Kathy Tuley, Catholic Mutual
Date: 3/22/2005Contact: Joan Barrett/800-690-0070
Kathy Tuley is one of the Arizona Insurance Claims Association’s staunchest supporters, volunteering last year as the Secretary and this year as the Treasurer. She said that the best part of attending the AICA is the networking with other claims people and getting the benefit of education on changes that govern how the claims are handled. The most rewarding aspect of volunteering in the Association was being part of last year’s claims conference for which she credits Joe Epps as the driving force behind making the conference such a resounding success.
Kathy has been in the insurance industry since the late 1980’s when she worked full time for a large carrier’s underwriting department and went to college in the evenings. After her first child was born she decided that a more flexible schedule was a priority followed closely by good compensation for her work. These goals lead her to work at Frontier Adjusters as a transcriber and later, Office Manager. She was able to observe the claims people in the industry and decided that was the route she needed to follow. She obtained an AIC certification and became a licensed Private Investigator while working in a field that she really liked.
She worked for a TPA firm and discovered that the marketing required as the Branch Manager was too challenging and not her area of interest, she just wanted to do the work without sales.
Her children are all out of high school now and are busy pursuing their own goals. One of her sons is a certified Audi mechanic, her daughter is in the process of obtaining a teaching certificate at ASU and another son is trying a year of strenuous physical labor before going on to college. Kathy hopes the demanding early morning schedule will encourage him in the academic direction.
She has worked as a Claims Risk Manager for Catholic Mutual for almost two years and likes the work. She explained that the non-profit company was started in 1899 by bishops who were having difficulty getting insurance for church properties. The company’s only client is the Roman Catholic Church and they insure the church properties, automobiles, and everything except the Worker’s Compensation coverage on the church employees. In her risk management position she is required to visit each location and make recommendations for loss control. She travels from Bullhead City to the Gila River Indian Reservation and to California border on a regular basis to make her inspections.
“It is interesting work and less adversarial than in most claims situations. I have been in the interesting position of encouraging parishioners to accept the allotted med pay settlements when they were reluctant to do so.” Kathy said.
Her professional goals include helping to ‘grow’ the membership for AICA. “It is such a worthwhile organization and such great education for adjusters. I just wish that more adjusters would take advantage of the education that we offer on a monthly basis.” Kathy stated. “We are so appreciative of the American Family Insurance adjusters that regularly attend and the American Commerce adjusters that show up month after month, but we would like for more adjusters to have the information available to them for the nominal price of a very nice lunch.” “At the same time,” she went on, “we really need the vendors that attend. Without them we couldn’t have an organization.”
“I am very optimistic about the new board and welcome the new members Joann Fisk-Jackson and Debbie Tolton. We’re sorry to lose Dave Moses but I think we can continue in the direction that he started.” Kathy finished.