John Keenan, CLU, CPCU is founder and Chairman of Keenan & Associates, one of the largest privately-held insurance broker/consulting/TPA firms in the United States. He founded the company in 1972, with four employees in one office, and has subsequently directed its growth to a firm of over 600 employees with 10 offices located throughout California. Keenan & Associates specializes in providing insurance services to schools and hospitals. Mr. Keenan is also Chairman of the Board of a TPA recently purchased from Blue Cross - Innovative Care Systems. ICS specializes in counties and large commercial accounts.

 

Before forming Keenan & Associates, Mr. Keenan served as Vice President with Cal-Surance, as well as Vice President with Frank B. Hall. Prior to these executive positions, Mr. Keenan worked for New York Life and Metropolitan.

 

Mr. Keenan graduated from Loyola University in 1952 with a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and began his career in the insurance business in 1954. He received his Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) designation in 1960 and his Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation in 1984. He also holds a certificate in Agency Management and Group Insurance from the American College. He was a Life Underwriter Training Council (LUTC) instructor for four years.

 

Mr. Keenan has been a big supporter of education in the insurance industry by not only providing facilities for instruction, but also providing financial aide for his employees to continue their education.

Sean Smith, is the President and Chief Executive Officer, succeeding company founder and Chairman John Keenan in 2000. He gained his broad background in operational, technical and marketing facets of the insurance consulting and brokerage business through more than 23 years of experience in the industry. Sean empowers an entrepreneurial culture among the company's 600 employees through a goal-oriented management system that emphasizes customer focus.

 

During his years at Keenan, Sean progressed through several previous sales and management positions, from Account Executive, then leadership of the northern California sales team, before returning to the Torrance headquarters to head up operations for the entire Schools Division.

 

Prior to joining Keenan & Associates in 1989, Sean served as a major accounts manager for Anthem Blue Cross, where he handled large commercial and school clients. He began his career at Prudential Insurance Company where he developed and negotiated their first preferred provider organization, and conducted cost management analysis for commercial clients.

 

Sean graduated from the University of Redlands (California) with a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science and Economics. Business Insurance designated Sean as one of the "Millennium Heirs to the Industry". He is actively involved in the Young Presidents' Organization, an international forum for the exchange of ideas and continuing education between today's corporate leaders.

Dave De Wenter, Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, is responsible for overall development and operation of ongoing insurance management programs and services. Other responsibilities include systems development, corporate legal, personnel administration, coordination of claims and medical cost containment efforts.

 

Before joining Keenan & Associates in 1983, Dave was a senior vice president of a national third party administrator. Since 1969, he has acquired extensive claims and administration experience in both public and private entity workers' compensation programs.

 

Dave graduated from California State University, Fullerton with a Bachelor of Arts degree. In 2001, he earned the Certified Workers' Compensation Professional designation (CWCP) from the School of Labor Relations at Michigan State University.

 

He is certified by the Department of Industrial Relations Self-Insurance Plans as a Workers' Compensation Administrator. Dave also served as President of the California Administration Service Organization.

David Seres is the Chief Financial Officer in the Torrance office. He is responsible for the areas of internal accounting and client service accounting. He is also responsible for all of the company's treasury functions.

 

David has been with Keenan & Associates since 1999. He had most recently worked for Ernst & Young LLP in Dallas and Los Angeles for a total of five years. Subsequent experience also included work in the accounting department of a major company in the petroleum industry.

 

David graduated from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a Certified Public Accountant, Chartered Life Underwriter, Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter, and is a Fellow of the Life Management Institute.

Henry R. Loubet is Chief Strategy Officer for Keenan. Mr. Loubet came to Keenan in the spring of 2003. Named in 1997 as one of California’s Top 100 Healthcare Executives, Mr. Loubet has considerable accomplishments in executive level managed healthcare, hospital administration, and e-healthcare.

 

Mr. Loubet has extensive managed healthcare experience, with UnitedHealthcare where he served as CEO of their Western Region. Prior to UnitedHealthcare, Mr. Loubet was President of Foundation Health of California. Before that, he was Senior Vice President and Regional Executive of Health Net. In six years, he led the healthplan to grow to 500,000 members. Mr. Loubet also served as Vice Chairman/Chief Operating Officer of the early adopter to the online pharmacy industry, DrugEmporium.com from 2000-2003.

 

Mr. Loubet serves on a number of the nation’s premier healthcare organizations in Board of Director and Advisory Board capacities, as well as non-profit boards. Mr. Loubet holds master’s degrees from University of Pittsburgh and University of San Francisco, and a bacherlor’s degree from Rider University, New Jersey.

Paul Volkman, Chief Information Officer, has over 18 years of technology and consulting experience at various companies and industries. Paul’s responsibilities as CIO at Keenan are to provide the necessary vision and leadership to develop and implement information technology initiatives that improve cost effectiveness, service quality, and business development in Keenan’s constantly changing, competitive marketplace. Paul is currently setting the technology direction for a number of Keenan’s enterprise-wide information systems including BenefitBridge, P&C Bridge, Claim Processing, Sales Force Automation, and Customer Service solutions. In addition, Paul is currently managing the implementation and customer service aspects of Keenan’s BenefitBridge technology solution.

 

Paul’s previous technology experience came from Gemstar-TV Guide where he served as Vice President of Enterprise Applications. Prior to Gemstar, Paul was CIO at Vivendi Universal Games where he was responsible for all Information Technology functions. Formerly, Paul served as a consultant with both InterWorld and Accenture where he managed various technology projects for several government entities including the Counties of Merced and Napa, State Compensation Insurance Fund, University of Michigan and others. Paul holds an Electrical Engineering degree received in 1992 from the University of California in Davis, California.

Tara Schilling, Senior Vice President, is in charge of developing and managing all TPA Operations which includes claims administration for property & liability, workers’ compensation, medical benefit claims and disability claims. Tara works closely with employers to design integrated claim management strategies and interventions that facilitate employer control of medical management, litigation and disability issues and to minimize the adverse costs of claims cost drivers. Tara also develops managed care provider and claim payer outcomes. In addition, she also oversees our cost containment programs, Partnership for Review and Integration of Medical Expenses (PRIME) and Partnership for Review and Integration of Defense Expenses (PRIDE) and Regency Investigations.

 

Prior to joining Keenan & Associates in 1990, Tara worked for various third party administrators and insurance carriers where she was responsible for designing and implementing effective procedures and workflow, developing quality control, and creating outcome management reports.

 

Tara has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Legal Studies and is certified by the Department of Industrial Relations, Self-Insurance Plans as a Workers’ Compensation Administrator. She has also completed many technical and managerial courses pertinent to claims administration and is an active participant in various industry committees.