With nearly two centuries of collective claim settlement experience and a multi-disciplinary team of seasoned attorneys, MBAs, and former insurance claim managers and professionals, DRM possesses the requisite experience and expertise to deliver timely and effective results.

The DRM team is uniquely postured to pilot our clients through the strategic, tactical, and implementation issues inherent to a successful insurance recovery effort. The team includes members with histories as insurance company claim department managers and litigators. This enables us to accurately predict insurance company settlement strategies and develop effective proposals and counterproposals.

Obtaining full recovery for complex insurance claim settlements requires a multidisciplinary team that understands insurer motivations and tactics. Most of DRM's engagement directors have a legal background and/or came directly from the environmental claim units of major insurers. Our intimate knowledge of protocol, tactics and informational needs of major insurers is one of our most valuable assets. Following is information on the professional histories of some of our team members.

 

Deborah J. Rouse Todd B. Duzett William C. Lee David J. Mlodinoff

Larry B. Fluckiger

Bryan J. Coffey Matthew E. Zekala Tamie P. Speciale William J. Russell

 

Deborah J. Rouse President Houston Office 713-686-6696	Ms. Rouse has been engaged in the full-time management of environmental and toxic tort insurance claim settlements for 10 years, 6 of which have been with DRM. During those 10 years, Ms. Rouse has been actively involved in insurance policy research and the preparation, presentation, negotiation and settlement of environmental and toxic tort claims for large corporate clients facing long tail exposures. Ms. Rouse has also been involved in the presentation and negotiation of additional types of complex claims, such as catastrophic loss claims arising from Tropical Storm Allison. Prior to entering the negotiation arena, she worked for three years in private practice representing insurance companies in coverage litigation. She is a graduate of Rice University and South Texas College of Law.
Todd B. Duzett CFO and Director of Operations Salt Lake Office 801-355-1444	Mr. Duzett has over ten years experience in the insurance industry, serving in many different capacities. Prior to joining DRM, he spent five years managing an insurance brokerage/company. Mr. Duzett received his MBA from the University of Phoenix . He received a BA in English, with a minor in Chemistry, from the University of Utah . At DRM, Mr. Duzett has experience in dealing with a wide variety of casework including environmental, product liability, asbestos and marine insurance issues.
William C. Lee Regional Vice President Denver Office 303-674-6712	Mr. Lee has been engaged in the full-time management of environmental insurance claim settlements for 14 years. Mr. Lee has worked in the insurance industry for 31 years, and joined DRM after 7 years as an Environmental Claim Office Manager for The Hartford in Denver , Colorado . As a claim department manager at The Hartford, Mr. Lee was responsible for authorization and negotiation of complex environmental claim settlements for The Hartford's Western Region. William is a graduate of The University of Akron in Akron, Ohio.
David J. Mlodinoff Regional Vice President Portland Office 503-646-6182	David Mlodinoff has been involved in resolving complex insurance coverage disputes for ten years. While working at two of the country's leading insurance coverage litigation law firms (Anderson Kill Olick & Oshinsky; Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky), Mr. Mlodinoff handled environmental, products, and other types of coverage disputes arising under general liability, environmental liability, aircraft products liability, ocean marine cargo, boiler & machinery, directors' & officers', workers' compensation, and comprehensive crime insurance policies. He joined DRM after a 16-month stint directing litigation for Louisiana-Pacific Corporation, during which time he supervised the resolution of coverage disputes related to two product liability class actions. Mr. Mlodinoff received both his B.A. and J.D. from Columbia University .
Bryan J. Coffey Manager Salt Lake Office 801-355-1444	Mr. Coffey received his J.D. from the American University Washington College of Law where he specialized in International and Environmental Law. Before coming to DRM, Mr. Coffey was an associate in the Washington , D.C. firm of Van Cleve & Associates where he worked on CERCLA and other environmental cases, including Clean Water Act, real property environmental disclosure and government contracts for the cleanup of federal facilities. Mr. Coffey also has experience in federal environmental regulation and public interest environmental law. Mr. Coffey received his undergraduate degree from the University of New Hampshire .
Matthew E. Zekala Manager Portland Office 503-646-6182	Matthew Zekala comes to DRM with over 8 years of international management consulting experience. Prior to joining DRM Mr. Zekala was a technical advisor and facilities manager for a conglomerate headquartered in Portland , Oregon . Previously, Mr. Zekala worked for DML & Associates, a Paris-based consulting firm involved in divestments, corporate restructuring, and overseas asset allocation services. At DML & Associates Mr. Zekala implemented, monitored and controlled an internationally networked database containing operational statistics and information regarding thousands of companies worldwide. At DRM, Mr. Zekala brings a valuable skill set that draws upon his technical experience in database management, systems operations, and electronic research. Mr. Zekala has a BA in History from  Portland State University .
Larry B. Fluckiger IT Consultant	Mr. Fluckiger has been developing commercial software applications and managing software development teams since 1986. He has experience in areas such as networking, web application development, and user interface design and has worked as vice president of two software companies. Mr. Fluckiger developed Focus , DRM's risk exposure modeling software system that helps our professionals register, manage, summarize, and analyze the details involved in complex insurance disputes. He also set up DRM's computer networks and Internet web site. Mr. Fluckiger graduated from Brigham Young University with a BS in Computer Science.
Tamie P. Speciale Consultant and Advisor	One of the two initial incorporators of Dispute Resolution Management, Inc, Ms. Speciale possesses two decades of business, legal, and alternative dispute resolution experience. Ms. Speciale received an MBA and law degree from the University of Utah . She subsequently engaged in the private practice of law, concentrating in environmental law and environmental insurance claims settlement projects. Prior to, during, and after attending law school, Ms. Speciale performed service over a period of 6 years for a major U.S. mining company where her responsibilities centered on matters relating to environmental law and environmental management. That experience led to her joining the Environmental Management Alternative Dispute Resolution Group of KPMG Peat Marwick, LLP.  Ms. Speciale's background brings to bear particular experience with regard to coverage archaeology. She has extensive experience with regard to key accounting issues relevant to the field, including the documentation of environmental costs. Ms. Speciale is certified as an arbitrator with the National Association of Security Dealers (NASD).
William J. Russell Consultant and Advisor	A co-founder of DRM, Mr. Russell was the chief executive officer of DRM until his departure for academia in July, 2002. Mr. Russell's contract retention as an on-call consultant preserves for DRM the wealth of experience and qualification he brought to the company during his employment. He graduated in 1973 from the University of Kansas and earned a law degree from the University of Denver . Mr. Russell was engaged in the private practice of law for 15 years, and maintained a practice with an emphasis on environmental law and insurance defense representation. He left the practice of law to create the KPMG Peat Marwick, LLP Environmental Management Alternative Dispute Resolution Group. Mr. Russell is a frequent speaker on insurance coverage topics at numerous seminars and conferences sponsored by various RIMS groups, Mealey Publications, and industry risk management groups. Mr. Russell has also authored numerous articles on the topic of insurance coverage and complex insurance claim settlement.