2012 officers
Co-Chairs are elected for two-year terms. Treasurer, Secretary and Executive Director are one-year terms.
Frank Sztuk, Co-Chair
Francis X. (Frank) Sztuk is the National SIU Strategist for The Hanover Insurance Group, a multi-line insurer based in Worcester, Mass. He oversees all field SIU operations on a national level. This includes Hanover’s field Special Investigation Units, and all anti-fraud training and regulatory filings. Sztuk also chairs the Coalition’s Public Information Committee and Massachusetts Insurance Fraud Bureau. He’s past Chair of the New York Alliance Against Insurance Fraud, and now serves on the Executive Committee. He’s also a member of ISO's anti-fraud advisory group, and past panel Chair, former Board member of the New York Anti-Car Theft and Fraud Association, and Director and Treasurer of the New England Anti-Fraud Association. He also served on an advisory board of the New Jersey insurance department, and has helped the department and Governor’s office develop fraud-fihen ghting strategies. Sztuk began his insurance career in 1981 as a Special Investigator in The Hanover’s New Jersey claim office. Before, Sztuk was a police officer for the Morris Township (N.J.) Police Department. He has been a featured speaker and lecturer at numerous industry and law-enforcement programs. He’s also a founding Board member of the Paul R. Nardoni Foundation, a private charity nonprofit providing care and comfort to cancer patients and their families.
Steve Perry, Co-Chair
Steve Perry represents the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) on the Coalition’s Board of Directors. He also is the associate commissioner of the insurance fraud bureau of the District of Columbia since 2000, and chairs the NAIC’s Anti-Fraud Task Force, Industry Liaison Working Group. Before heading up the fraud bureau, Steve held senior anti-fraud positions with AIG, Travelers Insurance and Fireman’s Fund. His responsibilities ranged from Special Investigation Unit program process leader to regional field investigation leadership to national vice president. Steve also spent 30 years in the U.S. Army’s Special Operation Forces, is a Vietnam veteran, retired as an Army Colonel, and was inducted into the Defense Intelligence Agency Hall of Fame
John Sargent, Treasurer
John T. Sargent is director, Special Investigation Unit (SIU), at MetLife. Sargent was named to this position in October 2004. He is responsible for fraud prevention, detection and investigation. He oversees this function for auto, home dental, disability, longterm care and group life claims. Sargent joined MetLife in December 1995 as a manager within the SIU. In addition to his role in managing the company’s fraud prevention program, he was instrumental in developing fraud detection technology that has increased the program’s efficiency. Before joining MetLife, Sargent held various SIU positions with other insurers and began his professional career as a police officer in Massachusetts. Sargent also chairs the New York Alliance Against Insurance Fraud; sits on the board of governors for the Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts; is an advisor to the CEO of the National Insurance Crime Bureau, and is a past board member of the Insurance Committee for Arson Control. He has spoken at numerous national conferences on the topic of insurance fraud. He also was recognized by the Massachusetts fraud bureau for outstanding and invaluable contributions to the fight against insurance fraud.
Ralph Burnham, Secretary
Ralph Burnham is executive director of the Pennsylvania Insurance Fraud Prevention Authority (IFPA). He came to the IFPA in 2008 from the Pennsylvania Insurance Department, where he worked as a special investigator in the department’s enforcement bureau and then as chief of the bureau’s anti-fraud compliance division. The IFPA was legislatively created in 1995 as a private and public partnership to further the prosecution and prevention of insurance fraud, and to advise the Commonwealth’s Governor and General Assembly on the state’s insurance fraud problem. The IFPA is funded through annual assessments paid by insurers into the Commonwealth’s insurance fraud prevention trust fund, and is governed by a board of directors comprised of legislatively appointed representatives of auto, health, workers compensation and general commercial liability insurers, members of state and federal law enforcement, and a consumer advocate appointed by Pennsylvania’s governor. Burnham oversees the administration of $10.3 million in annual grants to 15 state and local law-enforcement agencies engaged in the pursuit of insurance fraud. He also has charge of a $2-million fraud-prevention program that uses research-driven social marketing and statewide media campaigns to educate Pennsylvanians on the harms of insurance fraud. This combined strategy of funding insurance fraud prosecutions and aggressive public outreach has gained the IFPA national recognition as a model anti-fraud organization.
2012 Executive Committee
Public interest members
James Brown — Center for Consumer Affairs, Univ. of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Ken McEldowney — Consumer Action
Bill Newton — Florida Consumer Action Network
Ralph Burnham — Pennsylvania Insurance Fraud Prevention Authority
Don Rounds — The Consumer Alliance
Insurer members
Steve Rutzebeck — Geico
Frank Sztuk — Hanover Insurance
Glenn Wolf — Liberty Mutual
James Doyle
— Prudential
Ken Jones — Travelers
Dennis Jay, Executive Director, ex-officio
Advisers
Dave Rioux — IASIU
Joe Werhle — National Insurance Crime Bureau
