Thank you to our sponsors!
Speakers:
Cherri Burdeyny, Aon
Cherri M. Burdeyny, CEBS, is associate vice president, health and benefits with Aon and has over 19 years of experience in the benefits profession. She has worked with provincially based and national organizations representing small to large group voluntary retiree and active employer plans. Cherri’s primary focus is to provide strategic and operational leadership for the design, implementation, administration and claim adjudication of group benefit and specialty product programs with emphasis on cost-effectiveness, sustainability, quality of services delivered, regulatory compliance and client service excellence. She is a member of the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, the International Society of Certified Employee Benefit Specialists and the Canadian Benefits and Pension Institute. In addition to speaking and moderating at industry conferences, Cherri has served on the International Foundation CEBS Committee, is on the Editorial Advisory Panel of Plans & Trusts and is President of the ISCEBS Alberta Chapter.
Don Forbes | CEBS | Fellow
Manager | Group Sales | Northern Alberta
Don rejoined Alberta Blue Cross in July 2017 after spending over 5 years as a principal with a major consulting firm, 7 years as regional director at a major insurance carrier and many more years as a group insurance account executive, spanning over 35 years in total. He currently oversees the sales and service team in Edmonton, who help advisors and plan sponsors design innovative plans for a very wide range of clients, providing keen insight on plan options based on the client’s utilization and needs. He has extensive knowledge of group insurance, including underwriting and financial management, plan design options, benefit/plan taxation, administration procedures, claims practices, and current developments in the benefits field.
Sarah Routledge, Manager, Group Administration
Sarah Routledge obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Alberta and since then, has pursued ongoing training and development over the past 17 years with Alberta Blue Cross. Currently her area of management is that of group member setup and eligibility, but her background at Alberta Blue Cross also includes group setup, group billing, group benefit reporting, learning and development, business analysis and testing, as well as the research and policy field of the health environment. An expert resource, Sarah has been instrumental in the visioning, research and development of admin systems as well as in identifying methods of change management, business process validation and short and long term process efficiencies.
Helen Sava, Sava and Associates
Helen was called to the Ontario Bar in 1991 after completing her law degree at the University of Windsor Law School and the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto.
She began her legal career as a judge’s law clerk working for one year with a panel of judges of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. Helen began private practice with Lang Michener in 1992. Since 2001, she has been the principal of her own firm in Toronto, Sava Associates, where she defends life, disability, AD&D and creditor’s claims, provides file reviews, opinions for insurers, reinsurers and rehab providers and conducts training on disability management for a variety of insurers and related organizations.
More recently, Helen has been qualified as a mediator for the life and disability industry and is pleased to now also offer mediation services under Sava Mediations.
Helen has been pleased to speak at many CLHIA annual claims conferences, CLHIA legal section, LOMA, CALBU, CRC, The Insurance Institute, Canadian Bar Association, VRA as well as numerous client, reinsurer and industry-attended private seminars.
Shawn Wakley, Manulife
Shawn Wakley has over 15 years’ experience in the Group Insurance industry with roles in customer service, claims and account management, and group sales. He has been with Manulife since 2010 where is currently a Disability Management Consultant working directly with medium and large corporations to strategically improve their disability programs to maximize their employees’ experience. Shawn has completed a Bachelor of Arts in French at Athabasca University and spent 2 years in Alsace, France where he completed a Bachelors of Insurance and Financial Services at the Université de Haute-Alsace.
He is currently a candidate for an Executive Masters of Business Administration (EMBA) from the University of Fredericton. Shawn has also earned the FLMI, CEBS, and CEP industry designations. He has also been the Secretary and Treasurer on the Board of Directors for the British Columbia Collaborative for Disability Prevention and has been a guest speaker at provincial seminars for the BC Persons with AIDS Society to discuss insurance and disability matters.
Sarah Routledge, Manager, Group Administration
Sarah Routledge obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Alberta and since then, has pursued ongoing training and development over the past 17 years with Alberta Blue Cross. Currently her area of management is that of group member setup and eligibility, but her background at Alberta Blue Cross also includes group setup, group billing, group benefit reporting, learning and development, business analysis and testing, as well as the research and policy field of the health environment. An expert resource, Sarah has been instrumental in the visioning, research and development of admin systems as well as in identifying methods of change management, business process validation and short and long term process efficiencies.
Don Forbes | CEBS | Fellow
Manager | Group Sales | Northern Alberta
Don rejoined Alberta Blue Cross in July 2017 after spending over 5 years as a principal with a major consulting firm, 7 years as regional director at a major insurance carrier and many more years as a group insurance account executive, spanning over 35 years in total. He currently oversees the sales and service team in Edmonton, who help advisors and plan sponsors design innovative plans for a very wide range of clients, providing keen insight on plan options based on the client’s utilization and needs. He has extensive knowledge of group insurance, including underwriting and financial management, plan design options, benefit/plan taxation, administration procedures, claims practices, and current developments in the benefits field.