Speakers
In order of appearance
Brian Mourer, WCP
Director of Plan Administration—Residual Markets, NCCI
Brian Mourer, director of Plan Administration, is responsible for administration of the workers compensation residual market plans in states where NCCI is the Plan Administrator.
He has more than 18 years of experience working with residual markets.
Previously, Mourer was director of reinsurance and a reinsurance consultant in Pool Administration, as well as a manager of assigned risk application processing in the Assigned Risk Department.
Prior to his career at NCCI, he spent time in the banking and financial planning industries.
Mourer graduated from the University of Florida.
Cliff Merritt
Senior Division Executive—Residual Markets, NCCI
Cliff Merritt, senior division executive, residual markets, is responsible for administering the workers compensation residual market reinsurance pools and assigned risk plans approved in NCCI states.
He was previously NCCI’s director of reinsurance responsible for coordinating NCCI’s resources as administrator of workers compensation residual market reinsurance pools for various states. He also oversaw the servicing carrier indemnification and premium collections processes.
In addition to his 30-plus years of residual market experience with NCCI, Merritt served as vice president and chief financial officer for a workers compensation insurance carrier. He was also the chief operating officer for a commercial litigation law firm that specialized in workers compensation premium fraud litigation.
Merritt graduated from William Paterson University (formerly William Paterson College of New Jersey).
Crissy Parmer, ARe
Reinsurance Consultant, NCCI
Crissy Parmer is a reinsurance consultant in Pool Administration in the Residual Market. Her responsibilities include providing financial, insurance, and reinsurance analysis pertaining to residual market pooling mechanisms as well as working regularly with the National Workers Compensation Reinsurance Association (NWCRA) board of directors.
Parmer graduated from Florida State University with a bachelor of science in finance and has an MBA from Florida Atlantic University.
Chris Welch
Bureau Chief, Division of Investigative & Forensic Services Bureau of Workers’ Compensation Fraud on Behalf of the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud
Chris Welch oversees the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation Fraud in Florida. During his 24-year law enforcement career, he has garnered extensive knowledge in the areas of criminal investigations, policy development, evidence room management, high liability training, and state law enforcement accreditation standards. He currently serves as the chairperson for the Florida Workers’ Compensation Fraud Task Force and volunteers on the board of directors for a local Crime Stoppers organization. Chris Welch is also a former board member of the Florida Police Accreditation Coalition and has prior service as an assessor with the Florida Commission for Law Enforcement Accreditation.
Samantha McLeod, FCAS, MAAA
Executive Director and Actuary, NCCI
Samantha McLeod leads the actuarial team responsible for calculating and setting reserves for the residual market reinsurance pools in NCCI states.
McLeod graduated from Florida Atlantic University with a master’s in mathematics and applied statistics. She is a Fellow in the Casualty Actuarial Society and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries.
David Colon, ACAS, MAAA
Assistant Actuary, NCCI
In over 20 years at NCCI, David Colon has worked in a variety of areas including ratemaking, legislative analysis, data quality, and research.
Currently, he leads several research projects in the research and analytics area within the Actuarial & Economic Services Division at NCCI.
Colon earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics, with a minor in statistics, from Florida International University. He is an Associate of the Casualty Actuarial Society and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries.
Patrick Coate, PhD
Economist II, NCCI
Patrick Coate joined NCCI in 2017 in the economic research focus area. He previously worked as a research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research and as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan Population Studies Center.
He earned a PhD in economics from Duke University and a BS in mathematics from the University of Dayton.
Melissa Palmer, CMP, CSPO, CIP
Executive Director, WC Operations Projects, NCCI
Melissa Palmer, executive director of WC Operations Projects, is responsible for providing leadership, strategic planning, and technical skills for the systems and business operations in the WC Operations Division. Currently, she is leading NCCI’s cross divisional
Atlas Initiative to modernize the development and delivery of all NCCI manual content.
Palmer is the Program Product Owner of
NCCI’s Atlas Initiative as well as its subproject―NCCI Atlas―the new content delivery platform and all of its information. She is responsible and accountable for the overall strategic vision and management of the project ensuring that it meets the goals established by the team to meet stakeholder requirements.
Palmer has been with NCCI since 1986 and has held a variety of positions including Assigned Risk, Experience Rating, Customer Service, Classification and Inspection Services, underwriting, training, and quality services, business management and planning, and Project Management. Prior to her current position, she was the director of Residual Market Plan Administration for 12 years.
Palmer graduated from Florida State University with a bachelor’s degree in business management.
Tara Mercer, CUA, CIP
Manager–Information Solutions, NCCI
Tara Mercer is an information solutions manager with the WC Operations Division at NCCI. In September 2022, she took on the role of manager in addition to consulting with internal and external stakeholders to create, develop, and implement new content management solutions that improve the user experience. She is responsible for understanding the needs of our customers, technology advancement, and effectively interact with key stakeholders to formulate and sustain an enterprise content strategy.
Mercer began her career with NCCI in 1994 as a customer service representative and has worked in several areas of the organization including Experience Rating, Data Operations, and Product Management until 2020, when she moved to her current position in WC Operations Projects.
Mercer graduated from Florida Atlantic University with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
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