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Year in Review

2024 Year in Review - El Camino CPCU Chapter 

On behalf of the El Camino CPCU Chapter, we’re proud to share with you the 2024 Year in Review.  Throughout the year, we continued to offer a mix of interesting meetings, activities, and events for  everyone with relevant insurance topics and outstanding speakers. We’re discovering new opportunities  and different ways of serving our industry including revamping our chapter website and offering free  virtual chapter training sessions with the occasional hybrid approach of both in-person and virtual  presentations. 

Here are some of our chapter’s main goals and accomplishments including highlights of meetings &  events throughout the year.  

2024 Goals & Accomplishments: 

We have been successfully providing online webinar classes with the occasional hybrid approach each  month that are unique and important to the insurance professionals attending our classes. Due to the  vast territory of our chapter including San Luis Obispo County, Santa Clarita Valley, Ventura County and  the San Fernando Valley to the Glendale area and everything in between, the Virtual & Hybrid monthly  presentations have extended our chapters footprint beyond where we could have reached our chapter  members pre-covid. We often have participants from other chapters throughout the country that have  joined us for our meetings.  

We co-hosted the 5th Annual Regional CPCU All Industry Day (IDay) Conference with nearly all of the  California & Hawaii Chapters. We also have maintained our educational outreach to the CSUN Risk  Management students by offering them an opportunity to hear from a panel of insurance professionals in  a variety of insurance roles to learn what they do and how they impact their respective companies. This  has been a great learning forum and an opportunity for the students interested in a career in insurance to ask those burning questions about the insurance industry.  

We also continue to offer fun in-person meet and greet networking opportunities for our chapter  members and with our local CPCU chapter colleagues from the Los Angeles Chapter.  

2024 Highlights of Chapter Meetings and Events:  

On January 11th, we kicked off the New Year with an interesting and thought-provoking presentation on  Managing General Agencies (MGAs)” by President/Scott Carpinteri, ACAS/ K2 Parametric Insurance  Services, which is an MGA specializing in Parametric Insurance solutions for commercial and public entity  clients. This presentation provided us with an overview of the purpose and key functions of an MGA in  the marketplace specializing in niche areas of risk which require unique underwriting expertise. 

On February 8th, El Camino Chapter Board Member Rong Rong, CPCU, FSA | Senior Treaty Underwriter |  Vice President | Market Units P&C Reinsurance Swiss Re America Holding Corporation arranged for a  hybrid training presentation inside their office located at their WeWork site in Woodland Hills, CA, where  we were actively engaged on the topic of “Professionalism considerations around Artificial Intelligence  (AI)“. The presenter for this session was Todd Hess who is Head of P&C Transactions and Referrals in the  Risk Management department at Swiss Re. Todd talked about AI and Large Language Models. He shared  his thoughts and insights on AI in insurance with a professionalism slant as his expertise is  professionalism rather than AI.

On March 14th, as part of the CPCU Society’s Ethics month, we received a thought-provoking presentation  on “Ethics and the Insurance Adjuster”. The instructor, Brian Foote, MBA, WRT, AMRT, HCCwith Belfor  Restoration has been involved with the disaster recovery industry for over 30 years gave us an Approved Ethics CE course through California and Texas DOI, as well as CPCU Society. His session with a focus on  the big picture, covered the importance of general ethical guidelines and the motivations to be ethical, as  well as specific ethical concerns for insurance professionals. 

On April 11th, Rebecca Morgan/Vice President of Product Management for Enlyte Casualty Solutions  Group gave us a very thought-provoking presentation on “InsureTech Revolution: How Tech is Reshaping  Insurance”. Rebecca provided us with an overview on – What tomorrow will be like in insurance and  what can technology do to help? Further, she covered the demographic changes due to retirements and  adjuster turnover, the “Covid” impact, how technology can assist with decision support and training, and  concluded with an interesting discussion on Artificial Intelligence. 

