Helping you manage: Benefits (Disability, PTO, FML, ADA, PFL), Workers’ Comp, RTW Programs, and Legal/Compliance
ABOUT
Absence, Productivity and HR Consulting brings a wealth of knowledge and hands on experience to Employers, Service Providers, and those in the Broker/Producer community relating to all aspects of Health & Productivity. Our Principals are experienced in disability, absence, stay at work and return to work programs, paid leaves, paid time off, ADA, Workers' Comp, medical management, integrated benefits, health & wellness and Legal/Compliance issues.
Michael J. Dunst
Principal
Mike is an industry "Thought Leader" with 25+ years of absence management and disability leadership experience. His career has focused on employer based solutions related to operational efficiencies, claims management, health & welfare strategies to promote workplace productivity and product development. He founded and operated a nationally recognized absence & disability TPA firm that focused on Fortune 500 customers before selling to a major consulting firm. Mike has held leadership positions at several Tier 1 insurance companies as well as a national consulting firm. He has been a member of the IBI Executive Board of Directors and DMEC Advisory Board. He has presented on several occasions at industry conferences and published white papers on disability, return to work, and technology solutions for the disabled.
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Leigh Stepan, CEBS
Principal
Leigh is a leader in the benefits and risk management industries with over 25 years’ experience. She is a subject matter expert in both casualty claims and benefits, with particular expertise in workers compensation and time away from work programs including leave, disability, sick pay, PTO and various vacation plan models. Leigh was Director of Benefits as well as Casualty Claims Manager for a fortune 100 retailer and Senior Vice President for the largest third-party administrator in the U.S. Leigh understands the industry from both the vendor and the employer perspective and is well versed in program design and operational delivery. Leigh is a current board member for the Twin Cities Chapter of the International Society of Certified Employee Benefits Specialist(ISCEBS) and has previously served on national committees for the ISCEBS, the Corporate Board for the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP) and the board of the Integrated Benefits Institute (IBI).
Ophelia Galindo
Principal
Ophelia brings over 30 years of experience focused on time away, leave of absence, disability and accommodation, with a commitment to helping clients develop programs that are compliant, scalable, sustainable, disciplined and, of course, customer-centric. Her clients have included employers, public retirement plans, unions, third-party administrators and insurance carriers. Ophelia most recently led the Global benefit services, leave of absence, disability and accommodation case management teams at Amazon. Ophelia insourced and integrated the Amazon leave/disability and accommodation in 2020, onto a single, Salesforce-based tech platform.
Before joining Amazon, Ophelia was the National Lead for Buck Consultant's Absence & Productivity Solutions group. Prior to Buck, Ophelia was at Mercer HR Consulting in a similar role.
Michael Klachefsky
Principal
Michael is a nationally known expert in workplace productivity, leave, absence and disability management. He has helped over 130 employers, carriers, brokers, associations, governments and unions to evaluate, design or outsource their leave, absence and disability management programs. His experience includes consulting in both the USA and Canada. Michael has created over 120 media articles, webinars, conference presentations, and podcasts. He is considered a pioneer in the measurement of the total cost of absence and lost productivity and he has developed industry leading approaches to resolving mental health claims.
Marie J. Killian
Prinicipal
Marie is a human resources leader and employment law attorney who combines Fortune 100 business experience, subject matter expertise in human resources, and sound understanding of employment regulations. She has a proven track record in improving human resource management efficiencies and reducing the potential for regulatory noncompliance by conducting human resource audits, developing employment strategies, drafting policies, and implementing procedures for employers. Additionally, she has managed leave of absence programs for employers. Marie has been responding to employers' increased requests for third party investigations and sexual harassment training.
Stan Kulesa
Sr. Consultant, Disability and Claim Operations
Stan is a seasoned Claims leader with significant experience in building and directing high performance operational businesses. Being a student of the business, he has proven results in claim management, cross-functional interactions, regulatory and compliance expertise, organization skills, and continuous quality improvement. He is recognized as developing leaders and building and capitalizing on strong and positive relationships with all aspects of an organization such as sales, underwriting, marketing and product development. He is experienced in developing and refining approaches to claim analytics to produce tangible results. Stan leverages his extensive industry experience to advocate for disability interests through speaking engagements, published articles, lobbying activities, and volunteering.
Tammy Worthey
Absence and Disability Consultant
Alyson Smith-Lebow
Absence and Disability Consultant
Tammy is an industry expert in Absence Management which includes disability, leave and ADA. She has over 30 years’ experience in absence management. She spent most of her career working for the largest TPA in the United States with 17 years as Managing Director. Her career was focused on managing fortune 500 companies highly customized Absence Management programs. As Managing Director her business unit operations were made up of dedicated teams providing disability, federal, state and company leaves, and ADA claims administration. This also included several dedicated call centers providing tier one customer service and one call resolution. She has expertise in strategic leadership to ensure delivery of quality and customer focused claims administration, meeting client expectations as measured by performance guarantees and client satisfaction surveys. She is an expert in relationship management for fortune 500 company’s clients. This included responsibility for all aspects of the client relationship, client pricing and negotiation of contracts for new business and renewals.
Alyson has over 20 years of experience in behavioral and medical disability and absence leadership for large corporate employers. She is a strategic disability and absence operations leader with a proven track record of transforming programs into highly efficient, scalable, and metric-driven service delivery models. She is a team player and is recognized for developing innovative clinical programs that improve return-to-work outcomes and client satisfaction. In her consulting role, she has assisted employers with vendor selection, program auditing, and program development and remediation
Alyson is also a behavioral health expert with deep knowledge about the management of mental health as a researcher, clinician, EAP director, depression disease management product developer, and integrated behavioral health disability program leader. She has provided professional presentations about evidence-based treatment for anxiety disorders. Alyson is a Licensed Psychologist in Minnesota.
Ronald S. Leopold, MD, MBA, MPH
Chief Medical Officer
As a credentialed and experienced occupational physician, Dr. Leopold brings credibility and a breadth of knowledge as a consultant, client advocate, and marketplace spokesperson. He is an industry thought leader in medical costs, employee benefits and health and productivity. Dr. Leopold has additional expertise on a variety of benefits-related topics, including the strategic value of employee benefits, the four generations in the workplace, the value of financial wellness and the implications of health reform for the benefits community.
His book on the future of employee benefits entitled The Benefits Edge: Honing the Competitive Value of Employee Benefits has been described as a blueprint for benefits in the decade of healthcare reform. He is also the author of A Year in the Life of a Million American Workers, an almanac of absence data, in addition to numerous by-lined articles in the benefits media.