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 This overview of our
adjusting staff will give you a brief description of our people's technical
and educational backgrounds.
Our people have been carefully selected to possess not only the strong
technical skills and background to handle the types of cases going to
independents today, but the people skills necessary to make it all work.
As you will see, we maintain a staff with considerable experience, and I can
assure you they are committed to serving your specific claims needs with an
absolute dedication to customer service.
Dwight
Anderson
Dwight joined Sams & Associates in 1999. He began his claims career in
1983 with Brown Brothers Adjustco in San Francisco and has worked as a claims
manager and a multi-line adjuster throughout his claims career. He attended
Lane Community College in Eugene, OR., and graduated with an A.S. Degree in
Insurance Adjusting in 1983. Dwight is an avid auto-racing enthusiast, and a
gourmet chef, and enjoys visiting with family and friends. Dwight is based
out of our Sacramento office.
Roger
Anderson
Roger came to Sams & Associates in 2006. He graduated from San Jose State
University and went on to work at Allstate Insurance Company as a Commercial
Claim Supervisor and multi-line adjuster for six years. He has also worked as
a field adjuster for Ohio Casualty Insurance, and a Branch Claim Manager for
Maryland Casualty Insurance Company. Roger is experienced in many facets of
claims adjusting and has been working in the independent adjusting field for
the last 17 years. Roger is based out of our Fresno office.
Kaity Bernard
Kaity came to Sams & Associates in 2004 as a clerical administrator in
our Sacramento office. She is a full time student at California State
University, Sacramento.
Brian Bertke
Brian has been a member of the Sams team since 2000. He has over 20 years of
experience in construction management, and has worked in the capacity of
superintendent and project manager. Brian has a General Contractor License.
He has been an insurance and remodeling estimator specializing in fire and
water losses for the last 5 years. He served 3 years as a licensed insurance
agent and representative for Prudential Insurance, selling and servicing
property and casualty policies, along with mutual fund investing. He
graduated from the University of Cincinnati with an A.S. degree in Business
Administration, and also studied construction technology and technical
writing at Saddleback College in Orange County. Brian enjoys performing with
a jazz quartet and blues band. He is a vocalist, and plays saxophone and
flute. He is married and has two sons. Brian is based in our Sacramento
office.
Jean
Britz
Jean came to Sams & Associates in 2003 and has extensive business
experience owning her own construction company abroad. She is a Lead
Administrator based in our Sacramento headquarters.
Darin
DeVard
Darin joined the Sams team in 2001. He has had extensive experience in
insurance industry investigations and claims. He handles liability and
property investigations. He enjoys boating, bird hunting, baseball, and
playing with his chocolate lab, Cross. Darin spends his free time playing
with his young son. Darin is based in our Sacramento office.
Jim
DeVard
Jim's insurance career began in 1960 when he spent five years as a Title
Officer. He then began working for CSE Insurance Group handling property and
liability claims. Jim remained at CSE for 37 years and for 14 years, served
as Regional Vice President responsible for claims in six western states. Jim
also spent six years as an Arbitrator for the American Arbitration
Association. Jim's expertise is in liability and litigation management. He is
an avid golfer and an avid grandfather. Jim is based out of our Sacramento
office.
Eric
Ehlers
Eric joined the Sams team in 2006. He graduated from University of
California, Berkeley with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Eric is a Registered
Professional Adjuster and a member of the California Association of
Independent Insurance Adjusters. He has worked in commercial and industrial
property claims, personal lines, earthquake, construction design defect,
investigation and much more. Eric has 30 years of experience in the field of
adjusting and is based out of our Concord office.
Darci
Federoff
Darci has 6 years experience administrating insurance claims reports and has
been a full time Sams member since 2003. She is based in our Sacramento
office as a Lead Administrator.
Gil
Finney
Gil comes to Sams
& Associates from Langhammer & Associates in San Diego, where he
worked for 31 years. Prior to that he
worked for Royal Insurance Company where Jerry Wells was a manager at the
time. He is a General Adjuster
specializing in Residential and Commercial property losses. He has been working with Sams on a
subcontract basis since 2005, but came on full time with Sams &
Associates in 2007. He has extensive
knowledge and experience in complex property losses, and specializes in very
large losses. He has worked on several large catastrophes, including the 2003
and 2007 San Diego wild fires, some of which came within blocks of his
home. Gil remains based in San Diego.