On May 9th, our meeting speaker was Adam Shea who is a founding partner of the personal injury law firm of Panish Shea Ravipudi, LLP. He has extensive experience and success representing individuals and  families in catastrophic injury and wrongful death. He gave us a fascinating session and led a discussion  on liability awards in light of significant increases in claims severity and premium increases. It was  fascinating to listen to our speaker who is a high-powered plaintiff attorney with decades of insights who shared with us his perspective about the events that lead to these awards.  

On June 13th, our speaker, Executive Vice-President/Richard Harer, , C.F.E., C.P.I., C.F.S., W.C.C.A Command  Investigations, LLC, DBA- Specialized Investigations which is a national private investigation company  with over 500 employees provided us with an informative presentation on “The “Wet” Flags of Water  Damage Fraud”. Richard pointed out that commercial and residential water damage claims are on the  rise and becoming increasingly more costly to insurers being driven by unscrupulous public adjusters,  attorneys, remediation companies and others, who continue to develop creative and questionable claims  strategies to force the insurers into quicker and more costly settlements. This presentation explored some  of the more recent strategies being utilized by these parties including, but not limited to, expensive and  questionable claims for physical damages, loss of use (ALE), remediation, personal property damage,  mold, to name a few. Richard not only discussed the water loss issues, he offered us some practical and  effective methods of adjusting and investigating claims to expose and mitigate claims involving these  questionable and controversial water damage loss strategies. 

We were dark in July this year!  

In August, we had two great events. On August 8th, we had an interesting presentation on “The Keys to  Integrating Social Media into the Claims Process”. It seems we can never learn enough about the ever changing world of social media. Our presenter for this session was Jason Berry, Associate Vice President  of Operations at Social Discovery Corp. Jason is a seasoned insurance professional dedicated to  transforming the utilization of social media investigations within the insurance industry. His presentation  explored the claims process to identify when and how a social media investigation should be utilized. We examined the most common forms of social intelligence you can find on major platforms such as  Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. He wrapped up our conversation by touching on the importance of  data capture and preservation. It was fun discovering how social media can enhance our investigations  on everyday claims!

Then on August 22nd, the El Camino CPCU Chapter along with the Los Angeles Chapter held a Combined  Chapter Social Event with a Happy Hour at Pinz Bowling Alley in Studio City. Everyone had a great time!  We hope to do this fun event again sometime in 2025.  

On September 26th, we held our annual CSUN Career Day panel discussion with the focus on “Insurance  Careers: Industry Panel Discussion” with a prestigious panel of industry leaders. This was our 9th  Annual Educational meeting with Dr. David Russell and his students attending CSUN who are pursuing a  degree and career in the insurance industry. This is always a very special event which continues to be a  unique opportunity for us to give the students and chapter members a new perspective and an overview  of some of the different branches & functions of people in the insurance industry. We had several CPCU  members participate in a panel discussion addressing their views, journey & careers within the insurance  industry. This year’s esteem panel included Austin Grigsby, AVP of Personal Lines Home  Product/Underwriting with Verisk, Matt Trone, Head of Personal Lines Product and Pricing/Actuarial  with Farmers Insurance, Shannon Youkhanehpour, PPM Finance - Product and Farmers Brand/Finance  with Farmers Insurance, Emily Kaplan, Commercial Lines Account Manager/Brokerage with Gaspar  Agency, Lorenzo Zwaal/Loss Control with the California State Compensation Fund, Scott Jensen, High  Exposure Manager/Claims with Farmers Insurance and Armen Khachatryan, Senior Insurance Rate  Analyst/Regulation with the CA Department of Insurance. As always, the attendees consisting of CSUN  students and insurance professionals/CPCU’s from all walks of the industry were very engaged in the  panel discussion and asked some interesting questions of the panelists. We appreciate Dr. David Russell  giving us the opportunity every year to provide this level of education to the Students in the Risk  Management Program at CSUN. 

