James Curbeam, CPCU, ARM, AIC (Chair)
Risk Manager
Las Vegas Valley Water District
James Curbeam has over 20 years’ experience in the insurance industry. He began his career with Liberty Mutual as a multi-line claims adjuster, later worked for Sedgwick North America, and then spent 11 years as risk manager at a Midwest utility company.
James worked 4 years for Las Vegas Sands as Director of Global Claims Administration, managing both domestic and international claims handling for the organization. In March 2016, James joined Las Vegas Valley Water District as its Risk Manager.
James has obtained his CPCU, AIC, and ARM designations. He serves an industry advisor to the American Association of Water Distribution & Management (AAWD&M) and chairs the Thought Leadership Lab.
Lorilee Medders, PhD
Joseph F. Freeman Distinguished Professor of Insurance
Walker College of Business / App State
Dr. Lorilee A. Medders serves as the Joseph F. Freeman Distinguished Professor of Insurance within the Walker College of Business at Appalachian State University. Immediately prior to assuming her current role, she served on the risk and insurance faculty at Florida State University, and as Director of the Florida Catastrophic Storm Risk Management Center.
In addition to her service on the Board of Directors for the American Association of Water Distribution and Management (AAWD&M), Lorilee currently serves as President of the Southern Risk and Insurance Association, the premier research organization in the Southern United States for risk and insurance academics. She also chaired (2012-2017) the Florida Commission on Hurricane Loss Projection Methodology, and served by appointment from the State of Florida CFO as the Statistics Expert Member (2009-2017).
Dr. Medders has keen interests in risk modeling, business risk management, global risk challenges, catastrophe risk finance, economic resilience, reputational/crisis risk management and business ethics. She has presented and published numerous papers on these subjects and others in academic and industry forums.
She received her Bachelor of Science in Commerce and Business, magna cum laude, from The University of Alabama in 1990 and her Ph.D. in Business Administration – Risk and Insurance from Georgia State University in 1995.
J. Gary Meggs, CPCU
Director, Risk Management (retired)
Southern Company
Gary Meggs retired in August 2015 as Director, Risk Management, Southern Company, where he provides ongoing consulting services. From 1987, he had overall responsibility for risk financing, administering property/casualty insurance coverages and for providing other risk management services to Southern Company and its regulated and non-regulated business units.
Gary received his undergraduate degree (BBA,’74) as well as dual Master’s degrees in Business Administration (‘78) and in Insurance (‘83) from Georgia State University and holds the CPCU and ARM professional designations. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the GSU Foundation and on the Risk Advisory Committee of the Metro Atlanta YMCA.
His past service includes: Aegis Risk Management Advisory Committee, the Board and Executive committee of the Y-Mutual Insurance Company, Energy Insurance Mutual (EIM) Strategic Planning Committee; (Chair) EIM Insurance Advisory Committee; (Chair) EEI Risk Management Committee; (Chair) GSU Risk Management Foundation and President of RIMs and CPCU Atlanta Chapters. Gary serves an industry advisor to the American Association of Water Distribution & Management (AAWD&M).
Paul Fuller, CPCU
CEO
Allied Public Risk, LLC
Paul’s experience includes 22 years in the insurance industry with specific emphasis on water-related entities. He launched the Rural Special Districts Insurance Program in 1995, which grew to over 4,000 insureds in 42 states. Paul served as President of SN Potter Insurance Agency Inc, President of Glatfelter Insurance Group’s Specialty Program Division, and President of Alteris, Inc, a full-service Managing General Agency owed by Argo Group US.
Early industry experience included serving as a financial analyst at Russell Miller and Account Executive at Worldwide Facilities. Presently, he is CEO of Allied Public Risk, which is a full-service Managing General Agency specializing in risk management solutions for public agencies, water-related entities, and special districts.
Paul earned a BBA from University of San Diego and MS Risk Management from Georgia State University. He serves as a national speaker on water-related topics and is a licensed water treatment and distribution operator (T1/D2) in California. Paul serves on the Board of Directors for the American Association of Water Distribution & Management (AAWD&M).
