Deconstructing Comp

Send us Fan Mail Melissa Steger returns to walk us through the building blocks of the unique Texas UT System workers' compensation program. While the program is self-insured, they use a third-party administrator (TPA) in a hybrid system where the TPA staff sit on-site with the UT System staff who oversee the program.  Covering 160,000 employees and over 250,000 students, UT System uses a vari...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Yvonne Guibert catches up with Nelson Gonzalez, Executive Director - Florida, Rehab Without Walls® NeuroSolutions, and they talk about Return to Work.  In the workers' compensation system, a return-to-work (RTW) policy or program helps injured or ill employees safely and efficiently return to work. The goal or purpose is to minimize downtime, reduce costs, an...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Yvonne and Rafael chat with Joseph Sousa , Workers' Compensation Program Manager for the City of San Diego. In our conversation, we learn from the perspective of a self-insured, self-administered workers' compensation program administrator, and what is important to that stakeholder perspective.  One thing that stands out is the numerous benefits of opera...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Yvonne and Rafael talk to Amy Cooper, Vice President Sales, Carrier Practice at Gallagher Bassett, and founder of Rise ®, an amazing insurance community dedicated to empowering early-career professionals, attracting new talent, fostering networking opportunities, and providing access to invaluable resources, as described on the Rise ® website.  We are so excited t...

Send us Fan Mail Recently, Yvonne and Rafael attended the 2025 Florida Bar and WCCP Workers' Compensation Forum, April 9-11, in Orlando, Florida.  Unfortunately, there was no wi-fi available to do live streaming, which is what we planned to do, but we did talk to several folks and conducted short interviews to capture their excitement and thoughts about the conference.  Conference interviews...

Send us Fan Mail After much anticipation since we started this podcast, Stuart Colburn joins us for a special episode focused on Texas!  Stuart, a shareholder at Downs & Stanford, P.C., has over 25 years of experience in workers' compensation. He shares his journey into our industry and expertly navigates the evolution of the Texas Workers' Compensation system since the 1980s. Throug...

Send us Fan Mail We like to have fun with our episode titles when we can, hence "Alphabet Soup." Still, despite the fun name, this is an informative episode, particularly for those newer to the workers' compensation industry.  Our guest is Jennifer Wolf, president and CEO of MWCIA in Minneapolis, MN.  Jennifer expertly navigates through many of the common terms and acronyms we use....

Send us Fan Mail Joe Paduda joins us to explain the basic framework of our workers' compensation system. In this episode, we discuss why our system is so complicated and some of the key features of several states.  While Yvonne tries to keep the conversation focused on basics, Ralph and Joe wander on a few tangents, such as discussing the potential of a federalized workers' compensation...

Send us Fan Mail Join us as we kick off Season 5 with Alex Swedlow, President of CWCI and the "History of Workers' Compensation."  Alex Swedlow is the President of the California Workers' Compensation Institute (CWCI).  Alex is a previous guest on our podcast and we are so happy to welcome him back with his version of a brief "History of Workers' Compensation." A...

Send us Fan Mail Here we go with Season 5!  We can't believe we are kicking off the fifth season of Deconstructing Comp!  Co-hosts Yvonne Guibert and Rafael Gonzalez are back and ready to welcome a new season of conversations with their guests.  This year, we are returning to our original idea of breaking down the workers' compensation system into bite-sized digestible nuggets of informa...

Send us Fan Mail Yvonne and Rafael take some time to relive and review 2024 Season 4 and chat about a few changes they will make for Season 5.  Thank you for listening!  ¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp 

Send us Fan Mail We are so happy to introduce you to Elise White, President of Change Forward Industries, based in the Atlanta Metro area in Georgia.  Join us for an interesting conversation with Elise. You'll learn about her educational background, including that she studied criminal justice and how that led to a career in insurance and claims management. Elise has 16+ years of experience ma...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we get to know Evelyn Eury, Director of Program Claims, Occupational Risk/P&C Lead at Crum & Forster—a leading carrier in property and casualty, accident and health, and specialty insurance solutions. Evelyn shares her journey from studying journalism to her current role, where she navigates the intersections of workers' compensation, property & c...

Send us Fan Mail Let's get to know Melissa Marks , Senior Leave Supervisor at Pepsico. What does a "Leave Supervisor" do for an employer? Shout out to our friend Natalie Torres for introducing us to Melissa. In this episode, Melissa shares her personal health journey and how it has shaped her empathy for others, particularly as she navigates her role working with employees who exper...

Send us Fan Mail We are so happy to bring you this episode featuring Dr. Crystal Cobos, Director of the Brain Injury and Concussion Clinic at Institutes of Health and Anne McDonnell, Advocacy and Affiliate Specialist for the Brain Injury Association of America and former Executive Director of the Brain Injury Association of Virginia. In this episode, we discuss the recent development announced in...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, you will hear from Jennifer Wolf, President of the Minnesota Workers' Compensation Insurance Association (MWCIA). She talks about what she studied in college, how she found her way into our wonderful industry, and how she loves our workers' compensation ecosystem. We also learn what a rating does and how it contributes to the overall workers' comp s...

Send us Fan Mail Come along with us as we catch up with two of the brightest leading women in our industry: Marijo Storment and Jenn Ryon.  We start, as we usually do at the beginning of our episodes, discovering what Marijo and Jenn studied in school. Then, we chat about what it was like to launch ForzaCare.  Next, we take a deep dive to focus on an organization that is near and dear to our heart...

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...