ITIC Global 2023

For more than a decade, Anne has been responsible for managing the commercial direction and client relationships for AirLink Ambulance – a EURAMI and IAG accredited air ambulance company based out of Mexico. Anne is now involved at a strategic level and works closely together with her colleagues in Guadalajara. Apart from her role at AirLink, Anne is passionate about international collaboration. She holds a masters’ degree in Communication of Science and Culture, with a minor in Intercultural Communications.

Brandon Bates is responsible for strategic growth and development as well as marketing, companywide, at AirMed International. He plays a vital role in the service delivery to all of AirMed’s key partners, as well as securing and managing new partnerships and executing brand strategies. Brandon joined AirMed in August 2005 as an Account Executive for the AirMed membership program and served as Director of Membership Sales for the organisation from 2009–2013. In addition, he oversees the 24/7/365 AirMed Global Operations Center which is responsible for handling over 100,000 calls annually. Brandon holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Business Administration and during his tenure at AirMed has successfully led initiatives targeted at developing new market growth and brand recognition. He is actively involved in the air medical transport community as a member of AAMS and THiA as well as currently serving as a Board Member of the UStiA.

Denise Treadwell, AirMed’s President, is responsible for managing daily operations of the company. AirMed is Global Medical Response Solutions Company as part of the Alliances Division.  Having been with the company for more than 24 years, Ms. Treadwell has held many leadership roles throughout the organization.

Ms. Treadwell has designed and managed successful global solutions for some of the most complex international healthcare communities. She has overseen operations covering the United States and in foreign locations such as Hong Kong, Beijing China, and Singapore. She has been part of the Health Care community for nearing 30 years and still practices as an Emergency Department Nurse Practitioner.Ms. Treadwell holds several advanced degrees including a Master’s Degrees in Trauma Nursing and a Master’s Degree as a Family Nurse Practitioner from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Alabama, and is a certified Nurse Practitioner.  Ms. Treadwell also obtained her Master’s of Business Administration Degree with an International Business Specialty from Louisiana State University Shreveport.

As an editor, Ms. Treadwell lent her expertise to several books, most recently the “Standards for Critical Care and Specialty Transport” and is a contributing author and reviewer for many industry publications.  She currently holds board positions with both CAMTS and AAMS and is a graduate in good standing with the Medical Transport Leadership Institute.

François-Xavier first joined Allianz Partners in 1997, managing medical evacuations and repatriations under the banner of ELVIA. He then held different roles across Medical Assistance in France and as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the Medical Global Competency Center (MGCC) Europe-Brussels. Now Group CMO, François-Xavier is leading the Allianz Partners medical community and overarching all activities involving medical competence across the Group.

In parallel to his career at Allianz Partners, François-Xavier remains an active emergency physician with the SAMU, the French emergency medical service.

For the past 40 years Phil Peart has been working in insurance investigations around the world, and his experience has afforded him the opportunity to work across all sectors of both national and international claim investigations.

He has been a regular speaker at conferences in Asia, the UK and US and Europe, has developed a range of training programs for insurers, and has delivered countless presentations to seasoned claims teams.

Phil was the publisher of The Investigator and later, Fraud International magazines and was the organiser and convener four successful fraud conferences in Australia up until 2004.

He then relocated to Raleigh NC where he resided for several years and assisted in establishing an international investigation unit for G4S Compliance and Investigations and was responsible for creating their DBA claim investigation program for Iraq and Afghanistan.

During 2008 Phil spent six months working for G4S Global Risks in Shanghai researching the investigation and security industry before returning to Australia where he established his own travel claim investigation business.

Phil has travelled extensively throughout the world including Central and South America, Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, and many Asian Countries investigating and assessing a myriad of insurance claims, often uncovering major fraud.

After taking time out to travel Australia in 2021 he joined World Travel Protection before re-joining his team at Allied Universal as a Senior Manager for the Travel Claim Investigations team.

Dr Joseph Lelo is the Medical Director at AMREF Flying Doctors. He is a practicing anaesthesiologist and an experienced flight physician, having performed complex and demanding aeromedical patient transfers across the globe. A graduate of The University of Nairobi’s medical school, he holds a Master of Medicine degree in Anaesthesiology and a Bachelors degree in Medicine and Surgery. He is also a certified aviation medical examiner with the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority. He holds certification in pre-hospital care and is a life support instructor certified by the American Heart Association.

