Carl Van, President & CEO of International Insurance Institute, Inc. graduated from California State University, Sacramento where he received his bachelor’s degree in INSURANCE. He has been in the insurance claims industry since 1980 and has held the positions of Claims Adjuster, Claims Supervisor, Claims Manager, Division Claims Manager, and Department Manager over Claims, Loss Control, and Premium Audit. Mr. Van has been an instructor for the Insurance Educational Association since 1988, teaching claims concepts, AIC, INS, and IEA courses, and is the author of many technical and soft skill workshops offered through the IEA. He has set up five in-house claims training programs for various insurance companies throughout the nation, and has written articles for Claims magazine, Claims People magazine, National Underwriter, and California Insurance Journal, including coauthoring the highly acclaimed The 8 Characteristics of Awesome Adjusters.

Mr. Van has been a keynote speaker at claims conferences around the country, a trainer at an international executive training program through UC Berkeley, and selected as the keynote speaker at Claims magazine’s national ACE Conference. Other credits include being an arbitrator, a published author, a licensed agent, as well as a national auditor for a federal regulatory agency. He also serves as the Dean of the School of Claims Performance.

Dave Vanderpan, director of Claims Training, graduated from University of California at Davis with Bachelor degrees in both INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS and ECONOMICS. He has been in the insurance claims industry since 1986, and has held the positions of Claims Adjuster, Claims Supervisor, Claims Manager and Regional Claims Manager.

M. Vanderpan has had responsibilities overseeing Personal Lines Claims, Commercial Claims, Special Investigations, New Company Acquistion/Claims Assimilation and Commercial Auto Assigned Risk.

Mr. Vanderpan has been training claims professionals for nearly two decades and has developed and presented many in-house training sessions. He helped develop the material and presentation format of the most successful class offered by the International Insurance Institute Inc. the popular Awesome Claims Customer Service which was featured in Claims Magazine.

Over the past several years, Mr. Vanderpan has taught classes to more than 20 different insurance companies in offices spanning 25 states and Canada.

He is a committee member of the National Association of Independent Insurance Adjusters and has extensive knowledge in the fields of coverage and defense litigation covering 20 states.

Cynthia H. Sommer, Director of Temporary Placements of International Insurance Institute, Inc.  Ms. Sommer will is responsible for expanding current markets throughout Northern California as well as developing new services throughout California.  Ms. Sommer reports directly to Carl Van, President and CEO.

Ms. Sommer graduated from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University with a B.S. in Professional Aeronautics and brings an impressive résumé of education and over 15 years insurance experience.   She has held numerous specialty claims positions including Sr. Litigation/Injury Specialist and Construction Defect Claims Specialist and holds an adjuster license in several states.

Ms. Summer is an active member of many claims associations and has recently accepted the role as secretary of the Sacramento Claims Association for 2002. 

Annette Robinson graduated from Santa Clara University in 1983 with a Bachelor of Science degree in COMMERCE, specializing in MARKETING. She has been in the insurance claims industry since 1983 and has held the positions of Claim Representative, Unit Claims Manager, and most recently Claim Education Manger responsible for the training and development of 650 claims personnel.

Mrs. Robinson has extensive knowledge in the area of training measurement, specializing in validating that learning has taken place in the training environment. She also specializes in implementing change through behavior modification.

Mrs. Robinson developed and implemented a communication strategy for 650 employees designed to provide smooth communication channels between frontline employees and management. She has extensive training experience in both claims technical training and soft skill training, with a special emphasis on interpersonal skills training and customer satisfaction training.

Dave Lewin, AIC, graduated from California State University, Sacramento, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in CRIMINAL JUSTICE in 1978. He has been in the insurance claims industry since 1978, and has held the positions of Claims Adjuster, Claims Supervisor, Casualty Specialist, Branch Claims Manager, and Regional Claims Manager.

Mr. Lewin has been involved in training claims concepts since 1990, and assisted in developing an in-house claims training program for Commercial Auto. He is co-author of 6 in-house claims workshops.

Mr. Lewin has extensive knowledge and experience in multi-line property & casualty litigation handling, for both personal and commercial lines. Mr. Lewin also managed several CAT teams of up to 50 CAT adjusters, and has extensive international claims experience having handled claims in 22 countries worldwide.

Other credits include being an auxiliary police officer, a licensed independent adjuster, and an auditor for a federal regulatory agency.

Travis A. McCann, MHRD, graduated from California State University, Sacramento with a Bachelors degree in Accounting, and received his Masters degree in HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT from University Associates Graduate School of Human Resources Development.

Specializing in adult learning since 1974, he has designed and implemented numerous training programs, designed and managed several training functions, and has worked as an internal and external consultant to top level management in both private and public sector organizations.

Mr. McCann has held the positions of Division Training Manager, Assistant Vice President of Corporate Training, and is currently the Director of the Performance Consulting Group for the State of California, Department of Consumer Affairs. He is a senior partner in a multinational training consulting firm, and has been an instructor for the Insurance Educational Association since 1991.

Sue Tarrach has worked in the insurance claims industry since 1984. Her experience includes multi-line claims adjusting for personal and commercial lines of business, involving both property and injury claims. She has been a Multi-line Claims Adjuster, Claims Supervisor, Claims Manager, Claims Director, and AVP of Claims Service.

Ms. Tarrach has extensive knowledge and expertise in the area of third party coverage questions, specializing in personal injury. She created an in-house mentoring program, a personal property claims handling course, and assisted in developing and facilitating several in-house training programs.

She is co-author of The 8 Characteristics of Awesome Adjusters workshop offered through the Insurance Educational Association which she co-teaches. Her articles have been published in California Claims Journal, Claims magazine and Claims People magazine.

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