Directors at Large

American Modern Insurance Group (AMIG), Ryan Canter

Ryan Canter is the AVP of Product Management at American Modern Insurance Group (AMIG) in the program business unit. He manages the pet heath product administered by Embrace Insurance and a renters product administered by a different partner.  Ryan graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a focus in accounting and finance. His 14 years of P&C insurance experience has been primarily in recreational personal lines products such as: collector car, watercraft, and motorcycle.  In late 2021, he became responsible for the pet health program.  Ryan believe experiences, behaviors and execution are key characteristics for developing new skills and ‘needle moving’ results. Away from work, he spends time with his family (an amazing wife and two beautiful daughters) and enjoys playing golf.  Ryan has one dog, who is 13-years old, but she is definitely another member of their family.

Christine Langan Headshot

AXIS Capital, Christine Langan

Christine Langan is the Head of Pet Insurance at AXIS Capital, with over 30 years of underwriting experience in the insurance industry. Prior to joining AXIS, Christine was Head of Underwriting for group employee benefits at AXA. In this role, she managed an underwriting team focusing on new business growth and block persistency for a start-up group employee benefits organization. Her responsibilities covered life, disability, dental, vision and voluntary products.

Before her tenure at AXA, Christine held the position of Vice President, Underwriting at AIG Benefit Solutions, where she managed a $200 million block of business. She began her underwriting career at Prudential, focusing on medical, dental, life and vision products.

Christine earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Quantitative Business Analysis from The Pennsylvania State University. She resides in New Jersey with her husband, two children and their Havanese dog, Diogee.

Chewy, Nilesh Telang

Nilesh Telang is a Senior Director of Category Management for Chewy, a trusted destination for pet parents and partners everywhere. Telang currently serves as General Manager for CarePlus, Chewy’s exclusive suite of pet insurance and wellness plans. In his role, Telang oversees innovations and expansions within CarePlus, with the goal of furthering Chewy’s commitment to making healthcare more affordable and accessible for pet parents. Prior to joining Chewy in 2021, Telang spent over a decade at Amazon and at Dell where he launched, scaled, and managed several different business lines that included Amazon’s portable mobile electronics and media (software) categories, the international expansion of Amazon’s B2B offerings and channel strategy and planning for Dell’s consumer services business. He has over 20 years leadership, technology and product experience that spans across e-commerce, retail, and technology sectors. Telang holds an MBA from the University of Texas-Austin and master’s in electrical engineering from the University of Texas-Dallas. Telang lives in Austin, Texas with his family, which includes Saisha, a loving Weimaraner-Chihuahua mix.

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Chubb/Westchester, Nick Gatt

Nick Gatt is SVP and COO of the Programs division at Westchester, a Chubb Company, where he oversees distribution management and directly manages the Healthy Paws program. Nick has over 20 years of experience including time as a Director in the Advisory practice of KPMG, and the last 11 years at Chubb (and previously ACE) in a variety of leadership roles in Internal Audit, Operations and Programs.

He has been responsible for the Healthy Paws program since early 2020. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in MIS/Finance from St. Joseph’s University and an MBA in Accounting from Drexel University.

Nick resides in Pennsylvania and outside of work he enjoys nothing more than spending time with his wife, two perfect daughters and his rescue dog, Chopper.

Companion Protect, Casey Masters

Casey Masters is the President, Chief Operating Officer of Companion Protect™, LLC and is responsible for leading the operations and insurance teams and is instrumental in the development and execution of the company’s long-term strategy. After earning a degree in Finance from Kansas State University, Casey began his insurance career in 1991 as a Financial Analyst at Lockton Companies—working with large national clients on the financial structure of their insurance programs. This role led the way for him to become a Co-Founder of lock\line, a startup within Lockton Companies, where he served as Director of Finance and eventually Senior Vice President of Client Services. Under his guidance and direction, lock\line grew to become the leader of wireless device protection programs and was acquired by DST Systems in 2002 and ultimately merged with Asurion in 2005.

Casey lives in Leawood, Kansas with his wife and kids. He enjoys sports, cooking, and of course spending time with his rescue dog—Salvy.

Crum & Forster Insurance, Carly Julio

Bio coming soon.

Brian Macias

Embrace Pet Insurance, Brian Macias

Brian Macias is the President of Embrace Pet Insurance. He is a University of Michigan graduate with 18 years of experience in the direct-to-consumer and affinity sales of financial products, including home loans, property and casualty insurance, accident and health insurance, and Medicare. Beginning his career as a mortgage banker at Quicken Loans, Brian worked his way up to an executive leadership position at the company and has since created significant growth in similar roles at National General Insurance and other entrepreneurial ventures. He lives in the Cleveland area with his wife, two daughters, and chocolate Lab, JoJo.