Natalya Butakova is CEO of AP Companies Global Solutions, leading international independent third-party administrator (TPA), healthcare management, cost containment and emergency medical assistance company. Natalya has been with AP Companies since 2005, having previously worked in private hospitals. Within AP she has been involved in business development projects, client management, new office set-ups, sales and digitalisation processes. “Growing together with AP has been inspiring and exciting,” she says. “Work has never been routine and monotonous for me, but rather always challenging, developing and motivating. Helping people to live a better life and getting better healthcare by itself is a huge motivator.”

Helen Calderini is Head of Global Medical Network at April International.

Raised in Worcestershire, UK, Helen completed her Business Management Degree at the University of Worcester from where she then leapt on a plane for French adventures and has never looked back! Her becoming a dual citizen of France and the United Kingdom and working with multiple cultures brings a unique international perspective to her work. Her global experience has given her an appreciation for the value of family, life, and diversity of thoughts and opinions.

Helen has worked within the IPMI Industry for different players gaining 20 years of professional experience in Medical Network. She has a strong track record in building tailor-made networks across the world. Thanks to her comprehensive and documented understanding of network development and maintenance on all continents, Helen strives to ensure that all her provider negotiations meet the right balance between quality of care and cost containment.

Shaun has over 28 years of crisis and security-related experience, and is Global Head of Security and Operations at AXA Partners for the Corporate Mobility product. He oversees and manages the operational response in regards to security assistance from political destabilisation, terror attacks, natural disasters and crime. Shaun joined AXA when Asia Assistance (of which he was a Partner) was acquired in 2016. He also works closely with the sales and product development teams.

Shaun’s background, since leaving the British military after 15 years’ service, has predominantly been based around crisis-management related roles for government organisations, foreign royalty, corporates and media entities. He has worked for, and with, some of the world’s leading risk management companies such as Control Risks Group & AON.

Shaun holds an Msc in Security and Risk Management, Diploma in Counter Terrorism and is a Certified Professional Practitioner CPP with ASIS

Katie Crowe is a tech-savvy, award-winning global communications expert with 25 years experience on both the client and agency side. She has advised and counselled senior leadership teams in the tech industry, including FTSE 100, FTSE 250, and start-up companies, due to her passion for technology and innovation. In 2021, she was honoured with three industry awards for her work at battleface: Travolution Best PR Campaign, TravMedia Best PR Campaign, and National Insurance Awards Communications Team of the Year.

As the Global Head of PR and Communications at battleface, a tech-enabled global travel insurance provider, Katie has led the global PR strategy to successfully build the battleface brand globally. She has extensive experience with strategy and message creation, public relations planning, media relations, crisis support, event management, content creation, executive profiling, and international coordination.

Her tech-related experience extends to her role as a PR consultant, in which she developed and delivered PR campaigns for clients in the tech and travel industry including Skyscanner and PADI EMEA. She has held a number of senior in-house leadership roles, including global PR manager at TNS and European PR manager at Avid Technology.

Katie holds a BA (Hons) in French, Russian, and Linguistics and is fluent in English, French and Spanish. Outside of work, she enjoys leading an active, healthy lifestyle with her teenage children and her two-year-old Labrador, Benji, as well as travelling and connecting with people from all over the world.

Russ Malkin is a British TV producer, director, adventurer, author and founder of Big Earth Productions. He has captivated audiences worldwide with his adventure travel series and documentaries, working with some of the biggest names in the business including film stars Ewan McGregor, sporting icon David Beckham, the legendary explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes and a young Prince Harry.

Alan Abreu is a seasoned professional with almost 20 years experience in insurance, having worked with the largest global names in the industry. Alan’s experience includes product development, sales, underwriting and brokerage development. Alan is passionate about cyber risk management and for the last 8 years has focused exclusively on cyber risk. Prior to joining BOXX Alan led Cyber for Chubb Iberia, headed Tech and Cyber for Hiscox for Iberia, and was Cyber Growth Leader in Marsh Spain.

Alan lives in Madrid with his wife and two children.

Lisa has been involved in aviation since 1984 when she completed a Diploma in Travel and Tourism. Her first position was with the Servisair Handling company at Exeter airport and after a few years she joined Jersey European Airways, (latterly known as Flybe), working as an Operations Controller, managing the flight and crewing department.

She married a pilot who was employed by a company which provided charter and air ambulance flights to the industry. In 1991 they both formed Capital Air Charter, specialising in corporate shuttle flights on behalf of major companies, together with air ambulance flights, using a mixed fleet of Twin Piston aircraft and King Air 200 Turboprops.

The company grew over the years, and by 2012 flights were operated predominantly for air ambulance, the company also adding the Learjet 45 to complement the King Air fleet.

