DRI Faculty List
2021 Workers Compensation Seminar
Royal Oaks Country Club | Dallas | November 12, 2021
James M. Anderson Anderson Crawley & Burke Pllc
James M. Anderson is the managing member of Anderson Crawley & Burke, PLLC in the Jackson, Mississippi area. He has been a faculty member for numerous seminars and programs relating to workers' compensation and other employment and insurance related issues throughout his career. He serves on the Board of Directors of and is the Past President of the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Educational Association, Inc., and has been Chairman of the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Educational Association's Annual Conference for the past 8 years. He has also been a presenting member of the Multi-State Committee of the Workers' Compensation Institute in Orlando for the past 7 years and is co-chair of the National Workers' Compensation Review presented at the WCI conference in Orlando. Anderson is also a member of the National Board of Directors for the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America headquartered in Cherry Hill, NJ. Anderson is admitted to practice before all courts in the State of Mississippi and before the United States Supreme Court. Anderson has carried Martindale Hubbell's highest rating (AV) for the past 25 years. He has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America since 1995 and was named Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers in 2012 in the area of Workers' Compensation— Employers in the Jackson, Mississippi area. He is also listed as a Mid-South Super Lawyer in the area of Workers' Compensation. He is a Fellow of the College of Workers' Compensation Lawyers and serves on the Board of Directors for that organization as well. |
Jonathan L. Berryhill BERRYHILL & MITCHELL PC
Jonathan L. Berryhillis a native of Birmingham, Alabama. He received his B.A. degree in political science from Birmingham-Southern College in 1993 and the Juris Doctorate from the Birmingham School of Law in 1996. While attending law school, he clerked for three years for the Honorable J. Scott Vowell, Circuit Judge in the 10th Judicial Circuit of Alabama. He has practiced in the area of insurance defense litigation, including personal injury workers' compensation, products liability, technology and intellectual property, small business representation, and employment law since 1997. He is admitted to practice in all state and federal courts in Alabama including the Northern, Middle and Southern U. S. District Courts. Memberships include the Birmingham Bar Association, Alabama Bar Association, Alabama Defense Lawyers Association, DRI, Alabama Workers' Compensation Organization, and the Alabama Workers Compensation Defense Lawyers Association. Jonathan served as chair of the Workers' Compensation section of the Alabama State Bar in 2012-13. He is an A-V rated attorney with Martindale Hubbell. He is also a past Chair of the DRI Workers' Compensation Community. |
Allen T. Craddock Texas Department of Insurance - Division of Workers' Compensation (DWC)
Allen T. Craddock is the Deputy Commissioner for Hearings at the Texas Department of Insurance – Division of Workers' Compensation (DWC). He graduated from St. Mary's University School of Law and was admitted to practice by the State Bar of Texas in 1998. In 2009, he completed a Ph.D. in social psychology. He is board certified in Workers' Compensation Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Prior to joining DWC in 2013, he practiced full-time in workers' compensation representing medical providers, injured workers, and employers. He has served as an adjunct professor of law at St. Mary's University School of Law since 1999, and also served as a visiting professor of law at Pepperdine University. |
Daniel P. Culpepper Anderson Crawley & Burke PLLC
Daniel P. Culpepper is the managing member of Anderson Crawley & Burke, PLLC, (www.acblaw.com), a law firm headquartered in the Jackson, Mississippi metro area. Since joining Anderson Crawley & Burke, PLLC, his practice has focused primarily on representing Employers, Carriers, and Third Party Administrators in Mississippi Workers' Compensation matters. He received his certification as a Certified Self-Insured Workers' Comp Professional as established by the Mississippi Association of Self-Insurers. Not only did he receive his certification, but he has served as an instructor for the program since its inception. |
Shawn Deane Ametros Financial
Shawn Deane is General Counsel and leads our legal team at Ametros. He has over a decade of experience practicing law and in Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) compliance as an industry thought leader. He was previously Vice President of Medicare Compliance & Policy at ISO Claims Partners. Prior to that he practiced insurance defense litigation and healthcare law. Shawn is on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee for Kids' Chance of Massachusetts. He has been heavily involved with The National Medicare Secondary Payer Network (MSPN), formerly NAMSAP, having served as chair of the webinar and education committees, on the Board of Directors, and was past President in 2017. He was also former executive committee member with the Medicare Advocacy Recovery Coalition (MARC). Shawn is faculty for the Certified Medicare Secondary Payer Professional Program (CMSP). Shawn is a member of the Massachusetts Bar and is licensed in both state and federal courts in Massachusetts. His law degree is from the Massachusetts School of Law. He also holds a master's in education from Cambridge College and undergraduate degree from Berklee College of Music. |
