Gulfport, FL

631-***-****

www.linkedin.com/in/Heather-Gutkes-clmp-a8ba36156

ad0kr7@r.postjobfree.com

HEATHER A. GUTKES

PROFILE Multi-functional claims, data analytics and litigation management expert. Data heavy technically inclined, results-orientated project management with over sixteen years’ experience focused on process optimization, insurance, legal, dispute resolution and claims litigation.

EXPERIENCE Director: Discovery Services

Morgan & Morgan, PA St. Pete, FL/NY, NY 2022 – Present

• Built Discovery Shared Services department with 250 (offshore) agents and staffed (11) QA analysts (onshore) of various levels of experience to exceed set targets, coached performance and ensured quality customer interaction. Held weekly performance reviews and leadership development daily.

• Directed Discovery department budgeting, coverage and problem solving within litigation management for enterprise focused on auto and specialty/general liability lines of business to enhance day to day work and overall results.

• Majority contributor on Service of Process (AI) project for lawsuit push in Florida resulting in 35,000 lawsuits filed in a single week.

• Mapped out process for automating and storing lawsuits including trained teams of offshore agents to meet expectations and quality. Mapped and identified litigation and discovery predictions and staffed accordingly for anticipated issues.

• Successfully collaborated across multiple regions to achieve consolidated discovery responses at 90% accuracy and uniformity.

• Resulting in 70% of 35K lawsuits in settlements over six-month period.

• Collaborated with pre-suit, medical records, audit, legal and results leadership teams to identify opportunities for improvement in reporting and metrics.

• Created daily and weekly litigation metric reports, PowerPoint presentations, dashboard visualizations and presentations for internal teams in coordination with external service providers.

• Established KPI’s to measure the effectiveness of business decisions, deliver executive level presentations with actionable insights and recommendations.

• Developed, refined and implemented a monthly operational reporting package distributed to Senior and Executive leadership as to defense firms and discovery trends related to expenses and recommendations for immediate actions to achieve savings reductions.

• Developed and instituted reporting requirements of (11) offshore Discovery Teams, such as new inventory reports, issues, compliance metrics, cycle times, and measurements for efficiency.

• Led Litigation Management Unit with production of operational data dashboard visualizations as well as ongoing discovery ad-hoc analytical requests.

• Litigation Management lead for Acquisitions and Conversion IT business partners to identify/scope requirements for all data required to achieve necessary reporting goals.

• Mapped out various workflows for litigation management and pre-litigation practices, Discovery and developed Best Practices, Q&A model for performance of litigation functions.

Director: Litigation Management Analytics

American Family Insurance Claims Services Madison, WI 2021 – 2022

• Built litigation management analytics department and staffed (6) analysts of various levels of experience to exceed set targets, coached performance and ensured quality customer interaction. Held monthly performance reviews and career development conversations.

• Managed department budgeting, coverage and problem solving within litigation management for enterprise focused on commercial auto and specialty/general liability lines of business to enhance day to day work and overall results.

• Majority contributor on Charlee (AI) project for identifying attorney predictions and litigation predications. Successfully collaborated across multiple regions to achieve consolidated auto property damage fast track uniformity. Reduced auto rental spends by 15% over the previous year.

• Collaborated with claims, audit, legal and results leadership teams to identify opportunities for improvement in reporting and metrics.

• Created monthly litigation metric reports, dashboard visualizations and presentations for internal teams in coordination with external service providers.

• Established KPI’s to measure the effectiveness of business decisions, deliver executive level presentations with actionable insights and recommendations.

• Developed, refined and implemented a monthly operational reporting package distributed to Senior and Executive leadership as to litigation trends related to expenses and recommendations for immediate actions to achieve savings reductions.

• Developed and instituted reporting requirements of external counsel, such as case inventory reports, compliance metrics, cycle times, and measurements for severity.

• Led Litigation Management Unit with production of operational data dashboard visualizations as well as ongoing discovery ad-hoc analytical requests.

• Litigation Management lead for Acquisitions and Conversion IT business partners to identify/scope requirements for all data required to achieve necessary reporting goals.

• Mapped out various workflows for litigation management and pre-litigation practices and developed Best Practices, Q&A model for performance of litigation functions. Unit Manager: Commercial Auto & General Liability

Amerisure Insurance Company Tampa, FL 2018 – 2021

• Managed teams of adjusters of various levels of experience to exceed set targets, coached performance and ensured quality customer interaction. Held monthly performance reviews and career development conversations. Managed staffing, budgeting, coverage issues and problem solving within commercial auto and general liability lines of business to enhance day to day work and overall results.