During the last few years, Capital has held contracts with the Channel Islands and Isle of Man hospitals, in addition to air ambulance repatriations for the Insurance industry.

As with many other aviation companies, the Covid-19 pandemic impacted the business and a change of ownership took place in 2021 with Capital becoming a part of the Pula Aviation Group, together with a new base at Bristol Airport.

Lisa is the Business Development Director for the company and is expanding the customer database whilst continuing to enjoy gliding and her Basset Hounds.

Adrian joins Crisis24 as the Medical Director, becoming the clinical lead of the Crisis24 medical team. He brings significant knowledge of International Assistance in remote settings having worked with the FCDO, the oil and gas industry, film and television organisations, and is well known in the field of medical communications, especially for his work during the Covid-19 epidemic.

Adrian qualified as a doctor in 1990 from Sheffield University Medical School and pursued a career in Emergency Medicine which led to an interest in travel medicine. He practised as a doctor on cruise ships before working with the Aboriginal Medical Services in remote-area medicine in Western Australia. He started his career in global medical assistance in 2001 as a flight doctor, performing hundreds of emergency evacuations from all parts of the globe. He later became involved with the management of all aspects of international assistance as he progressed through the ranks, reaching the position of Chief Medical Officer, a role he has held for many years. He is highly regarded as a senior voice in the industry, having experience at the highest level with managing complex cases for many multi-national companies and governments.

Jérôme Pin is the Deputy CEO of EAA and is responsible for Business Development and Strategic & Project Management activities. Jérôme holds a Master of Laws in Air Transport and an MBA. He has worked in various organisations including airports, ground handling, regional and low-cost carriers.

Dr Thomas Buchsein graduated from Munich Technical University Medical School in 1982, and during the following 12 years obtained specialist qualifications in internal medicine, intensive care, emergency medicine and aviation medicine. From the late eighties onwards, his professional focus shifted increasingly to intensive care, emergency and transport medicine. Starting as flight-doctor on Europe’s first civilian HEMS (Munich-based Christoph 1), followed by fixed-wing patient transports for various providers, he has completed thousands of missions by air, both fixed-wing and rotary (alpine and off-shore rescue).

From 1998 on he got also involved in the assistance and insurance aspects of international patient transport as Medical Consultant, then Medical Director in Germany and the UK of a major international assistance company and appeared as speaker on aero-medical subjects at international conferences. In 2005 he was appointed Medical Director of the German Air Ambulance company FAI rent-a-jet, based in Nuremberg Airport, Germany.

As Director of Product, Noelle is responsible for developing and executing GeoBlue’s product strategy, ensuring that GeoBlue’s product solutions are differentiated, customer-centered and contribute to our purpose of simplifying the international healthcare experience for our globally mobile members. With over 20 years of experience in the global healthcare industry, Noelle has held roles in network management and product development and worked extensively in the Asian and Middle East markets. She holds a B.S. in Marketing and an M.S. in International Marketing from St Joseph’s University.

As the Executive Director of Business Development at Matilda International Hospital, Lynne is responsible for developing strategic business direction as well as translating market trends and opportunities into new services to drive business growth.

Leading a professional team in developing key sections for growth including corporate and insurance development, digital media, health education as well as patient and doctor relations. As a healthcare professional with marketing expertise, Lynne is also instrumental in shaping the hospital’s brand image, protecting its reputation through crisis communication and oversees all marketing and public relations.

With a wealth of experience in healthcare and a large insurance and corporate network, she plays a pivotal role in introducing healthcare programmes, spearheading price transparency, advocating patient-centred care, developing new services and extending the hospital services into the community through a flagship medical centre.

Lynne is committed to supporting health promotion and actively gives back to the community through her role as Board Member of Matilda Children’s Foundation, which provides lifechanging surgery for children with no other means of assistance in the Asia region.

Irene is a leading professional in the world of insurance and assistance with international experience. She joined MAPFRE in 2010 as Technical Director of VERTI Spain, and has led actuarial, underwriting, marketing, BI and analysis, and business development areas. In 2017 she was appointed CEO of VERTI Spain. In 2019, she was appointed CEO of INSUREANDGO and ABRAXAS in the UK. In 2021, she returned to Spain as Deputy General Manager of the Business Development and Marketing Area, and Regional Director of IBERIA for MAWDY. That same year, she joined as a member of the MAWDY Management Committee. Since January 2023 she has been Deputy Chief Business Officer and Chief Data Officer of MAWDY.

