Dr. Tomer Anbar CGP, CTC, Ph.D.

(Partial Bio) Dr. Anbar is Director of the Institutes of Health, Global Pain Institute. For the past 25 years he has been an advisor to the public and private sectors in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico on how to systematically reverse chronic pain, delayed recovery and related disability syndromes and the overall cost of claims. In 2002 he established for insurance stakeholders several of the first evidence-based biopsychosocial delayed recovery programs in California to address the chronic pain epidemic in the Work Comp space, and in 2008 founded and was the first Director of the Interdisciplinary Chronic Pain & Functional Restoration Program at Scripps Health in San Diego. As former Chairman of the Pain Rehabilitation SIG of the American Pain Society and former Treasurer of the Musculoskeletal Pain SIG of the International Association for the Study of Pain comprised of 133 countries, Dr. Anbar has focused on promoting advances in the field of interdisciplinary biopsychosocial evidence-based care to address the chronic pain epidemic and related disabilities. His chronic pain and functional restoration programs have been adopted as models for the military and Intel-GE’s telehealth telemedicine platform. Dr. Anbar is former head of the Unit of Clinical and Research Psychobiology at the National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery, a research component of the World Health Organization in Mexico City. His work on the effects of environment on mental and physical health received international attention as the media reported on his research chronicling the toll Mexico City’s pollution was having on one of the world’s largest metropolises of 23 million inhabitants. His clinical, laboratory, psychological and social analysis and recommendations have become a blueprint for both civic groups and governmental agencies in taking action and forming sustained policy. His research into the effects of heavy metals and other contaminants on behavior have been integrated into numerous health and environmental programs around the world. Dr. Anbar was born in Montreal, Quebec, and was educated in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Switzerland and Israel.

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Christine Baker, Baker & Welsh, LLC

Christine Baker is a management consultant in the area of healthcare, workers’ compensation, health and safety, and other labor management related issues.

Christine recently left the Department of Industrial Relations, where she served for over seven years as the Department’s first woman Director. Before being appointed by the Governor in 2011 and unanimously confirmed by the State Senate Rules Committee in 2012, she served for two decades as Executive Director of the Department’s Commission on Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation, where she directed much of the research that supported her spearheading of the passage of SB 863, the landmark workers’ compensation reform legislation that has reduced premiums overall by 37%, increased benefits to injured workers, and wrung over 10 billion dollars of excess cost out of the system.

Renowned for her ability to bring labor and management together to effect reforms that benefit employers and employees alike, Christine is the recipient of numerous awards. Small Business California recognized Christine as one of its 2008 Small Business Heroes. In 2012, she received the Human Rights Award from the League of United Latin American Citizens. In early 2017, she received the Tim East Award for Workers’ Compensation Profession of the Year for recognition and appreciation of her leadership and tireless efforts to improve the Workers’ Compensation System in California. More recently, Christine received the Latina Appointee of the Year from the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce and the Outstanding Woman in Government Award from the National Association of Women Business Owners.

Ms. Baker earned a master’s degree and advanced to Ph.D. candidacy at the School of Education, University of California, Berkeley, before leaving academia to take a position at the Department of Industrial Relations. She currently serves on the Fraud Assessment Commission, a part of the California Department of Insurance, having been appointed by Governor Brown in January 2019.

Len Welsh, Baker & Welsh, LLC,

Principal Consultant

Len Welsh was Chief of Cal/OSHA from 2003 to 2011, having served as Counsel and Special Counsel to Cal/OSHA before then for over 12 years. After leaving Cal/OSHA, he served as Acting Chief Counsel in the Department of Industrial Relations. For the last 6 years, his role has been to serve State Compensation Insurance Fund as Consultant to the President for Workplace Safety and to serve as counsel to a number of labor-management partnerships operated by the Western Steel Council and the Ironworkers International.

Last year, Len teamed up with Christine Baker to start Baker & Welsh, LLC, a policy consulting and lobbing firm dedicated to improving the way our laws serve management, labor, and the public.

