Joe Salazar, Esq.

Managing Partner & Outside Counsel
Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP

Mr. Salazar is the Administrative Partner in the Sacramento office of Lewis Brisbois and member of the Energy & Environmental Practice. He represents a broad range of public and private sector entities relating to environmental contamination, remediation, and cost recovery.

With over twenty-six (26) verdicts in State and Federal courts, Joe has a wealth of practical experience in defending and prosecuting matters involving Environmental Matters (e.g. contaminated soil and groundwater sites, water rights adjudication, CERCLA, RCRA, and related nuisance cost recovery actions); Public Entity litigation (e.g. Inverse Condemnation/Eminent Domain, flood and fire actions); Mass Environmental Tort/Class Action matters; Crop damage actions; and Real Estate and Business related actions.

Mr. Salazar has over twenty-four (24) years of courtroom experience and has handled numerous environmental lawsuits from groundwater rights adjudications to multi-party, comingled plume trials. His practical knowledge in geology, hydrogeology and contaminant chemistry allows him to work with scientific personnel to quickly understand the technical challenges that these cases present.

A trial lawyer at heart, he often parachutes into other cases to first chair the trial work and has a special knack for converting complex issues into compelling and understandable presentations. Joe was recently voted into the American Board of Trial Attorneys (ABOTA) in recognition of that experience. Joe received his BA from Stanford University and JD from University of California, Los Angeles.

Mark Ahern

President, CEO & Owner
Network Adjusters, Inc.

Mr. Ahern has over thirty (30) years of claim adjustment and management experience, with the last fifteen (15) years comprised of complex litigation and catastrophic property loss administration for municipalities, public water systems, investor-owned utilities, and special service districts.

Mark is owner of Network Adjusters, Inc. (NAI), one of the largest privately held Third Party Administrators in the United States. His management team possesses institutional fluency in governmental torts and immunities, legal trends, first party forensics, and emerging exposures facing California public water systems.

NAI has adjusted over 20,000 water-related claims, including losses involving dangerous condition, failure to provide services, inverse condemnation, shareholder derivative, pollution liability, and public officials malfeasance.

Stephanie Gilmore, RPLU

President & COO
Allied Public Risk, LLC

Ms. Gilmore has nineteen (19) years of experience in the insurance industry, with specific emphasis on public entity and water utility underwriting as well as regulatory compliance and insurance company operations. Her career includes tenure with ProFilers LLC, Travelers, KEMPES, S.N. Potter Insurance Agency, Inc, and Alteris, Inc.

Stephanie is a national expert in public officials’ liability, miscellaneous professional liability and water-related exposures. She most recently served as Vice President/CUO at Alteris, with oversight of all underwriting, administrative, operational and compliance departments. She attended Arizona State University on a Regents Scholarship.

Joseph Crisologo, P.E.

Senior Homeland Security Engineer
State Water Resources Control Board
Division of Drinking Water (SWRCB / DDW)

Mr. Crisologo has over thirty (30) years of experience and service to the State of California. Joseph promotes water security, emergency preparedness and response, and organizational resilience, all with the aim to ensure public water systems provide safe, clean, wholesome and potable water to the community, reliably and adequately.

Joseph has also served as a District Engineer; conducted training on health and safety and hazard communication; conducted training on and implemented table-top exercises; managed a hazardous waste and materials management program; and investigated and remediated hazardous waste sites, including National Priorities List (or Superfund) sites.

He has worked collaboratively with numerous partners including the USEPA, DHS, FEMA, CalOES, CDPH, DTSC, and CalEPA. Mr. Crisologo is a member of the American Water Works Association (CA/NV Section), the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators (ASDWA) Security Committee, and a member of the Water Information Sharing and Analysis Center (WaterISAC) Board of Managers.

Joseph is a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of California, received his Masters of Business Administration from the Pepperdine University, Graziado School of Business and Management, and received his Baccalaureate of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from De La Salle University.

Chris Smith, CPCU, ARM, AIS

Sr. Vice President / Safety & Health and Corporate Communications
Zenith Insurance Company

Mr. Smith has over twenty-five (25) years of experience in the insurance services sector and has held executive-level risk control, business development, and claims leadership positions. He has a track record of success leading teams in delivery of differentiated health and safety services, products, and resources that contribute to productivity, profit, and client retention. Chris oversees a national team of nearly one-hundred (100) occupational safety & health professionals committed to helping Zenith policyholders reduce workers’ compensation costs through practical, results-driven injury prevention and claim cost control solutions.

Mr. Smith also leads Zenith’s Corporate Communications Department, which creates and manages multi-channel marketing and internal communications. Chris earned a Bachelor of Science degree with a specialty in occupational health and safety management from Oregon State University. He also has achieved the professional designations Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), Associate in Risk Management (ARM), Associate in Insurance Services (AIS) and Certified Safety Professional (CSP).

Adan Ortega

Principal
Ortega Strategies Group

Mr. Ortega has a history of handling complex strategic planning and communication challenges; especially in the water and natural resources arena. He has thirty (30) years of experience and understanding of resource and environmental issues through senior leadership roles in government, business, and environmental organizations throughout California and the United States.

Before creating Ortega Strategies Group, Adan was Managing Director of Rose & Kindel, Vice President of External Affairs at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Chief California Deputy Secretary of State, and Assistant General Manager of West and Central Basin Municipal Water Districts.

He is Chairman of the Mujeres De La Tierra Board of Directors, a Board Director of Sustainable Conservation, and a trustee of the Southern California Water Committee. Adan is a former board member of the California Water Commission, the State Board of Food and Agriculture, Heal the Bay, the National Audubon Society, and Whittier College. He is a graduate of Whittier College.

Susan Allen, Ed.D

Administrative & Organizational Development Director
Ortega Strategies Group / CalMutuals Liaison

Ms. Allen brings expertise in the areas of crisis management, conflict resolution, community relations, program development, workshop facilitation and grant writing. She most recently served as Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs at the University of California, Riverside. Susan’s experience in public affairs includes managing tensions and resolving disputes between opposing groups related to a range of issues including product boycotts, fee increases, policy changes, race, gender and sociopolitical conflicts.

She holds a doctorate in Education Administration from Syracuse University, a Masters in Counseling from Southern Connecticut State University, and a Bachelor’s in Psychology from University of Hartford.