FIGO Pet Insurance, Tom Bean

Tom Bean is Vice President of Operations with FIGO Pet Insurance. In this capacity, Tom oversees the Claims and Customer Experience Departments. With over a decade of professional experience in the insurance industry, Tom has developed a strong background in management, strategic growth, workforce development, and analytics. Tom joined FIGO in 2019 as Claims Director and quickly advanced to executive leadership after growing the Claims Department while ensuring policyholder expectations were met and exceeded. Tom has received industry recognition for his leadership. 

Prior to joining FIGO, Tom served as Strategic Advisor and Property Claims Manager at American Family Insurance. Tom received his B.A. in Marketing from Eastern Illinois University. Tom currently resides in Chicago with his wife Brittany and his golden doodle, Lady.

Rob Jackson

Healthy Paws Pet Insurance, Rob Jackson

Rob is the Co-Founder and Chief Pet Protector of Healthy Paws Pet Insurance and Foundation leading product development, insurance underwriting, strategic partnerships, customer care, and claims management.

Prior to forming Healthy Paws, Rob was the President & COO of Trupanion Pet Insurance. Rob also was the founder and CEO of OUM & Associates, a national liability insurance MGA for allied healthcare providers which was acquired by Aon in 1994. Rob began his career of over 30 years as an entrepreneur and insurance executive with General Reinsurance Corporation.

Rob graduated from Indiana University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. Passionate about giving back to the community, Healthy Paws Foundation is a natural extension of Rob’s interests as he had also founded Partners in Education and Home Court NW, two non-profit organizations serving youths of Greater Seattle.

Lemonande, Angela Jones

Lemonade Insurance, Angela Jones

Angela holds the role of Claims Technical Lead at Lemonade, bringing over 12 years of experience in the Pet Insurance industry, coupled with a dedicated tenure of 3 years at Lemonade. Leveraging her profound knowledge of the veterinary industry, Angela spearheads initiatives to optimize claim processing and establish standardized operating procedures. Collaborating closely with Lemonade’s product, technology, and engineering teams, she contributes to the refinement of claim handling systems. Prior to insurance, Angela worked a Registered Veterinary Technician, primarily in General Practice and Emergency Medicine, for about 7 years. Before her immersion in Veterinary Medicine, she served honorably in the United States Navy, stationed in Italy and fulfilling duties aboard naval ships. Angela holds a degree in Social Sciences (BS) and Veterinary Technology (AAS).


Currently, Angela shares her home with her husband and 3 cats. Outside her professional pursuits, she engages in the art of origami and enjoys anything outdoors, including running and marathon training.

Liberty Mutual Insurance, Steven Beattie

ManyPets, Kenneth Kuhn

MetLife Pet Insurance, Michael Walling

Michael Walling is the CFO of MetLife Pet Insurance. He began working in the pet insurance marketplace with start-up brand PetFirst Healthcare in 2014. Because of his expertise and genuine passion for this unique growing line of insurance, Michael joined MetLife upon their acquisition of Petfirst in 2020. 

Michael is a CPA and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Sullivan University and from the from the University of Louisville with a master’s degree in accountancy. Prior to working in the pet healthcare field, Michael was the CFO of Republic Industries International.

Michael has been involved in NAPHIA for many years and became a Board Member representing MetLife in 2022. He lives in Kentucky with his wife and two cats Zoey and Charlie. He golfs and runs, but admittedly not with his cats.

Deborah Meyers

Nationwide, Deborah Meyers

Deborah Meyers is an Associate Vice President for Member Care & Operations at Nationwide Pet Insurance. Deborah is a strategic mobilizer, responsible for strategy, operational effectiveness, and execution of key initiatives for Customer Service, Policy Administration, Premium Processing, and Fulfillment Operations.

After a twenty-year career as a Finance professional in the human healthcare industry, she joined Nationwide (formerly Veterinary Pet Insurance), and branched out into operations. She received her undergraduate degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in Accounting, and a Master of Arts in Leadership from Azusa Pacific University. She also holds an associate in Personal Insurance from the Insurance Institute of America.

Deborah and her husband are enjoying empty-nesting and sharing their lives in new ways with four young adult children and one new son-in-law.

Petco Pet Insurance, Jennifer Nocco

Jennifer Nocco is the Head of Pet Insurance at Petco, responsible for leading the Petco | Nationwide partnership strategy and pet insurance brand. She joined Petco in 2021 after more than a decade in the hospitality industry, working for Caesars Entertainment. Jennifer has an extensive background in marketing strategy, product management, operations, sales and analytics. She began her career in investment banking at Merrill Lynch, working with clients in the insurance industry.

Jennifer holds an MBA from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in Math and Economics from Boston College. She lives in San Diego with her husband Chris, stepdaughter Skye, dog Nigel and cat Buddy.

Melissa Gutierrez

Pets Best/Synchrony, Melissa Gutierrez

Melissa Gutierrez is SVP and General Manager with Synchrony CareCredit, where she leads the rapidly growing Pets Best Insurance business unit. Prior to joining Pets Best, Melissa was President of NBS Insurance Agency, Inc.  During a 33-year career with Nationwide, Melissa held roles in sales, strategy, marketing and finance across several business units including Nationwide Insurance, Nationwide Financial and Nationwide Specialty Health. Melissa holds the chartered life underwriter (CLU) designation, a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Franklin University, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Dayton.  Melissa is currently the Chairman of the Franklin University Board of Trustees; Franklin University is a private, non-profit international university based in Columbus, Ohio.

