THE COURTNEY VAUGHAN CONSULTING TEAM

Kathryn Westover, CPCU.  Kathyrn Westover provides management and consulting services to corporations, and organizations that seek cost effective methods of managing retained risk.  Her focus is on design of risk transfer programs using captive and holding companies/special purpose vehicles.  Ms. Westover has over fifteen years experience in the insurance industry and formerly President of American Risk Management, one of the leading captive management companies in Vermont.  She is a member of the Board of the Vermont Captive Insurance Association, the Advisory Board to the Vermont Director of Captive Regulations, and the Vermont Financial Services Institute’s advisory Board.  She has written and presented many articles covering such areas as “Risk Manager and Reinsurer-A Common Destiny”, “Managing Retention Capacity” and “Financial Modeling for Risk Managers.”  Ms. Westover holds both a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degree from Oxford University and licenses in Property and Casualty and Life and Health insurance.

Jacqueline Brown.  Jacqueline Brown has over thirty years experience in the risk management industry.  Her early experience was gained with Marsh Mclennan, Inc as a senior account manager (broker).  Later she performed insurance and pension plan administration for the United States Department of Defense and its contractors.  This led to a lengthy stint as Risk Manager for the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority where her duties included management of the Owner Controlled Insured Program, an innovative and successful component of the construction program for Washington, DC’s rail system.  Her experience is well founded to provide risk management expertise in both the private sector as well as government operations.  As an independent consultant, she ran a Self Insured Retention operation valued over US$5 billion.  Ms. Brown holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lehman College and a property and Casualty Insurance Broker license.

Michael C. Fort.  Michael Fort is a Senior Consultant with Courtney Vaughan, LLC.  Mr. Fort brings over 25 years business management experience to the firm, including financial management and strategic planning.  Prior to Courtney Vaughan, LLC, he contributed to improvement of the financial performance of several companies.  He is a former series seven licensed Wall Street professional.

Michael Fort has served as Regional Director of Operations to oversee the operations of six hotel properties.  An expert in distressed property turnarounds, his contributions led to an increase in the Room Division service index at one property by 25% within three months.  Additionally, during a six month takeover transition period, Mr. Fort raised the overall guest return intent scores from 48.8 to 96.2.  He assisted in restructuring of the hotel company, culminating in the successful divesture of Oceanic Hotels, International.

Michael Fort is an expert in tourism, hotel operations, and development, and human resources.  Mr. Fort's hotel property in Washington, D.C. outperformed 300 others in profitability and market penetration for five consecutive years.  He also recorded the company’s largest labor productivity gains.  He has served in management capacity for several hotel properties, including Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza and Radisson.

Michael Fort holds a Master of Business Administration degree with a dual concentration in Finance and Data Processing from Seton Hall University and the Florida Institute of Technology.  He has also earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Villanova University in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance.