIO metrics and reporting, and managing the operating model for Wachovia's Information Technology department. Prior to joining Wachovia, Clement served as the technology unit manager at U.S. Bancorp, director of Corporate Systems at Bank One Services Corporation, technology manager for Comerica, Inc., and senior risk audit manager for Ex-Cell-O Corporation. An active supporter of his church and local community campaigns such as United Way and the Arts & Science Council, he is an assistant leader and merit badge coordinator for a Boy Scout troop and a volunteer at the Greater Metro YMCA.

Jim Court
Chief Operating Officer
First American P & C

Jim Court is Chief Operating Officer of First American's Property & Casualty Insurance Group, and has been with the organization since 1999. His responsibilities encompass all of the group's operations and information technology. Prior to joining First American, Jim held information technology and operations positions at MGE UPS Systems and Printronix, Inc. Jim has led successful business and technology transformations in both the Financial Services and Manufacturing sectors.

Jim holds an MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University, a Bachelor of Science Degree in Information Systems from t he University of Redlands, and an Associate Degree in Electrical Engineering.

Shamla Naidoo
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)
WellPoint

Shamla Naidoo is vice president and Chief Information Security Officer. She leads WellPoint's information security team and is responsible for the development and deployment of security, programs and operations. She works to ensure that our program is efficient and "state of the art". To fulfill this critical responsibility, she'll lead a team of 150 associates and partner with audit, compliance and the privacy office to spearhead development and deployment of cutting-edge security strategies and programs.

Ms. Naidoo has over twenty-four years of experience in information security and IT, with over fifteen in a senior management role. Prior to joining WellPoint, she was senior vice president and chief information security officer for Northern Trust Corporation, a multi-trillion dollar provider of investment management, asset and fund administration, fiduciary and banking solutions, based in Chicago. Previously, she served as first vice president of security architecture and compliance for ABN AMRO, an international banking organization. Earlier in her career, Shamla worked within IT for Royal Dutch Shell and DeBeers.

Born and raised in Durban, Ms. Naidoo earned a degree from the University of South Africa, double-majoring in Information Systems and Economics. She later earned her law degree from the John Marshall Law School in Chicago. She focused on Technology and Privacy law and is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association. She earned her CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) and ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) certifications in 2001.

Shamla previously provided community services through the Fair Housing Legal Clinic in Chicago, working to promote fair housing for the disadvantaged, and to raise community awareness of predatory lending practices. After settling into her new role at WellPoint, she plans to look for similar opportunities to contribute to the local community in North Haven, Connecticut. She also enjoys reading, nature and travel.

Piyush Singh
Senior VP & CIO
Great American Insurance Group

Piyush Singh is currently Sr. Vice-President and CIO of Great American Insurance Group, a Fortune 500 company based in Cincinnati, USA. He is responsible for creating the vision and direction of Great American's IT strategy and operationally executing the same to take the specialty insurer to the next generation.

Piyush started his IT career in 1988 as a consultant with CitiCorp Overseas Software Limited in Mumbai, India. He moved on to ANZ Banking Group and worked in Bangalore, India while being involved on international assignments in Australia, Greece, the UK, Singapore and the Middle East. Thereafter, he joined Price Waterhouse's Management Consulting Services group in Jamaica, working on large government contracts and with a local insurance carrier. He joined RLI Insurance, Peoria, USA, in 1994, moved up the ranks to be the VP of IT in 2000 and was promoted to be the CIO in 2004. He was responsible for taking RLI form a back-end focused organization to one that deployed technology to its fullest potential, striving for business transformation rather than automation. Piyush's simple but effective IT strategy led the company to deploy leading edge front-end application systems.

Piyush holds a master's degree in computer applications from University of Delhi as well as an MBA in finance from Bradley University. He has also completed a professional designation, CPCU (Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter) and attended the Advanced Executive Education program conducted by AICPCU at Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania. He is currently also involved in teaching a course in Project Management at College of Business, University of Cincinnati.

Piyush has been involved with several industry associations, colleges and community organizations for a long time. Currently he is on the Board of Directors of International Accounting and Systems Association, Advisory Council of College of Business for Bradley University, Editorial Advisory Board of Insurance and Technology magazine , Executive Committee of Cincinnati Chapter of American Red Cross and runs a charitable organization called "KARNA" that does projects in India. Piyush has spoken regularly at insurance and technology conferences and seminars and has been featured several times in trade magazines and journals. He has also spoken at the Insurance Executive Leadership seminar at the Wharton Business School. In 2005, he was selected as "Elite 8" CIO by Insurance and Technology magazine.

Rick Roy
SVP & CIO
CUNA Mutual

Rick Roy is the Senior Vice President of Customer Operations for CUNA Mutual Group in Madison, Wisconsin. He directs all customer service and operations functions including claims, call centers, and customer implementations and training through CUNA Mutual's operations centers in Madison, Wisconsin; Waverly, Iowa; and Fort Worth, Texas.

From 2003 through 2005, Rick was the company's Chief Information Officer. He directed technology strategy, application software development, information security, and technology infrastructure. Rick was recognized as an Insurance & Technology 2006 Elite 8 honoree for his vision, leadership, effective resource management and ability to help CUNA Mutual compete and consistently meet strategic objectives.

Prior to joining CUNA Mutual, Rick was Senior Vice President and General Manager of product development at Metavante Corporation, a wholly owned technology subsidiary of the Marshall & Ilsley Corporation. He was responsible for product development and technology architecture for Metavante's software product portfolio. As a member of Metavante's executive team, Rick participated extensively in merger and acquisition activities, and directed software development functions across six cities in the United States and Canada.

