Carrie Burns
Editor
Insurance Networking News

Carrie Burns has worked as an editor in business-to-business publishing for nine years and worked in consumer publishing prior to that. She coordinates Insurance Networking News’ annual Women in Insurance Leadership awards program and serves as news anchor for INN’s video newscast. She also is active in the Insurance Accounting and Systems Association as a member of the Career Skills Development committee and serves as a judge for the association’s Technology Achievement Award.

While she was managing editor of a technical commercial greenhouse grower magazine, publishing-industry magazine Folio: recognized the magazine as a Gold Award winner of the Eddie Awards. She has also served as a judge for the awards. Burns received her bachelor’s degree in magazine journalism at Ball State University, Muncie, Ind.

Sharon Dean
Product Operations Director
Allstate Insurance Company

Sharon Dean is a Product Operations Director for Allstate Insurance Company’s excess and surplus lines carrier, North Light Specialty Insurance Company. Sharon is responsible for leading cross-functional teams within and outside the Allstate organization for the overall product management, underwriting, technology, and marketing for North Light Specialty Insurance Company. Sharon is also responsible for the overall growth and profitability of the excess and surplus lines plus management and compliance of the contracted surplus lines brokers.

Karen Furtado
Partner
Strategy Meets Action

A partner at SMA, Karen Furtado has more than 25 years of technical and business experience within the insurance industry. While her specific areas of expertise include application development, complex system implementations, vendor selection processes, project management, and business process outsourcing and technical outsourcing, throughout her career she has focused on delivering high-value solutions for core issues facing insurance carriers. Her focus has been on the joining of business and IT strategy, Technology road maps, solution selling concepts that drive value to the enterprise.

Deborah Smallwood
Founder
Strategy Meets Action

A co-founder of SMA, Deb Smallwood has held leadership roles in a premier insurance company, professional services firm, and research advisory, where she consistently found new ways to leverage technology in achieving optimal business performance. Her skill set includes business strategy, the development of business and IT road maps, and the delivery of enterprise solutions and systems to the business.

Pat Speer
Editor-in-Chief
Insurance Networking News

Pat Speer is an award-winning business journalist who has covered a spectrum of products and technologies that pertain to the insurance sector. With a 20-plus year career that includes an extensive background in business-to-business communications, Pat has held leadership positions in a number of trade publishing organizations and has reported on software systems and management issues that apply to companies of all sizes in a variety of vertical markets.

Jan Tomlinson
EVP, International Field Operations Manager (retired)
Chubb

She joined Chubb in 1973 as a commercial underwriter. She managed several underwriting departments in New Haven, Westchester and NY before managing the Westchester branch from 1986-1990. During 1990, she became Worldwide Director of Human Resources and in 1995, was named Canadian Zone officer, Chairman and President of Chubb Canada. Prior to her retirement from Chubb in December for 2009, she was responsible for Chubb's international operations.

Donna C. Wilson
SVP, Communications & Strategic Planning
IWIF

Donna C. Wilson joined IWIF in 1996 as a business consultant and was instrumental in creating IWIF’s strategic plan. In her current capacity, Ms. Wilson is responsible for corporate communications, public and community relations, strategic planning, as well as the Call Center, Document Management and Distribution departments.