Tom Glasson CPCU AIG Corporation
Tom Glasson CPCU is a Senior Government Affairs Officer for the AIG Companies. Tom is responsible for AIG's relationship with the legislature, and multiple regulatory agencies in 10 states, and serves as the "team expert" for all WC related issues. Tom began his career as a licensed adjuster, dealing first hand with injured workers. He has been actively engaged in the WC industry throughout his career working with employers, regulators, medical providers, TPA's, and other system participants. Tom currently serves on the Board of Kids Chance of Texas, The Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI), The International Association of Industrial Accident Boards & Commissions (IAIABC), and is active in other industry organizations. In 2018, Tom received WorkComp Central's prestigious Comp Laude, Magna Laude Award, and the IAIABC's President's Award (and again in 2019 for his leadership of the IAIABC's Associate Member Council.) |
Rafael Gonzalez, Esq. Cattie and Gonzalez
Rafael Gonzalez, Esq., was born in Havana, Cuba. Rafael and his family escaped communism to Madrid, Spain, and ultimately immigrated to the US. Rafael has over 35 years of experience in the auto, liability, no-fault, and workers' compensation insurance industries. He has written extensively on liability, workers' compensation, social security, and Medicare/Medicaid issues. He has also taught these subject matters at several law schools and medical schools in Florida. He lectures throughout the country on all aspects of Medicare and Medicaid compliance, including Mandatory Insurer Reporting, Conditional Payment Resolution, Medicare Set Asides, MSA Post Settlement Administration, Medicaid Third Party Lien Reimbursement, and Special Needs Trusts. |
Diana (DJ) Johnson Gallagher Bassett Services
Diana (DJ) Johnson has been in the insurance industry for over 35 years, specializing in workers' compensation claims and compliance. Her previous employers include two insurance carriers, AIG and CNA. In 1992, she began her career as a Third Party Administrator working for Gallagher Bassett where she has worked for 27 years. She served as Gallagher Bassett Branch Manager from 1992 – 1997 and worked as the Texas Compliance Supervisor in multiple Texas offices until 2000. She held positions with the North Central Zone as a Compliance Manager followed by a Compliance Assistant Vice President. In 2005, DJ began working on the implementation of the Texas legislative changes involving Third Party Administrator Rules, developing the Texas Heath Care Network and the creation of the Performance Based Oversight process. |
Jennifer Morris Jones Cranfill Sumner LLP
Jennifer Morris Jones is a partner in Cranfill Sumner LLP's Raleigh office and is a member of the Workers' Compensation Practice Group. She is a North Carolina Board Certified Workers' Compensation Specialist. Jennifer enjoys actively working with her clients to develop cost effective strategies to resolve workers' compensation claims. With her clients' business interests in mind, Jennifer strives to achieve positive and cost-effective resolutions to workers' compensation disputes. To achieve those goals, Jennifer counsels clients in resolving claims through a strategic Motion practice, when appropriate. Such Motions may include Form 24 Applications and Motions to Compel discovery responses, compliance with medical treatment and compliance with vocational rehabilitation. Jennifer has experience handling all aspects of the process from claims investigation, witness interviews, motions practice, mediation, hearings, appeals and medical depositions. Jennifer also has handled appeals from the Deputy Commissioner level to the Full Commission, as well as from the Full Commission level to the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Jennifer's niche is her Form 24 practice. This practice involves moving the Industrial Commission to terminate or suspend an employee's weekly temporary total disability (TTD benefits) on an expedited basis without prolonged litigation. For example, if an employee refuses a job that his treating physician has approved for him, a Form 24 Application may be appropriate. If the treating physician has released the employee to return to full-duty work, a Form 24 Application may be appropriate. Jennifer has succeeded in not only securing Form 24 Application approvals, but she has also secured monetary credits/offsets for her clients as well. Jennifer works with her clients to determine whether this potential money-saving strategy is applicable on a case-by-case basis. Jennifer also counsels her clients on proactive measures they can take to be better suited when they need to defend a claim. Recently, her counsel with regard to these types of measures has specifically focused on clients' hiring processes to ensure they are utilizing all the benefits of the 2011 Legislative Reform. |
