Disability RMS Management Team
John Roberts - President, Disability RMS
As president of Disability Reinsurance Management Services, Inc., John Roberts is responsible for the operational management of Disability RMS, today the largest provider of turnkey disability reinsurance and management services in the country.
Roberts has almost 25 years of experience in disability, life and special risk businesses. Prior to joining Disability RMS, Roberts held a variety of top positions at Unum and UnumProvident Corporation in the areas of group insurance operations and long-term disability products. He has been responsible for the profit and growth of Unum´s group insurance products, with more than $2 billion of inforce premium, as well as Unum´s long-term disability product, making up $1 billion in business. His extensive experience in managing underwriting, claims, product and systems development, and marketing areas has contributed to market-leading sales results year after year.
Roberts was the past chairman of the Health Insurance Association of America´s Disability Subcommittee and received his bachelor´s degree in economics from Bowdoin College.
Andrew Bernstein – Vice President, Law, Disability RMS
Andy has been a practicing attorney for more than 23 years, and brings to this position over 17 years of legal, management, claims and reinsurance expertise. During his 13-year career at Unum, Andy held leadership positions in the Legal department and Disability Claims operations. In addition, he ran his own consulting business, providing legal, claims, underwriting, product and reinsurance advice in the life and disability insurance marketplace. From 1980 through 1987, Andy was a litigation and trial partner with a Portland, Maine-based law firm. He has written and spoken frequently about disability and legal topics, including fraud, litigation issues and disability claims practices. Andy is also a past chair of the American Council of Life Insurance-Health Insurance Association of America Joint ERISA Task Force.
Andy holds undergraduate degrees in history and art history from Bowdoin College. He received his J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law.
Gregory J. Dulac – Vice President, Business Development, Disability RMS
Greg has an extensive background in the disability insurance industry, with experience in underwriting, claims management, product development and compliance. In his 10 years with Disability RMS, Greg has also been the primary client contact for many business partners, managing all aspects of these client relationships. His diverse roles at Disability RMS have enabled Greg to develop expertise in the company’s primary markets: traditional, worksite and association disability. Greg is responsible for leveraging his disability background and contacts throughout the disability industry to develop new clients for Disability RMS.
Prior to joining Disability RMS, Greg spent 8 years in the Underwriting and Claims departments at Unum. He was responsible for the profitability of over $100 million of long-term and short-term disability premium and the management of the Long-Term Disability Claims staff.
Greg received his undergraduate degree in computer science from the University of Southern Maine.
Thomas J. Heckel – Vice President, Actuarial, Disability RMS
As the Vice President of Actuarial, Tom is responsible for developing the Actuarial staff, as well as the analysis and plans that support the profitable growth of the disability business of our clients and our reinsurance facilities. This work involves the pricing, valuation, experience analysis, forecasting and overall financial management of the business assumed by our various facilities.
Tom gained over 15 years of disability insurance experience while working at Unum. His responsibilities included financial management, analysis, planning and reporting, reinsurance administration and strategic planning.
Tom holds a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics from the University of Wisconsin, and earned his Fellow of the Society of Actuaries designation in 1989. He is also a member of the American Academy of Actuaries.
David C. Mitchell – Vice President, Client Services, Disability RMS
In his role as Vice President of Client Services, David’s primary responsibilities include customer satisfaction, growth and profitability of clients' blocks of business, overseeing product development, corporate marketing and customer service operations.
David joined Disability RMS in 1993 and has served in a variety of underwriting and client services roles. His responsibilities included client retention, block profitability and new case and renewal pricing. Further, David provided strategic planning and development support and played a significant role in designing the inforce case management system and rating platform.
Prior to joining Disability RMS, he worked for Unum’s reinsurance division where he focused on underwriting and client management for reinsured clients.
David received his degree in Business Administration from the University of Maine and serves on its southern Maine alumni board as president-elect. He holds a Chartered Life Underwriter designation and is a past president of the Group Underwriters Association of America.
Lisa D. Philbrick - Vice President, Claims, Disability RMS
Lisa joined Disability RMS in 2002 bringing with her more than 20 years experience in the group insurance industry. Prior to joining Disability RMS, Lisa worked for UnumProvident in a variety of leadership positions overseeing benefits management for the Group Life and Long Term Disability areas. Her Long Term Disability experience includes financial analyst and training roles.