Carmen Garcia
Carmen joined Sams & Associates in 2005. She has over 20 years experience
in the insurance industry handling multi-line claims including commercial and
personal liability and bodily injury claims. She has extensive experience in
third party claims administration of public entities such as the University
of California, public school districts, and public housing. She is
experienced in mandatory settlement conferences and arbitrations. She has a
degree in Communications from California State University, Sacramento. She is
based in Sacramento.
Bob Lund
Bob has been a member of the Sams team since 1995. He began his claims career
in 1989. His experience includes auto and general liability, and property claims.
He was previously with Progressive Companies, including National Continental
Insurance, and United Financial Adjusting, with an emphasis in trucking and
rental car losses, and litigated large loss claims. Bob spent thirteen years
in the restaurant industry before changing careers. He has a Bachelor of
Science degree from Humboldt State University. Bob is also the manager for
our fraud prevention and private investigation company, Sams Investigations
Unlimited, Inc. (SIU), California PI # 22240. He is a past president of The
Property Forum of Northern California. Bob is our Chief of Operations
Officer, and is based out of our Sacramento office.
Oscar
Munguia
Oscar came to Sams
in 2007. He has 8 years experience
handling property claims for State Farm in Southern California. He speaks and reads Spanish and Portuguese
fluently. Oscar has a BS in Business
Administration from Cal State Northridge.
He also has owned his own mortgage brokerage business. He specializes in residential property
losses, and is based in Simi Valley.
Ed
Peltier
Started claims handling in 1962. Ed holds a BA from San Jose State
University. Previously with Industrial Indemnity, Transamerica Insurance,
George Hills Co., Associated Claims Management, Granite Construction Co.,
Hunt & Ferguson, Robert Hampson & Associates, Omega Claims Services
and Custard Insurance Adjusters. Ed joined Sams & Associates in 1990.
Experienced as a multi-line adjuster, handling auto and commercial liability,
as well as homeowners and commercial property losses. He is a resident
adjuster of our Fresno office.
Scott
Rew
Scott joined the Sams & Associates team in 2007. He began his claims
career in 1996 with Farmers Insurance, working first as a field adjuster and
then as a Claims Supervisor for Homeowners Property claims. He most recently
worked for several years at Golden Eagle Insurance where he handled mostly
Commercial Property claims, including physical damage, theft, employee
dishonestly, business income and other losses. He also served as the lead
claims administrator for Golden Eagle's Golf Program handling all manner of
first party claims for golf courses and country clubs, including storm/flood
and other weather related losses. Scott has also worked as a private
investigator and holds a Bachelor's degree in Criminology, Law & Society
from UC Irvine. Scott enjoys golf, snowboarding, cooking and spending time
with his wife and three young children. Scott serves all of Southern
California, based in Riverside.
Yogi
Roesner
Yogi started with Sams & Associates in 2004 handling personal and
commercial Liability claims in the Las Vegas area. She began her claims
career in 1981 with Allstate Insurance Company. She also worked for American
Excel, California Casualty and Colonial Penn Insurance Companies before
moving to the independent adjuster ranks with R. L Gresham Company. Yogi has
been a Sr. Casualty adjuster and supervisor. She specializes in all types of
liability claims including Medical Malpractice, and has handled claims in
Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Wyoming and New
Mexico. Yogi works and resides in Las Vegas with her husband and daughter.
Jesse
Rusmisel
Jesse joined our team in 2006. He has extensive experience in the building
industry as a residential and commercial property inspector, and is a
licensed General Contractor. He is the 06-07 President of the Los Angeles and
Ventura County Real Estate Inspection Association with extensive continuing
education in plumbing, venting, electrical, geotechnical, grading, radon,
furnace, photovoltaic, mobile home, roofing & professional witness
issues, to name just a few. Jesse's adjusting background is in property and
catastrophe related claims. Jesse worked Wilma claims in Florida for Citizens
Ins. Corp. and did FEMA inspections for Katrina in Mississippi. He is also a
licensed adjuster in Texas. He is based in Chatsworth, near Simi Valley.
Michael
Salinas
Michael joined Sams & Associates in 2006 as a property General Adjuster.
Michael has worked on homeowners and commercial claims since 1982, when he
graduated from the Insurance Technical Training Institute in Dallas, Texas.