In her spare time, Melissa enjoys rowing crew, gardening, traveling, and cooking.  She resides in Galena, Ohio with her husband Tony, youngest son, Joshua and two cats (who love everyone but each other!), Elvis and Keisha. 

Chad Bellin

PetPartners, Chad Bellin

PetYellow, Lauren Terpening

Lauren relocated to Canada in 2022 to be PetYellow’s Chief Executive Officer. Prior to that, she has over 10 years of pet insurance experience in Australia, across a broad range of functions from claim assessment, dispute resolution, compliance, account management, sales, marketing, underwriting and product and portfolio management. Lauren has a Bachelor of Business Management, a Diploma in Veterinary Practice Management, and years of experience as a veterinary nurse.  Pet parent to three chihuahuas, Lauren is passionate about building products and services that improve the health and welfare of pets and provide peace of mind to the pet parents that care for them.

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Prudent Pet, Connor Lind

Connor is President of Prudent Pet and has over a decade of experience working in the Property & Casualty Insurance industry. During those years he served in a variety of roles overseeing M&A of brick and mortar insurance operations as well as building out online quoting and binding capabilities and the call center team supporting the digital experience.

Connor helped launched Prudent Pet in 2018. As President, he works to expand the business on both consumer-facing and business-to-business aspects. In his spare time, Connor enjoys golfing and spending time with his wife, sons, and goldendoodle.

Lior Keren

Pumpkin, Lior Keren

Lior is Head of Operations and Corporate Secretary at Pumpkin. As a founding team member, he is currently leading the company’s operational, legal and financial matters. Lior is an executive with cross-functional expertise in direct-to-consumer operations, law, finance, corporate development and M&A.

Prior to joining Pumpkin, Lior was Chief Operating Officer of IL MAKIAGE, a direct-to-consumer beauty brand. Prior to that, Lior held Corporate Development leadership positions in the energy space with TechnipFMC, leading M&A and integration projects and strategy development cases. Lior started his career as a lawyer at Meitar Law, Israel’s premier law firm, advising clients on M&A and financing transactions, commercial agreements and general corporate law matters. He has also served as a combat officer (Captain) in the Israeli Defense Forces.

Lior holds an MBA (honors) from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a dual degree in Law (LLB, honors) and Economics (BA) from Tel Aviv University.

Spot Pet Insurance, Trey Ferro

Trey Ferro is the CEO of Spot Pet Insurance. He brings digital partnerships expertise from his previous roles at Grubhub and Cameo, as well as experience in business development from Aon.  Trey’s key focus is to establish a brand that resonates with customers by having best-in-class marketing and delivering excellent value with the products Spot offers. Trey’s unique blend of skills has allowed Spot to see tremendous success as an industry disruptor in a very short period of time.  

Trey graduated from Northwestern University and currently resides in Miami, Florida. He enjoys traveling and spending time outdoors with his dogs Lou and Cider. 

Trupanion, Dr. Steve Weinrauch

Dr. Steve Weinrauch, BVMS, MRCVS, joined Trupanion after nine years of continuous full-time practice in 2013 as Director of Veterinary Direct Pay, then promoted to Chief Veterinary Officer in 2015 and expanded his role to Chief Product Officer in 2016. Steve was born and raised in Boston, trained, and met his wife in Scotland, and prides himself on bringing a bit of east coast to Seattle. His wife is also a practicing veterinarian in the Seattle area. Together they share their home with a small herd of dogs and three young and very tolerant sons.

Dr. Steve also has a passion for helping animals and the veterinary professionals who dedicate their lives to them. He is the Founder of Mightyvet.org 501(c)(3). Previously he served as Director of De Novo Development at National Veterinary Associates and Partner Veterinarian and Chief of Staff at a large Washington hospital. He has published his research in numerous peer reviewed journals and is licensed to practice in both the USA and the European Union.

WAGMO, Alison Foxworth

Ali started her career as a civil engineer, working on rail and infrastructure in New York City, a far cry from pet insurance. She attended Wharton Business School and spent the next 10 years at BlackRock, developing her love of insurance and Thai food. She co-founded Wagmo with Christie to help make the lives of pet parents easier. Ali has a BS in Civil Engineering fromBucknell University and a Master’s in business from Wharton. She lives in Connecticut with her family, including three kids, three fish and her rescue Manny.

Wagmo is a tech-first pet wellness company built with new pet parents in mind. Wagmo’s wellness and insurance plans empower pet parents to get the care they need for their pets when they need it the most. Wagmo alleviates the financial stress of routine and emergency pet care from grooming to essential maintenance, cancer treatments, and emergencies without having to compromise. The company was founded in 2017 by Christie Horvath and Ali Foxworth and is headquartered in NY.