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Rena B. David Rena B. David serves as Senior Vice-President for Research & Operations at the California Workers’ Compensation Institute (www.cwci.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the operation of the California workers' compensation system through research and education. Prior to joining CWCI in 2013, she worked as a consultant and manager for more than 25 years in finance, data systems development, product development, workers' compensation and group health pricing, health services research and hospital operations, primarily at Kaiser Permanente. She has expertise in 24-hour coverage models and recently published studies evaluating medical dispute resolution and the impact of other California workers’ compensation reforms. Rena holds an undergraduate degree in Human Biology from Stanford University and Masters’ degrees in Business and Public Health from the University of California at Berkeley.

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Joseph Guerriero  Joseph Guerriero is the Senior Vice President of ReedGroup’s MDGuidelines division. He is responsible for securing the two largest accounts in product’s history of over $2M. He supported the creation of market‐disruptive tools which earned adoption of Clinical Practice Guidelines & Drug Formulary for New York and California’s state workers’ compensation systems. He the leader creating the overall vison of MDGuidelines and strategic market efforts to help expand the use of MDGuidelines and advocate for the scientific model that helps MDGuidelines stand apart from the competition. He has led data integration initiatives for employer population expenses decreases in excess of $250M from 2014‐2017.  

Mr. Guerriero joined ReedGroup in 2014, bringing over 20 years of experience in the healthcare media and data industries as well as digital publishing. His expertise with healthcare industry content and data stems from his leadership roles spearheading several programs that are still in place at Modern Healthcare, Modern Physician, and HealthLeaders. He was Vice President at Eagle Publishing, where he ran the company’s digital media and fund‐raising platforms. Mr. Guerriero has held leadership roles at Success Media, Billboard, and Health Leaders, Inc., where he launched Health Leaders magazine. He was also tapped by MediaDC to relaunch the Washington Examiner as a weekly policy publication distributed to key Capitol Hill policy makers and lobbyists. He is a graduate of Manhattanville College and has studied integrated sales and brand marketing at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.    

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Corey A. Ingber has been practicing workers’ compensation defense since 1981. He is the former managing partner of Ingber and Ivey. From 1997 to 2009 he was the Sr. Vice President of Claims-Legal for the Zenith Insurance Co, where he managed nine California legal offices and three in Florida. During that time, he was also a member of the Legal

Committee of the California Workers’ Compensation Institute and the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute.

He is the Managing Partner of Ingber & Weinberg, LLP. The firm and Corey specialize in public entity defense, including cities, counties and school districts. They also represent

large self-insured employers and third-party administrators. Corey is well known for handling extremely complex and high exposure cases.

He is the author of the “Micro Survival Guide to the SB 863 Reforms.” He was active in the legislative reforms of 2003 and 2013.

Corey has a passion for helping claims professionals navigate through the complex system of compensation claim handling, once upon a time, known for its simplicity. He

and his firm also consult and conduct “Doubleplay” programs for several clients.

He is the former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of West Los Angeles, School of Law and Paralegal Studies.

Corey A. Ingber, Esq.

20335 Ventura Blvd. Suite 418Woodland Hills, CA 91364T: (818) 539-7500F: (818) 305-6054E: Corey@icomplaw.comwww.icomplaw.com

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David M. Lanier David M. Lanier was appointed by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. as Chair of State Fund’s Board of 

Directors in 2019. 

Most recently, Lanier served as the Secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development 

Agency, appointed by Governor Brown in November of 2013. In this position, he served as cabinet 

advisor on labor issues and employment programs for workers and businesses throughout California. 

Secretary Lanier oversaw the state departments and boards that enforce labor and occupational safety 

laws, provided state disability and unemployment insurance benefits, funded workforce training and 

apprenticeship programs, protected injured workers, and arbitrated public sector contract disputes. 

Lanier led the efforts to resolve the state’s unemployment insurance system failure. As a result, 

vulnerable out of work Californians had their phone calls answered and received their unemployment 

insurance payments on time. 