Rick's previous roles at Metavante included Senior Vice President and General Manager of the company's Customer Relationship Management (CRM) business line. Prior to joining Metavante, Rick held technical and technical management positions with eFunds Corporation.

Rick holds a Master's Degree in business from Marquette University and a Bachelor's Degree in management information systems from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Rick has completed additional management programs at Harvard Law School and Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

Rob Salkowitz
Author
Generation Blend: Managing Across the Technology Age Gap

Rob Salkowitz is a writer and consultant specializing in the social implications of new technology and author of Generation Blend: Managing Across the Technology Age Gap (Wiley & Sons, 2008). He has worked with leaders in the IT industry, including Microsoft, HP, and nGenera, to forecast social and technology trends, formulate market strategy and articulate business goals. He recently co-authored a white paper on the future of the insurance industry with Bill Hartnett, General Manager of the insurance industry practice at Microsoft, available for download on Microsoft's website.

An entrepreneur and small business owner, Rob has helped start seven companies since 1994 and is a partner in the Seattle-based communications firm MediaPlant, LCC. He is also a founding Board member of Older Adults Technology Services (OATS), a New York-based non-profit that does technology training and workforce development for people over 50. Listening to the Future: Insights from the New World of Business, a collection of whitepapers on the future of work Rob produced for Microsoft, co-authored with Daniel W. Rasmus, is forthcoming from Wiley in the fall of 2008. His next book, Generation X-ecutive: How the Generation That Broke All the Rules is Changing the Game, is due out in May, 2009. Rob earned a BA in Political Science/International Relations from Columbia University in New York, and lives and works in Seattle, Washington.

Mark R. Wood
Director, Data Center Infrastructure
Highmark, Inc.

Mark Wood is Director of Data Center Infrastructure Highmark Incorporated. In this position, Mark and his staff provide Infrastructure Management for Highmark's corporate data center. These responsibilities include infrastructure planning and analysis, performance and capacity planning, storage management, Infrastructure monitoring and disaster recovery planning.

Mark has been employed in the Information Technology field since 1975 and has been employed by Highmark since 1998.

During his many years in the Industry, he has been involved in several Data Center construction projects including two green field site projects. His latest assignment consisted of serving as the IT project lead for Highmark's new corporate data center which opened in November of 2005. This facility has earned a Silver LEED Certification for new construction through the U.S. Green Building Council and has been certified by the Uptime Institute as a Tier-III facility.

Steve Wrenn
Vice President, Operations & Process Excellence
Liberty Mutual Insurance

In this role Steve is responsible for strategic and operational quality and process improvement activities in support of Liberty's insurance business. Steve and his team enable Liberty's business by driving increased productivity, and reduced time to market, through continuous process improvement initiatives and by the application of standard frameworks, methodologies and tools, such as CoBIT, CMMI, ITIL, Lean and Six Sigma.

Steve has been with Liberty Mutual since 2002, when he joined the organization to start up it's IT Service Management Operation. Prior to joining Liberty, Steve worked at Enterasys Networks, where he served as Vice President of Global Service & Support and led a team of over 400 service professionals that designed and delivered business enabling technology on a global basis. He has built and led professional services and technical support organizations in both the US and abroad, most recently encompassing offices in London, Singapore and Hong Kong. Prior to Enterasys, Steve held leadership positions of increasing responsibility at Cisco Systems, TTC and Hewlett-Packard.

Steve holds a bachelor of science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts and earned an MBA from the Whittemore School of Business at the University of New Hampshire, where he is also an Adjunct Professor in the Executive MBA program.

Katherine Burger
Editorial Director
Insurance & Technology

Katherine Burger is Editorial Director of Insurance & Technology and Bank Systems & Technology, members of TechWeb's Financial Technology Group. She has led Insurance & Technology since 1991, and assumed leadership of Bank Systems & Technology in 2003.

At Insurance & Technology, in addition to directing the editorial strategy, Kathy has been directly involved in the development of new products, supplements and publications on topics including standards, e-commerce, budgets/ROI, globalization, security, convergence, CRM, standards, privacy, outsourcing, health insurance, and financial management. She also oversees Insurance & Technology News, I&T's e-mail newsletter, and I&T's Web site (www.insurancetech.com) and related online offerings.

Kathy is a frequent speaker/participant at industry/association-sponsored conferences and events, both online and face-to-face, including IASA, ACORD, ACLI, IVANS and Insurance Services Office (ISO). She is a member of the IASA Interpreter Steering Committee.

Nathan Conz
Associate Editor
Insurance & Technology

Nathan Conz is Associate Editor of Insurance & Technology, a member of the Business Technology Group of TechWeb. He joined the publication in February 2007.

Nathan writes content for Insurance & Technology's magazine, newsletter and blog and hosts both audio and video podcasts.

Before joining Insurance & Technology, Nathan was a reporter for the Hartford Advocate, where he covered local politics, local college news, technology trends and sports. Nathan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in magazine journalism from Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Anthony O'Donnell
Senior Editor
Insurance & Technology

Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Media Network he has written on all areas of information technology in the property/casualty, life and health insurance industries, following the trends and issues faced by senior technology executives. In addition to reporting and editorial duties for I&T, O'Donnell also serves as a moderator and speaker at industry events and broadcasts. He began his editorial career in the healthcare industry where he reported and edited for medical publications with a variety of audiences, from the general public to physicians and researchers. He has also worked in the healthcare field as a media relations professional and Spanish/English interpreter/translator, and has taught English composition and conversation classes to native speakers of Spanish, both in the United States and in Latin America. O'Donnell lives in the Portland, Oregon area with his wife and two sons.