Leah P. Keele Latham Steele Lehman
Leah P. Keele is a shareholder at Latham, Steele, Lehman, Keele, Ratcliff, Freije & Carter located in Tulsa Oklahoma with offices also in Oklahoma City. The firm practices in State and Federal Courts throughout the region, and represents businesses and professionals in a variety of legal matters. The firm carries the highest Martindale-Hubbell rating (AV) for legal expertise and integrity. She has a workers' compensation defense practice representing insurance companies and self-insured employers in Oklahoma. She is a member of the Workers' Compensation Defense Institute, the Tulsa County Bar, DRI, the National Self-Insured Association, and the Oklahoma Self-Insured Association. She is a frequent lecturer on workers' compensation law. She is admitted to the Oklahoma Bar Association, The Cherokee Bar Association, The Muscogee Creek Nation Bar Association, The Osage Bar, and The Native American Bar Association and the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma. |
William E. Lindahl CPT Institute
William E. Lindahl is the Executive Director for CPT Institute a national charity with twenty plus years' experience. He provides ongoing education and training for the legal community on protecting government benefits for the injured and at risk. As the charity's director, he has created one of the lowest cost national trust programs available in America. CPT Institute now operates in forty-eight states and is the nation's leading national charity providing Master Trusts which include Settlement Management Trusts, Pooled Special Needs Trusts, and Minors Trusts. He feels it is a great privilege to serve the injured and at risk. Will has spent most of his adult life in service to others. Throughout high school he was a volunteer fire fighter and worked on a rescue squad in rural Maine. He spent twelve years as Respiratory Therapist working in multiple intensive care environments and became a member of a Pediatric/Neonatal Helicopter flight team. He also has worked as the State Director of TQM for Columbia Healthcare Corporation as a Medicare and Medicaid auditor. In addition, he has survived malignant Melanoma and as a result of complications is now visually impaired with eighteen degrees of sight. This unique career history and life experiences are what drives him to spend his life helping others. With his twenty plus years of experience, thousands of case consults, an MBA from the University of Phoenix and as a California Licensed Professional Fiduciary he is uniquely qualified to train and help the public and legal community protect those living with disabilities and/or at risk. |
Jeffrey C. (Jeff) Napolitano Juge Napolitano Guilbeau Ruli & Frieman
Jeffrey C. (Jeff) Napolitano is a director in the law firm Juge, Napolitano, Guilbeau, Ruli & Frieman, in Metairie, Louisiana. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree, cum laude from Louisiana State University in 1982. He was a member of the Loyola Law Review, and received his juris doctor degree from Loyola University School of Law in 1985. Jeff's practice area is state and federal workers' compensation and employers' liability. Jeff has served as Chair for the Worker's Compensation Committee of the Defense Research Institute (DRI), and on the Governor's Workers Compensation Pharmacy Task Force. He has been named a member of the CLM Alliance as well as a fellow in the College of Workers' Compensation Lawyers. Jeff has been a featured speaker for numerous seminars including DRI, the Louisiana Association of Business & Industry (LABI), the Louisiana State Bar Association and the New Orleans Bar Association. |
Trang H. Nguyen, MD, MPH MedicusRx
Trang H. Nguyen, MD, MPH is board certified in Family Medicine and is a board eligible Occupational Medicine physician in Cincinnati, Ohio. She completed the Doctoral Degree in Epidemiology at the University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine. Dr. Nguyen is a clinician and a researcher. She was an Assistant Professor at UT Southwestern Medical School at Dallas, Department of Family Medicine. Dr. Nguyen is an author and a member of the Advisory Board for the journal Spine. She is the lead author for the "Long-Term Outcomes of Lumbar Fusion Among Workers' Compensation Subjects |
David C. Randolph MD, PhD, MPH University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
David C. Randolph MD, PhD, MPH is an active Occupational Medicine physician in Cincinnati, Ohio, in practice for 35 years. He is the Past President of the American Academy of Disability Evaluating Physicians. He was a contributor to the AMA 5th Edition Guides, and a reviewer of the 6th edition. He completed his PhD in Epidemiology at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. His interests include polypharmacy, CRPS, nutritional/vitamin deficiencies and chronic pain. He is also a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and is an Eagle Scout. |
Robert D. (Bobby) Stokes Flahive Ogden & Latson PC
