Deconstructing Comp

Send us Fan Mail We have a special treat for you just in time for a long weekend! Dr. Tyrone Spears, Chief of the Workers' Compensation Division for the City of Los Angeles, is one of the best and brightest in the business. Yvonne and Rafael recently caught up with him for a lively, thought-provoking episode! If you know Tyrone, you know he is a servant leader who continually does good things...

Send us Fan Mail Join Yvonne and Rafael as they chat with one of their hometown "sheroes" Brenda Cogdell, Director - Risk and Safety Division, Hillsborough County.  Brenda shares her enthusiasm for her role at Hillsborough County and for the risk and insurance industry where she has dedicated her career to shaping a culture of caring for the employees she serves.  Together we explore her...

Send us Fan Mail Les Shute is the Chief Innovation Officer at Infinity Nurse Case Management. Join us in this episode as we learn more about Les, including what Les studied in school and what he aspired to do in his career. After graduating college as a Marketing Major and with a Minor in Computer Science, Les was recruited into the insurance industry and started as a workers' compensation ad...

Send us Fan Mail Here is a bonus episode where your co-hosts Yvonne Guibert and Rafael Gonzalez pause to reflect on Season 4 so far.  Can you belief half the year is already gone?  Neither can we. Join us for a quick recap of what we've done so far on our podcast. We talk about the guests we've had and those who are joining us soon.  ¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would app...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Yvonne and Rafael talk to Nikki Jackson, aka Nerdy Nikki. Why Nerdy Nikki? Because she loves talking about risk management and anything related to Property Casualty Insurance industry and she constantly pushes herself to learn more! She also loves to share her knowledge with others. We are lucky to know her! We get to know more about Nikki during our chat and we t...

Send us Fan Mail Let’s get to know Jeff Gurtcheff, Chief Claims Officer at Corvel. He joins us from just outside Atlanta, GA in Alpharetta, and he is a former neighbor to Rafael! Wow! In this episode, Jeff shares his educational background, a little about what it was like to live next door to Ralph, his journey into the insurance and workers’ compensation industry, and how he has grown up through...

Send us Fan Mail Another first for you! We are thrilled to introduce you to Chief David Picone, our first-ever fire chief on our podcast. He is the Fire Department Battalion Chief and Health and Safety Officer with the City of San Diego.  June is PTSD Awareness Month, so we are happy to share our recent interview with Chief Picone.   In this episode, Chief Picone shares his educational background,...

Send us Fan Mail Are you ready to get to know Dionne Lacey-Artis, Chief Business Officer and Customer Centric Leader at Optum Workers' Comp and Auto No-Fault?  Even if you DO know her, we think you will learn some things you DON'T know, when you listen to this podcast episode. Dionne is based in Atlanta, Georgia.  ' Yvonne Guibert and Rafael Gonzalez enjoy deconstructing issues in w...

Send us Fan Mail Are you ready to meet Laura Michaels, MS, OT, PSHO, Occupational Health and Safety Manager for City of Palm Springs?  Yvonne and Rafael recently met Laura at the PARMA 2024 conference in Indian Wells, CA, and boy do we LOVE her! Shout out to Jennifer Johnson for putting together a beautiful dinner at PARMA that brought us together.  From the very first conversation, we knew we lik...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we get to know a real superhero in the workers' compensation industry, Josh Schuette, DPT, MBA, WRP, Director of National Workers' Compensation Sales and Account Management at Brooks Rehabilitation. While there are so many amazing things to know about Josh Schuette, one interesting  thing is, he thinks Ryan Gosling is his spirit animal! And, just like th...

Send us Fan Mail Ramona Tanabe is our latest guest, right on the heals of the 40th Annual WCRI Issues & Research Conference, March 5-6, 2024, in Boston, MA. This is Ramona's second time as a guest on Deconstructing Comp.  Join us as we discuss and recount highlights from the recent conference in Boston. Ramona turns the tables on Yvonne and asks her to share what sessions she learned some...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we talk to Joe Paduda, Principal of Health Strategy Associates, blogger, Syracuse Lacrosse fanatic, speaker and owner of a 1795 farmhouse in New Hampshire with a super squeaky farmhouse chair! Listen for the squeaky sounds during the episode.  This is Joe's second time as our guest. We invited him back, specifically to discuss important issues related to the...