He worked for Hartford Insurance for three years before joining A.L. Wisdom
& Associates to work on Hurricane Hugo claims in South Carolina. Michael
also worked for Mann & Kason Adjusters, specializing in homeowners,
commercial and liability claims. He worked as the Senior Property adjuster
for Mercury Casualty in their Large Loss unit before coming to work for Sams
& Associates. Michael is proficient in Xactimate and Marshall Swift
estimating software. Michael is based out of the Southern Los Angeles area.
Don Sams
Don founded Sams & Associates in 1990 in Emeryville, CA. Don began his career
as an independent claims adjuster in 1976 with Crawford & Company in
Chicago, Illinois, before coming to California in 1978 and joining Brown
Brothers Adjusters in Sacramento. He was Senior Vice President when he left
Brown Brothers Adjusters following the sale to Frank B. Hall. Don founded
Sams & Associates in January 1990 in Emeryville (Bay Area), California.
Don holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Eastern Illinois University with
a major in Business Administration. Don has 2 children and resides in Granite
Bay. He splits his time between the Bay Area and the Valley, working out of
our regional offices at Concord and Sacramento.
Tim Seidl
Entered the claims field in 1966 as a multi-line adjuster and subsequently
worked for INA, The Home, Fireman?s Fund and Transamerica. In 1978 Tim joined
the IA firm of Gintert, Schwenne and Warne, which he eventually purchased in
1988. Tim is a past president and secretary of Affiliated Adjusters, Inc. and
has been on the Board of Directions of the Central Coast Claims Association
and the CAIIA. Sams & Associates acquired G.S. & W in 2001. Tim, who
holds a BA from Miami University (Ohio), works out of the Salinas &
Watsonville offices, and covers Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito Counties
- as well as the nearby areas of Santa Clara County including San Jose.
Michael
Shepherd
Mike joined the Sams team in 2005 as Catastrophe Director. Mike started as a
multi-line adjuster in 1974 and worked for companies such as PG&E, Transamerica
Insurance Group, and CIGNA Insurance. He has extensive catastrophe
experience, having worked on the Loma Prieta earthquake, the Northridge
earthquake, the Oakland firestorm, and petrochemical catastrophes for ARCO,
BP Equilon and Shell. He also started his own company, Shepherd Consulting in
1999, specializing in catastrophe claims management. Mike is a Vietnam
veteran, and lives in Folsom with his wife and four children. Mike enjoys
golf and is based in our Sacramento headquarters.
Glenn
Smyth
Glenn has been with Sams and Associates since 2004. Glenn has worked for
several insurance carriers including Mercury insurance. He specializes in
casualty losses, auto liability, and all types of injury claims. Glenn is
also experienced in mediations and arbitrations, settlement conference and
has been involved in the claims administration of public and private
entities. Glenn enjoys living by the beach in sunny San Diego. Glenn is based
out of our Pasadena office.
Joseph
Watanabe
Joe has been adjusting property and casualty claims for 36 years. He worked
as a Senior Adjuster for Transamerica Insurance group, and has experience in
Third Party Claims Administration, as well as Independent Insurance
Adjusting. Joe?s experience includes first party property claims handling,
large loss exposure claims, liability/ casualty claim investigations and
litigation management. Joe is proficient in Xactimate and is a General
Adjuster. Joe is based out of our Pasadena office.
John
Weber
John has been a member of the Sams team since 2002. He began handling
insurance claims as an estimator for Pacific Restoration in 2000. John has
over 7 years experience as a contractor, primarily as a project manager for
environmental testing sites. John has a B.S. degree from University of San
Francisco in Organizational Behavior. John enjoys music, theater, film and
exercise. He is married and lives in Concord. John is based in our Concord
office.
Jerry Wells
Since 1962, Jerry has had a diversified insurance experience with a unique
blend of multi-line claims and agency skills. He handles all forms of
commercial and homeowners property and liability claims, including large
losses. Previously, Jerry was Regional Claims Manager with Royal Insurance,
and owner of a successful insurance brokerage firm in the Truckee area prior
to joining Sams & Associates in 1993. He is a co-founder of Truckee River
Bank. He is an avid golfer, and resides on a golf course with his wife in Cameron
Park. Jerry is a Registered Professional Adjuster, and serves as Regional
Manager at our Sacramento Regional office.
Our well-qualified
claims staff has over 27 years average experience.
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Sams & Associates
4080 Cavitt Stallman #100
Granite Bay, CA 95746
1-800-566-7267
Fax (916) 786-4660
email: sams@sams-assoc.com
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