Daniel has over 14 years of experience in the health insurance industry and has an in-depth knowledge of the healthcare system in Switzerland.

He has worked several years for two major Swiss health insurance companies in management positions and then joined Medi24 as Key Account Manager in 2015. Over the years he progressed to Head of Products and Sales and is currently Chief Sales Officer (member of the Executive Board) of Medi24. During his time, the patient contacts were expanded from 300,000 to 1.5 million in 2022.

Medi24 is part of the Allianz Group and in this context provides digital health services in the EU, APAC and UAE region.

Elliott Draga is the Chief Commercial Officer at Nordic Insurance Software (NIS).  NIS is a leading global provider of insurance back-end platforms for travel, health and private medical insurance. Elliott has led NIS’ geographic and product market expansion in recent years and is now responsible for the company’s overall commercial strategy, including continued growth into new market segments and reinforcing that NIS remains the market leader for travel, health and private medical insurers and assistance companies across the globe.

Elliott is also the Vice President of the Travel Health Insurance Association of Canada (THIA). Elliott has been a member of THIA since 2014, and was a founding member of THIA’s Innovation Lab.

Having worked in the industry for nearly 30 years the last 17 as an independent consultant, I have worked on numerous types of projects and supported Insurers, medical assistance companies, claims handlers and suppliers to the industry. I am chairman of the Travel Insurance Claims Committee (TICC) and sit as a guest on the ABI Travel Committee. I act as an expert witness when called upon, especially in mediations and inquests. I feel into international disaster recovery by accident but have travelled the world at a moment’s notice since 1996, which is always an adventure and honour.

Rory has recently been appointed Chief Operations Officer with Servisource, a Cpl Resources plc company who are a global provider of recruitment, staffing and outsourcing services. Servisource have a diverse business portfolio primarily in the Health Recruitment and Homecare services. Rory is responsible for the global operations expansion for Servisource and is a key contributor on the businesses strategic planning and road map. In addition to this, his remit is to drive operational efficiencies while maintaining the premium quality and services that Servisource are proud of. Prior to this, Rory held various operations roles with Allianz Partners over a 13-year period, based in Ireland and Canada.

A self-proclaimed ‘boring’ insurance person, Darren joined the Staysure Group in January 2017 as its Chief Insurance Officer, responsible for the product development and insurer management for the Staysure Group’s brands – Staysure, Avanti, ROCK, Payingtoomuch, Wapp and Petsure. He was heavily involved in the acquisitions of the Avanti, ROCK & PayingTooMuch businesses and led the product ideation, design and build for the newly launched Wapp and Petsure brands.  Darren was appointed Managing Director of the Group’s travel insurance price comparison business, PayingTooMuch in September 2022.

Prior to his role at Staysure Group, Darren worked for BGL Group in a number of senior insurance management positions across their portfolio of comparison and insurance brands such as Compare The Market, RAC, Marks & Spencer, Lloyds Bank, etc. Prior to BGL Darren was one of three people that set up and launched the Hagerty International MGA and broker.

Mark joined The London Clinic in February 2020 as Head of PMI Relationships and Product Development where he is responsible for driving key strategic relationships with both domestic and international insurers as well working with the wider clinic team to drive innovative proposition and product development across all customer groups.

Prior to his role at The Clinic, Mark worked for Bupa in a number of senior management positions across their portfolio of services. This included running their claims department, leading the transition from a single site outsourcing operation in Mumbai to a dual site in Delhi/Jaipur with a different third party company and personal accountability for numerous key hospital provider negotiations and relationships.

Jason is the Chief Revenue Officer at The Phia Group LLC (via its affiliate Phia International) and guides the organisation’s product development, business development functions, client success, and channel partnerships. Prior to his time at The Phia group, Jason was Vice-President US Markets for another cost-containment company, where for nearly 10 years, he contributed at various levels of claim settlement, dispute resolution, R&D, product development, sales, and leadership. He also founded JCDC in 2014, which is a cost-containment company that catered to International payers with exposure in the US. In order to expand its reach into International markets, The Phia Group acquired JCDC in 2020. As such, Jason’s network of industry partners, contacts and clients are spread all over the world.

Jason or ‘Jay’ (as he is so often called) is a self-professed and proud ‘nerd.’ He is a consistent contributor to industry periodicals, and a regular speaker at conferences that address medical cost-containment issues for multiple insurance industries. Jason loves to work hard, play hard, travel, and spend time with his wife, Kim and their four children – Aleithea, Kairus, Xeidan and Mohzen.