On October 17th, we celebrated our 79th Annual All Industry Day Conference and 5th Regional Annual  Event in a virtual format with all the CPCU Chapters of California including El Camino, Los Angeles,  Orange Empire, San Diego, Golden Gate, and Hawaii Chapters joining us as sponsors for this long standing CPCU event. Together, we had over 200 attendees from all over the country joining us for this  day of education. During this event, we had insurance professionals online interested in learning about  the latest trends and hottest topics from our panel of industry leading speakers, network with fellow  professionals online and recognize our new CPCU designees. Our IDay featured presentations on a variety  of important topics relevant in today’s insurance environment including Artificial Intelligence Impact on  Insurance, an informative Risk Management presentation, a presentation on new Emerging Risks, and  Insurtech and California Availability Issues with an esteemed panel consisting of Sharon Kauls, SVP at NFP  Private Client Group, Lucy Wang, Special Counsel and Deputy Commissioner of the CDI and Seren Taylor,  VP for the Personal Insurance Federation of CA. Before the lunch break, Sherry McFadden, Incoming  President of the CPCU Society gave an overview covering CPCU Activities and Events occurring during the  year and what the future holds in 2025. We also had a segment that included new designee recognition,  memorials, and award presentations for each chapter represented in this annual event. Our 2024 IDay  “Lead Sponsors” were CSUN/Nazarian College/Center for Risk Management and Insurance, USC  Marshall/Scholl of Business & the Peter Arkley Institute for Risk Management and our “Gold Sponsors” were Farmers Insurance, Kilmer Voorhees & Laurick Law Firm, Fire Cause Analysis (FCA), First Insurance  Company of Hawaii, SLA California and Social Discovery Powered by AI*Accurate Intelligence. We’re very  proud to have hosted another successful event!  

On November 14th, during our annual Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) chapter meeting we were given  an informative presentation on “What is Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) & Why It 

Matters?” by Stacey Jefferson who is a Senior Director of Product Management for Enlyte Casualty  Solutions Group held an intriguing discussion which encompassed examining DEIB including what DEIB it  is and is not, a study on bias and how our brain works, allyship, intersectionality & emotional intelligence and creating a culture of inclusion & belonging. Stacey also walked us through a discussion on how  organizations grow and thrive, establishing a culture of trust in the workplace and gave us some key  takeaways including it’s the little things that matter most. We appreciated Stacey sharing with us her  pearls of wisdom during the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) presentation.  

On December 11th, we held our Annual CPCU Holiday Luncheon and the Installation of the 2025 Chapter  Board Officers & Directors. During this event we held two “Good Works” Drives. The chapter came  together to hold our 2nd Food Drive providing support to the West Valley Food Pantry and our annual  collection of Toys for Tots was delivered to children in the Ventura County area. During the Toys for Tots  Drive, we were honored and proud to have two active Sailors, Bob & Tatiana who are stationed in Port  Hueneme at our meeting representing the US Navy. They gave us an update about them and how they’re  serving in the Navy. They also talked about the importance of the Toys for Tots Drive and provided insight  on a group that’s sometimes gets overlooked which is young girls between the ages of 9 and 12. They  gave us some ideas for the future such as arts and crafts kits & nail polish sets for that age group. It was  our pleasure to host them at our luncheon. Thank you to everyone who participated in our December  event and for making both of our “Good Work” Drives a success!  

Please welcome our 2025 Board of Officers and Directors: 

· President: Maria Fain-Tsymbalov 

· President-Elect: Carolina Calvo-Betdashtoo 

· Vice President: Ed Combs 

· Treasurer: Donna Munsch 

· Secretary: Christina Fenimore 

· Director and Webmaster: Alice Chien 

· Director: Christopher (Chris) Faber 

· Director: Carolyn (Carol) McDonald 

· Director: Rong Rong 

· Director: David Russell 

· Director: Vanessa Toureau 

· Immediate Past President: Paul Cunningham 

Along with all the accomplishments this year, we are proud that our chapter had 9 new designees from a  variety of insurance agencies and carriers who completed their CPCU.  