Prior to his appointment as Secretary, Lanier served as chief deputy legislative affairs secretary to 

Governor Brown. In this capacity, he was instrumental in the final negotiations and in securing 

bipartisan legislative approval of the Governor’s 2012 workers’ compensation reforms. This new law 

eliminates inefficiencies in the system and uses the savings to increase permanent disability benefits for 

injured workers. He led the Governor’s legislative efforts to overhaul enterprise zone tax credits and 

eliminate the state sales tax on manufacturing equipment purchases. Lanier also played a key role in the 

Governor’s efforts to direct increased resources to California’s neediest students and provide local 

discretion over school spending, and to fund the nation’s first high speed rail project. 

Lanier spent nearly two decades serving in leadership positions in the California Legislature. From 1999 

to 2011, he was a principal consultant and special advisor at the Assembly Speaker’s Office of Member 

Services. He served as chief of staff for California State Assembly Member Grace Napolitano from 1997 

to 1998, senior consultant for the Joint Legislative Government Oversight Task Force from 1996 to 1997 

and legislative director for California State Assembly Member Carole Migden from 1995 to 1996. He 

started as a legislative aide in the State Capitol in 1993. 

Lanier received his bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He lives in Davis with 

his wife and two children. 

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Sean McNally Sean McNally is the President and CEO of KBA Engineering in Bakersfield, California. Prior to KBA, he was the Vice President for Corporate and Government Affairs and Vice President of Human Resources at Grimmway Farms in Bakersfield, California (1997-2013). He graduated from the University of San Francisco with Bachelor’s Degrees in English and Theology. In 1979 and 1980 he did graduate theology studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel. He is a graduate of the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. He has been certified by the State Bar of California as a Specialist in Workers’ Compensation Law. He led the negotiations that resulted in recent workers compensation reforms including SB899, SB863, SB1160 and AB1244. He was appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger to the Commission on Health, Safety and Workers’ Compensation (CHSWC) and he was the Chair in 2009, 2011 and 2015. He was reappointed to CHSWC by Governor Brown in 2018 and is the 2019 Chair. He was appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger to the State Board of Food and Agriculture. He served for many years as a trustee for the California Self Insurer’s Security Fund and he is the Co-Chair of the California Chamber of Commerce Amicus Committee. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Workers Compensation Foundation. His community activities include serving on the Board of Directors of the Golden Empire Gleaners, the Mercy Hospital Foundation, the Kern County Fair Foundation and Stockdale Country Club.

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DR. RAY MEISTER  Ray Meister has served as executive medical director for the California Division of Workers' Compensation (DWC) since June, 2016, and was an associate medical director since 2014. Prior to joining DWC, Dr. Meister served as public health medical officer at the California Department of Public Health, Occupational Health Branch, from 2000 to 2014.    Ray is boarded in Occupational Medicine having done his residency at UCSF.  He earned a 

Master of Public Health degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Public 

Health, and a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Southern California School of 

Medicine. He has been a faculty member at the University of California, San Francisco, since 

1998 and is currently an associate clinical professor. 

 

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Thomas Naughton

President, U.S. Federal Citizen Services

Tom Naughton is the President of MAXIMUS Federal Citizen Services. Mr. Naughton is responsible for the management and performance of MAXIMUS Federal’s largest book of business, which includes benefit appeals and independent medical review services. His client base includes more than 54 federal and state agencies. Mr. Naughton also manages large-scale federal customer call and processing centers.

Mr. Naughton has extensive experience in health care reimbursement, Medicare, Medicaid, workers’ compensation, state health care law, quality oversight, peer review and all forms of benefit disputes and dispute resolution programs. Most recently, he testified in front of the United States Senate Finance Committee on Medicare appeal reform. He also served as a subject matter expert in the development and implementation of an independent medical review and provider payment dispute resolution program for the California Workers’ Compensation system.

Mr. Naughton earned his B.A. degree in English and political science from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He holds a Master of Laws degree from Loyola University Chicago School of Law and a Juris Doctorate degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law. He is also a Board Member of the MAXIMUS Foundation.