Robert D. (Bobby) Stokes is a shareholder of Flahive, Ogden & Latson, Robert (Bobby) Stokes is a skilled litigator with more than 30 years' diversified experience in the field of workers' compensation law and is Board Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Civil Appellate Law and Workers' Compensation Law. He earned his BA at Abilene Christian University and holds a J.D. from Baylor University, where he was managing editor of the Baylor Law Review.Mr. Stokes is an advocate in workers' compensation cases at the administrative level, in suits during the judicial review process, and before all Texas Courts of Appeals and the Texas Supreme Court. His high-profile appeals include Division of Workers' Compensation v. Lumbermen's Mutual Cas. Co., a case in which the appellate court disallowed a DWC effort to increase claimant impairment ratings through the use of agency "advisories", In re: Crawford & Co., where the Texas Supreme Court abolished bad faith recovery in Texas workers' compensation cases, City of Laredo v. Garza, the style case requiring rigorous expert analysis to prove the existence of an injury, and Ins. Co. of the State of Pa., v. Muro, a case in which the Supreme Court reversed an award of Lifetime Income Benefits. |
Jennifer M. Sullivan Juge Napolitano Guilbeau
Jennifer M. Sullivan is a director in the law firm of Juge, Napolitano, Guilbeau, Ruli & Frieman. She has been employed with Juge, Napolitano, Guilbeau, Ruli & Frieman since 2009. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology from LSU in 2002. She then earned her J.D. from Loyola University Law School in 2005. Prior to joining Juge, Napolitano, Guilbeau, Ruli & Frieman, Jennifer worked primarily in the area of Medical Malpractice law. Upon joining Juge, Napolitano, Guilbeau, Ruli & Frieman, Jennifer began practicing primarily in workers' compensation defense, with an emphasis in Second Injury Fund appeals. She is a frequent presenter on Louisiana Workers' Compensation at seminars. |
Steven M. (Steve) Tipton Flahive Ogden & Latson PC
Steven M. (Steve) Tipton is a shareholder of Flahive, Ogden & Latson. He is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law, Civil Appellate Law, and Workers' Compensation Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He is admitted to the bar of Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. District Court of the Western District of Texas, and State Bar of Texas. He is MARTINDALE-HUBBELL AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated. Graduating from Southwestern University (B .S., 1973), he then attended The University of Texas Graduate School for Biomedical Sciences in Houston, conducting research for the Medical School. He earned his law degree from South Texas College of Law, Houston (J.D., 1981), having served on the Editorial Staff, South Texas Law Journal, and the Student Advocacy Board. |
Desiree Tolbert Sedgwick
Desiree Tolbert is Assistant Vice President, National Claims Technical Compliance for workers' compensation at Sedgwick. She is based in Lake Mary, Florida. In her current capacity, Desiree is one of several colleagues at Sedgwick responsible for ensuring Sedgwick's workers' compensation compliance nationally. She has over 38 years of experience as an insurance professional with 25 years of experience specific to workers' compensation. |
Karen G. Treece Lee & Brown LLC
Karen G. Treece is a founding member of Lee & Brown LLC, is a trial lawyer with forty years of litigation experience. Ms. Treece is recognized as one of the premier workers' compensation defense lawyers in the State of Colorado. Ms. Treece began her legal career as a Deputy District Attorney and as a law clerk to the former Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado. Ms. Treece then gleaned experience in the civil defense arena. She specialized in toxic torts, governmental entity, premises, and major litigation defense. |
R. Scott Zuerker Ledbetter Cogbill Arnold & Harrison LLP
R. Scott Zuerker was born in Lubbock, Texas on October 24, 1966. He received his Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from Metropolitan State College of Denver in 1990 and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1994. Mr. Zuerker is a member of and has served as President of both the Sebastian County Bar Association and the W.B. Putman Inn of Court. He is a member of the Arkansas Bar Association where he has served on the House of Delegates, the Executive Council, the Legal Education Committee, the President's Special Task Force on Lawyer Admission and Discipline, the Professionalism Task Force. Mr. Zuerker also served as Chair of the Board of Governors, Workers' Compensation Committee and Young Lawyer Section of the Arkansas Bar Association. He is a member of the Arkansas Self-Insurers Association, the Arkansas Association of Defense Counsel, Defense Research Institute, and the Trucking Industry Defense Association. In addition, Mr. Zuerker serves on the Arkansas Supreme Court Professional Practicum Faculty and acts as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, teaching Workers' Compensation. He has been named Best Lawyers in America in Workers' Compensation Law since 2012. |