• Majority contributor on CLARA Analytics (AI) project for identifying attorney predictions and litigation predications. Successfully collaborated across multiple regions to achieve consolidated auto property damage fast track uniformity. Reduced auto rental spends by 15% for South Region over the previous year.

• Reduced policy exception rate aligning business with “partners for success” expectations to achieve best loss run ratio of all Regions over the previous year.

• Partnered with litigation management team to design, build and deliver an interactive reporting “litigation log” that included performance metrics of attorneys, inventory management and planning tools that were applicable across all levels of business.

• Partnered across Auto & GL business lines to achieve annual ALAE settlement initiatives, contributed to the overall reduction of $750,000 in ALAE reduction. Recovered $100,000 for the company benefit over the previous year in ALAE owed to us because of tender acceptances.

• Led (4) settlement conferences in the South Region to achieve pre-litigation resolution and simultaneously built external relationships with an eye towards the reduction of ALAE spend.

• Analyze contracts, policies, applicable law and facts/circumstances surrounding claims to determine appropriate coverage position, and to resolve claims on reasonable terms and at an appropriate value.

• Initiated audit process to evaluate thoroughness of documentation and maintenance of company standards.

• Created and implemented policies and procedures for effective litigation management. Litigation Manager

SafePoint Insurance Company Tampa, FL 2016 – 2019

• Managed team of litigation specialists, staff attorneys and ADR adjusters of various levels of experiences to exceed set targets, coached performance and ensured quality customer interaction in the day to day performance of defending lawsuits.

• Accountable for the performance and results of defense panel counsel, maintained a working knowledge of all major claim matters assigned to panel defense counsel.

• Provided leadership and direction regarding the strategy and handling of multi-line claims.

• Drove process, efficiency, and quality improvements, resulting in reduction of ALAE and increased file cycle time closure.

• Conducted file audits to ensure adjuster(s) adherence to guidelines and reserving practices.

• Conducted panel firm audits to ensure compliance with handling and billing guidelines.

• Ensured adherence to reinsurance reporting processes and standards.

• Reduced outside defense costs by 2 million dollars in 1 calendar year, secured 8 trial defense verdicts under direct leaderships, recovered over 250K in sanctions for the benefit of the carrier over the previous year.

Senior Litigation Paralegal

Butler, LLP Tampa, FL 2012 - 2016

• Oversaw and supported 600+ files including supervision of paralegals at Tallahassee, Tampa, & Miami locations.

• Serve as co-chair of firm’s technology committee; Ideated 6 month and 1- year strategy for improving technology delivery and knowledge management within organization.

• Act as client liaison for communicating case developments, important information, and recommendations to clients; attended over 30 jury trials providing on-site support.

• Trained and on-boarded incoming litigation paralegals. Deployed training program and mentored new hires through availability and confidence to ask questions to be successful; Implemented learning classroom.

Corporate Paralegal

Cravath Swaine & Moore, LLP New York, NY 2010 – 2012

• Supported attorneys for the corporate governance/corporate secretarial work of various international subsidiaries.

• Assisted business unit and corporate Legal Departments with due diligence work on sale of long-term care business, annuity business, initial and secondary public offerings.

• Evaluated client’s internal programs for deficiencies in compliance and made suggestions for improvement including but not limited to tracking breaches; regulating and penalizing firms for dishonest practices, self-policing & monitoring insider trading deals including reporting of how many times employees (of clients) had trained wrongdoers on the topic of misconduct.

Subrogation Specialist

Clausen Miller PC New York, NY 2009-2010

• Investigate, evaluate, negotiate, and resolve claims with subrogation potential. Confirm or deny coverage and liability and advise insurance adjusters as to the proper course of action to collect from at fault parties.

• Identify and recommend referral of files for litigation and high value files. Paralegal

Agulnick & Gogel, LLC New York, NY 2007- 2010

• Served as firms first point of contact with stakeholders; arranged call-backs to protect time when appropriate and provided supporting materials for call-backs. Coordinated monthly and weekly staff meetings to garner maximum participation from managers; prepared agenda in advance, arranged meeting facilities, and coordinated domestic and international video conferencing.

EDUCATION Bachelor of Science Criminal Justice, Sociology Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT Graduated with Honors - Alpha Phi Sigma Softball Division 1 athlete SKILLS &

INTERESTS

• Litigation Management Professional of the Year – nomination 2022 • Licensed 620 Adjuster

• WRT / IICRC Certified • Claims Litigation Manager Professional designation • ARM • Dispute Resolution • Risk Mitigation • Negotiation • Audit & Compliance • Process Optimization • Policy Interpretation/Coverage • Training & Development • Trial Management • Employee retention strategies • Performance metrics • Strategic organizational systems • Innovation and growth • SASS/Sequel • AGILE/JIRA • Project Management • Power BI •

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