 

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Minh Q. Nguyen Dr. Nguyen is a board certified occupational medicine physician who joined US HealthWorks in October 2007 and recently transitioned to Concentra in February 2018 with the acquisition and merger of both medical groups. He currently serves as the Vice-President of Medical Operations for the Pacific Region overseeing all medical clinics in California and Hawaii. Dr. Nguyen completed his undergraduate degree at the University of California Riverside, and then earned his medical degree from the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine. He completed his internship in general surgery in the Navy and his occupational medicine residency at the University of Pennsylvania. He also has a Master of Public Health, Master of Healthcare Administration, and a Master of Geriatrics Health from A.T. Still University and a Master of Business Administration from the USC Marshall School of Business. Dr. Nguyen is a Fellow of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. He is also the President of the Osteopathic Physician and Surgeons of California (OPSC) and serve on the California Coalition on Workers’ Compensation (CCWC) Board of Directors.

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JOE SALVATI 

20 years of executive leadership in medical devices, clinical software and 

Electronic Health Records. Founder and CEO of Arcuity ai, Inc., the country's first 

blockchain based, document management and record retrieval company. 

 

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Anthony J. Sasso Head of Operations The Institutes RiskStream Collaborative Tony is an experienced insurance professional with more than 15 years serving clients in the insurance and reinsurance industries. Prior to joining RiskStream as Head of Operations, he spent 8 years in management consulting assisting global insurance and reinsurance organizations with developing strategy, streamlining operations and implementing technology solutions. Specifically Tony led a variety of projects in the workers’ compensation space focused on business process reengineering, operational strategies and technology delivery. Prior to this Tony had 7 years of experience as a global reinsurance broker. In this role, he supported clients with risk management, portfolio modeling and analysis, and program placements across property, casualty and specialty portfolios.

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BIOGRAPHY – JAMES VENABLE 

 

James Venable, JD, SPHR, is the Vice President of Employment Law, Absence and Accommodation 

Compliance at ReedGroup, where he provides expertise in the areas of Absence Management 

Compliance and Employee Relations Counseling. Mr. Venable has more than 20 years of experience 

across senior roles in Legal, Human Resources, and Compliance from several Fortune 500 companies.  

 

Mr. Venable joined ReedGroup in April 2018 after serving as Vice President of Human Resources, 

Employee Relations, Labor Relations, Compliance and Environmental Health and Safety for Comcast, 

where he was responsible for engagement and labor relations activities for the company’s West Division 

Business Unit.  

 

He received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Connecticut School of Law, his BA’s in Political 

Science and English from the University of New Hampshire, and is licensed to practice law in 

Massachusetts and Colorado. 

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Len Welsh was Chief of Cal/OSHA from 2003 to 2011, having served as Counsel and Special Counsel to Cal/OSHA before then for over 12 years. After leaving Cal/OSHA, he served as Acting Chief Counsel in the Department of Industrial Relations. For the last 6 years, his role has been to serve State Compensation Insurance Fund as Consultant to the President for Workplace Safety and to serve as counsel to a number of labor-management partnerships operated by the Western Steel Council and the Ironworkers International. Last year, Len teamed up with Christine Baker to start Baker & Welsh, LLC, a policy consulting and lobbying firm dedicated to improving the way our laws serve management, labor, and the public. At Cal/OSHA, he developed a reputation for leading advisory-committee discussions of major rulemaking projects and enforcement issues that led to true, policy-influencing dialog between Cal/OSHA and its labor, management, and professional stakeholders. Utilizing this approach, he led the adoption of a number of ground-breaking, consensus-based standards, including among many others, the following first-in-the-nation regulations to address: Heat Illness Prevention, Aerosol Transmissible Disease Prevention, Zoonotics Disease Prevention, and needle stick prevention amendments to in Bloodborne Pathogens Standard. He also negotiated legislative language in a number of bills, including AB 1208 (anti-needlestick protection for healthcare workers) SB 783 (amusement ride safety) and AB 2774 (serious citation definition), among others. His latest accomplishments include spearheading the design of State Fund’s newly launched Loss Prevention Program and orchestrating the California adoption in 2017 of the nation’s first consensus-based, comprehensive standard to protect Ironworkers at reinforcing steel and post-tensioning construction projects. Len holds an M.S. in Environmental Health Sciences from U.C. Berkeley and a J.D. from U.C. Hastings College of the Law.

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