As Vice President, Claims, Lisa is responsible for the operational leadership of the organization’s Administrative Services Only business offering, with a particular emphasis on providing claims service solutions. Additionally, Lisa focuses on risk management strategies for short and long-term disability and life waiver of premium claims.
Lisa attended the University of Southern Maine, Husson College and holds all required Third Party Administrator state licenses.
Kathleen M. Serunian – Vice President, Claims, Disability RMS
Kathy has more than 20 years of experience in group disability insurance. As Vice President of Claims, she is responsible for the strategic and operational leadership of the Disability RMS Claims organization, providing clients with superior claims service and risk management.
Prior to joining Disability RMS in 1994, Kathy held various claims management positions with Unum Reinsurance.
She is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Southern Maine, with a bachelor’s degree in education. Kathy holds all required Third Party Administrator state licenses.
Charles W. Tarbell - Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Disability RMS
As Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Charlie is responsible for the overall financial management of Disability RMS. Additionally, Charlie oversees the organization's information technology function. In his financial role, Charlie directs a wide range of functions including strategic growth planning, budgeting, forecasting, financial reporting, audit management and ASO pricing. His information technology responsibilities include oversight of program management and application development.
Prior to joining Disability RMS in 2003, Charlie served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Visa International where he led the world-wide financial operations and facilities within Visa’s wholly-owned IT subsidiary, Inovant. Charlie was a member of the management team which had responsibility for separating Inovant from Visa International and creating a stand-alone commercial company providing all technology services to the world-wide Visa family of companies.
Prior to joining Visa in 1999, Charlie worked for 15 years at Unum in leadership positions of increasing responsibility. Charlie managed planning, reporting and segmentation for the largest long-term disability business in the world, served as Vice President, Controller and Treasurer for UNUM’s U.S. business unit, and ultimately assumed the role of Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Enterprise Technology – a position responsible for leading a program to re-engineer all insurance operations across the UNUM companies.
A cum laude graduate from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Charlie received a Bachelor of Arts in economics and earned a Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1990. He serves on the Maine Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s Board of Trustees.
Amy P. Thompson - Human Resources Officer, Disability RMS
In her role as Human Resources Officer at Disability RMS, Amy oversees all aspects of the HR function, facilities administration and also directs the company’s training initiatives. Her areas of responsibility include the interpretation and application of employment law, compensation analysis and administration, and the development of recruitment programs for attracting and retaining outstanding talent.
Amy focuses heavily on strategic planning with a particular emphasis on anticipating and assessing trends that will impact the disability reinsurance labor market. Accordingly, she leverages that information to address evolving business needs and develop practical HR solutions. Amy further provides leadership in driving key initiatives including employee culture surveys and performance management programs. Of note, Amy led the Best Companies Group survey initiative (a national program dedicated to identifying companies excelling in workplace excellence) which resulted in Disability RMS being named as the Best Large Company to Work for in Maine in 2006 and again in 2007.
Amy began her career in the disability insurance industry as a Claims Analyst at Unum, ultimately rising to the position of Corporate Recruiter. As such, Amy oversaw the hiring of more than 400 new employees a year. Her professional experience also includes a position with Irving Oil where she played an instrumental role in the development of the recruitment program and the redesign of the employee handbook.
Amy earned a B.A. (cum laude) in political science and an M.B.A. (summa cum laude), both from the University of Maine. She is an active member of the Society of Human Resources Management as well as the Human Resources Association of Southern Maine. Amy also serves as a member of the Human Resources Advisory Board for Mercy Health Systems of Maine.
Kevin G. Tierney – Vice President, Underwriting, Disability RMS
Kevin is responsible for establishing and managing underwriting policies and practices, risk selection, and achieving profitable sales growth. In this role, Kevin and his team work to maximize clients’ results by leveraging individual client strengths within their chosen markets.
Kevin has been in the insurance and disability business since 1984. He began his career providing auditing and consulting services to many insurance companies as a member of Ernst & Young’s Insurance Practice in Boston. In 1989, Kevin joined Unum, where he spent 12 years in leadership positions within Underwriting and Finance. The majority of Kevin’s time at Unum was spent as Vice President of Finance and Actuarial for the LTD product line. In this role, Kevin was responsible for all aspects of financial management, including pricing, reserving, analysis, and strategic and business planning.
Kevin has a bachelor’s degree from Merrimack College and is licensed as a Certified Public Accountant.