Claims People: Church Mutual, Blank Rome, Freeborn & Peters, Tower MSA Partners

Church Mutual Hires Claims Leader

Church Mutual has appointed Becky Hudzik-Presson as chief claims officer.

She will lead the entire claims organization for the Merrill, Wisconsin-based carrier, which specializes in religious institutions and nonprofits. She will report to Scott Names, senior vice president for shared services and chief information officer.

Hudzik-Presson has 24 years experience in the insurance industry, starting as an office claims adjuster and moving up through increasing levels expertise and leadership, Church Mutual said in a press release. She worked for GMAC Insurance, Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co., Ace Insurance and Chubb Limited Insurance during her career.

Hudzik-Presson holds a designation for Commercial Lines Coverage Specialist (CLCS) and a Six Sigma Blue Belt.

Blank Rome Draws 3 Attorneys From Competitor

The Blank Rome law firm announced that it has assigned three attorneys and a paralegal from another law firm to its insurance recovery group.

Robert P. Jacobs joins the firm as a partner along with newly appointed Of Counsel Linda A. Powell, associate Allison Zamani and paralegal Lakisha Foster. All four previously were with Perkins Coie, where Jacobs was chair of the insurance recovery group.

Jacobs, Powell and Foster will work in Blank Rome’s Washington, D.C. office; Zamani in San Francisco.

Blank Rome said the three new team members add to a national policyholder practice that more than doubled when the firm added more than 100 attorneys from the Dickstein Shapiro law firm’s New York and Washington D.C. office in 2016.

The law firm has added six partners, associates and of counsel to its insurance recovery group which is now comprised of 36 attorneys, 53 percent of whom are women.

The new team has experience representing policyholders in insurance coverage disputes arising from such things as product liabilities, asbestos and other toxic tort claims, first-party property loss, business interruption, advertising liability, professional liability, kidnap and ransom losses, and various directors and officers-related liabilities, Blank Rome said.

Freeborn & Peters Hires Litigator

Attorney Ian J. Dankelman has joined the Freeborn & Peters law firm’s Tampa office as an associate in the insurance/reinsurance recovery team.

Dankelman focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation, the law firm said.

The Freeborn firm said in a press release that Dankelman previously worked for a national law firm that specialized in first-party property cases. He also served as a judicial law clerk for U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Kovachevich in the Middle District of Florida. He began his legal career as an assistant state attorney in Florida’s Fourth Judicial Circuit, where he tried over a dozen jury trials to verdict, the law firm said.

Dankelman received a Juris Doctor from the University of Florida Levin College of Law. He earned a bachelor of science from Florida State University.

Tower Appoints MSA Business Development Executive

Tower MSA Partners has appointed Craig Deneau as senior vice president of business development.

Tower MSA, which assists clients with Medicare Secondary Payer Act compliance, said Debeau will seek new business opportunities and work with clients’ risk-management teams on Medicare set-asides and settlements.

The firm, headquartered in Delray Beach, Florida, said Deneau has 28 years of experience in the workers’ compensation industry. He started as a senior case manager for Liberty Mutual and most recently was a national practice leader for injury triage services for Medcor. Deneua also worked for Willis, ManagedComp Inc. Regulatory Technologies and CorVel Corp. during his career.

Deneau holds a bachelor’s degree from Southeast Missouri State University.