Send us Fan Mail Yvonne and Rafael FINALLY catch up with Carlos Luna, who lives in Denver, Colorado. It took us a while to schedule an interview with Carlos, but it is well worth the wait!  So, come along, and let's get all caught up with Carlos about his new role at New Reign Capital, his deep and varied thoughts about our amazing industry, and, sadly, as he shares his thoughts about the rec...

Send us Fan Mail For the second year, Yvonne and Rafael identify ten issues to frame their conversations with guests as they kick off a new season. Here we go with Season 4! Are you ready? Our issues are... Provider Shortages - Healthcare jobs are growing faster than any other industry, yet there is a shortage of experienced doctors and clinicians to fill the openings. This is straining the entire...

Send us Fan Mail Join Yvonne and Rafael as they pause for a few minutes to reminisce about all the fun they had interviewing guests in their 3rd season!  Grab your headphones and get ready for a few laughs -- you can always count on Rafael's laughter in each and every episode! ¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social med...

Send us Fan Mail Wow, what a fantastic conversation with Dr. Leslie Cadet, a native of Tampa, FL!  In this episode, we learn that Leslie grew up in Tampa and started her education at none other than University of South Florida (USF), Yvonne's alma mater and Rafael's adjunct teaching university for 20+ years! From there, she went on to the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, wh...

Send us Fan Mail ¡Qué lindo! ¡Hablamos con Julian Robinson en español!  How lovely! We are speaking with Julian Robinson in Spanish! During our recording of our podcast episode with guest Julian Robinson, we learned he speaks fluent Spanish! So we recorded a short bonus episode talking in Spanish. Well, it's mostly Julian and Yvonne, with Rafael listening in. Still a fun diversion.  ¡Disfrute...

Send us Fan Mail Join us as we dive in and get to know Julian Robinson! Julian is the workers' compensation director at the City and County of San Francisco.  Julian shares his educational background, studying business and then embarking on a study abroad trip to India that ignited his love for travel and exploring other cultures.  We discovered that Julian is fluent in Spanish! So, we record...

Send us Fan Mail Come along for a fascinating conversation with Dr. Tomer Anbar and Duane Johnson with the Institutes of Health. We caught up with them during the WCI Conference in Orlando, Florida.  Duane Johnson obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Health Services management from Indiana University Bloomington.  Dr. Anbar studied clinical psychology,  psychodynamic psychiatry, and group ps...

Send us Fan Mail Come along with Yvonne and Rafael and get to know Roberta Serena Mike, Field Claim Adjuster for Strategic Comp in Georgia! As you will learn, Roberta has spent her entire career in the insurance industry. She started with The Travelers and liked workers' compensation early on.  In this episode, Roberta shares with us the twists and turns of her career.  She talks about leavin...

Send us Fan Mail Do you know Raja Sundaram with Plethy, Inc.? If not, you are in for a treat! Raja is a workers' comp newbie. He and his company Plethy have entered the workers' compensation scene in the last few years and they are making some big waves!  If you missed the Star Wars reference in the title, it is considered one of the most iconic quotes from the original movie. It is from...

Send us Fan Mail Melissa Steger is the associate director of workers' compensation and unemployment insurance for the University of Texas System in Austin, Texas.  In this episode, Melissa shares how she started her career in workers' comp, delivering workers' compensation checks. In that first job, she became curious, fell in love with workers' compensation, and has spent her...

Send us Fan Mail Come along with us and get to know Jim Allsup, founder of Allsup Employment Services and the Ticket to Work program for individuals who qualify for Social Security Disability benefits. Individuals who qualify are offered Vocational Return to Work services free of charge.  In this episode, Yvonne and Rafael talk to Jim about the Ticket to Work program and what he says is a little-k...

Send us Fan Mail Brandi Lewis is one busy woman! We were lucky to catch up with her at the WCI conference for a live podcast interview.  Join Yvonne and Rafael as we talk with Brandi, learn about what she's been up to lately, and talk to her about the business she founded and now chairwoman of Health Plus Trans, providing transportation, translation, and ancillary services.  Among her many sk...

Send us Fan Mail Finally, Yvonne and Rafael catch up with Kirsten Kaiser Kus, an attorney with Downey and Lenkov, LLC at WCI. We have been hot on her trail for some time now, trying to schedule an interview. Luckily, she had time to spare and sit down with us at WCI.  Get to know more about Kirsten and what she has been up to.  Visit her profile here:  https://www.dl-firm.com/attorneys/kirsten-l-k...