Coalition officers — 2013
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. His responsibilites include developing and implementing the company’s anti-fraud strategies on a national level. He is responsible for all anti-fraud training and regulatory reporting in this role. Frank is the co-chair of the Coalition and also chairs the Coalition's Public Information Committee. He has served as the Chair of the Massachusetts Insurance Fraud Bureau Governing Board since 2006. He's past Chair of the New York Alliance Against Insurance Fraud, and now serves on the Executive Committee of that organization, responsible for the Public Outreach 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 serves on the legislation mandated NJ Insurance Commissioners Fraud Advisory Board, and has assisted the department and Governor's office develop fraud-fighting strategies in NJ, his home state. Sztuk began his insurance career in 1981 as a Special Investigator in The Hanover's New Jersey claim office. Frank came to Hanover from the Morris Township (N.J.) Police Department. He has been a featured speaker and lecturer at numerous industry and law-enforcement programs over his career. 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 has been the associate commissioner of the insurance fraud bureau of the District of Columbia since 2000, and chairs the NAIC's Anti-Fraud taskforce, 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.2013 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
James Doyle — Prudential
Ken Jones — Travelers
Dennis Jay, Executive Director,
ex-officio
advisors
Dave Rioux — IASIU
Joe Werhle — National Insurance Crime Bureau