We are very pleased to welcome Aaron Holmberg, George Kailiwai, Coryn Murray, Alex Nguyen, Jonathan  Porter, Dave Turley, Vicken Shirinian, Jared Goldstein and Carolina Calvo-Betdashtoo. Our 2025 Chapter  President, Maria joined us in 2023 as a New Designee and immediately asked to be involved in the El  Camino Chapter as a Volunteer. Maria expressed interest in serving on the Chapter Board and was voted  in by our chapter members as the 2024 President Elect and is now serving as the El Camino Chapter  President. We are also pleased to share that 2024 CPCU New Designee/Carolina Calvo-Betdashtoo  volunteered to participate on the Board and was recently voted in by our chapter members to serve as  our 2025 President-Elect. 

We hope you’ll consider joining us as a Chapter Volunteer and future Board Member. It’s a great way to  get involved and network with a variety of insurance professionals from all walks of the industry and  we’re a fun group!  

If you’re interested in getting involved in the chapter as a volunteer, please contact any of our chapter  leaders to discuss opportunities or contact our 2025 Chapter President, Maria Fain-Tsymbalov at  [email protected], or our Past President, Paul Cunningham, CPCU at  [email protected], or Chapter Director, Carol McDonald, CPCU at [email protected] or call Carol at (805) 405-9891. 

Lastly, your CPCU Board is actively finalizing another year of great speakers, presentations, and fun  events in 2025. Our Chapter Meetings are held the 2nd Thursday of every month from 12:00 to 1:00.  

We will kick off the New Year with a great presentation on January 9th conducted by our 2025 Chapter  President, Maria Fain-Tsymbalov on “Flipping the Work/Life Script – Leading With Life”. You don’t want  to miss this enlightening presentation. We will have more intriguing presentations and networking/social  activities to come during this year. Keep watching for chapter announcements to register for upcoming  events at https://caelcamino.cpcusocietychapter.org/. 

On behalf of your California El Camino CPCU Chapter Board we look forward to seeing you during our  Virtual & Hybrid Chapter Meetings and Social Events in 2025! 

Letter from the President

Dear Fellow Insurance Professional, 

I am honored to introduce myself as Maria Fain-Tsymbalov, your incoming President of the California El Camino Chapter for 2025. Following an eventful and educational 2024, we are excited to present an even more engaging calendar for the upcoming year!

Key Dates and Events:

• Monthly Chapter Meetings are held on second Thursday of each month at Noon Pacific. They are available via Zoom.

• First meeting of the year is on January 9, covering an important topic of Life/Work Balance (hosted by myself).

• April 10th meeting, covering Excess and Surplus Lines hosted by our 2025 President Elect, Carolina Calvo-Betdashtoo, will also be available for in-person attendance at the Farmers Woodland Hills office.

• Summer networking social event in combination with the Los Angeles chapter where we honor our New Designees (date TBD).

• Annual insurance career discussion with Cal State Northridge students that we hold on the CSUN campus (tentatively slated for September 25).  

• Our highly-rated annual All-Industry Day, which includes a number of other California and Hawaii chapters, is scheduled for October 16th  . 

These events help each of us improve our understanding of our rapidly changing industry and stay in touch with one another. In the upcoming months, we will be covering many other important topics such as AI in Workers’ Comp, Data Analytics, Ethics and DEI, just to name a few.

Stay Connected: Please bookmark our chapter website for the most up-to-date information: https://caelcamino.cpcusocietychapter.org/index.php

Get Involved: We welcome volunteers for various committees, including the I-Day planning committee. These opportunities offer flexible, virtual participation that accommodates your schedule.

As we embark on this new year, I look forward to fostering an environment of learning, growth, and camaraderie within our chapter. Let's make 2025 a year of educational enrichment, professional development, and, most importantly, enjoyment for all our members.

I'm excited about the journey ahead and can't wait to connect with each of you throughout the year.

Best regards,

Maria Fain-Tsymbalov President, California El Camino Chapter CPCU Society