J. Michael Feeney, Founder

Mr. Feeney is the retired Vice Chairman of First Mercury Financial Corporation, a Michigan domiciled insurance holding company. First Mercury held various companies including CoverX Corporation, First Mercury Insurance Company, All National Insurance Company, Mercury Management, Inc., and American Risk Pooling Consultants Inc. (ARPCO). Prior to the formation of CoverX in 1972, Michael held various underwriting and management positions with the St. Paul Group and the Glens Falls Insurance Company and worked as an independent agent. During the 1970’s, Michael directed the expansion of CoverX into various captive, rental captive, reinsurance, and alternative risk financing arrangements. At the onset of a severe insurance and reinsurance market dislocation in 1985, Michael and his partner raised $17,000,000 of private venture capital and formed two underwriting syndicates on the Illinois Insurance Exchange. Those syndicates were merged in 1988 and re-domiciled in Illinois as First Mercury Insurance Company. In an effort to expand operations into the development and management of public entity self-insurance pools, in 1986 Michael formed ARPCO. The development self funded pools in various states led to the creation of a public entity reinsurance facility, the American Public Entity Excess Pool (APEEP), an entity that has become the country’s largest interstate public entity liability reinsurance pool. APEEP and its member underwriting pools began operation in 1986 utilizing a financial model developed by Mr. Feeney. Illustrating the success of that model is the claims paying and capital accumulation success of APEEP and its participants. At the end of 2008, the group had paid in excess of $200,000,000 of its policyholder’s claims while accumulating more than $150,000,000 in cash surplus. In February of 2001, Michael was asked to find a solution to the liability insurance crisis facing long term care facilities. The development of HealthCap – which has been in operation since August 16, 2001, is the result of his efforts.

 

Peter Feeney, Managing Partner

Mr. Feeney has over 20 years of experience managing self-insurance groups and over 30 years of experience in the insurance industry. As the President of American Risk Pooling Consultants, Mr. Feeney oversaw the operations of group self-insurance pools with over 2,500 public entity participants. In addition to serving on its board of directors, Mr. Feeney served First Mercury Financial Corporation in a variety of capacities, including underwriting and marketing management. He holds a B.S. degree from the University of Colorado and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Michigan.

 

 

 

 

 

Cara Drenth, Director of Underwriting

Ms. Drenth is responsible for the coordination and implementation of HealthCap’s underwriting policies and procedures. Prior to joining the Chelsea Rhone team in 2001, Ms. Drenth spent the previous 17 years in the insurance industry working in underwriting, new business development, and customer service at both the agency and company level in Michigan and Virginia. Ms. Drenth is a graduate of Michigan State University.

 

 

 

Jeff Mason, Director of Business Development

Mr. Mason is responsible for business development, sales, and national marketing for Chelsea Rhone, including overseeing distribution for HealthCap and the alternative risk products group. Mr. Mason began working with Chelsea Rhone in 2002 when HealthCap operated in only two states, held less than $7 million in assets and maintained $0 in policyholder equity. Mr. Mason led the business development, marketing and sales efforts that resulted in HealthCap’s leadership position in long term care liability insurance. Prior to joining Chelsea Rhone, Mr. Mason was Senior Vice President of Sales at ASC in Los Angeles. He is a graduate of the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University with a degree in Economics and is pursuing his MBA at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

 

 

 

 

 

Steve Lewis, Controller

Mr. Lewis is responsible for financial operations and reporting for HealthCap,  HealthCap RMS, and Chelsea Rhone Captive Services.  Mr. Lewis has over twenty years experience as a corporate controller, including ten years as controller for Special Events Sports Co., the world’s largest secondary market source for tickets to major sporting events, which is based in Los Angeles. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Mr. Lewis returned to Ann Arbor in 2001. He joined Chelsea Rhone as controller in 2002. Mr. Lewis is a member of the Institute of Management Accountants and The Insurance Accounting and Systems Association

 

 

 

 

 

 

James Gutierrez, Director of Information Technology

Mr. Gutierrez brings nearly 20 years of experience managing information technology resources for the healthcare industry. After serving as Senior Systems Analyst for the University of Texas Health Science Center, Mr.Gutierrez left to pursue a PhD in Computer Science from Stanford University. In 1996, Mr. Gutierrez founded VistaLink Medical Communications, developing an online international referral system supporting over 3000 physicians and thousands of patient medical records. Mr. Gutierrez has a BS in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

 

 

 

 

Leanne Warren, Director of Captive Programs

Ms. Warren leads the administration of over 25 single parent, group parent, and risk retention group clients. Prior to joining Chelsea Rhone, Ms. Warren spent eleven years with Marsh in the HealthCare department handling the underwriting and administration of hospital-sponsored physician captive programs. Ms. Warren received a B.A. with distinction from the University of Michigan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alice MacDonald, Developer

Ms. MacDonald joined our Information Technology team in 2006. She assists Mr. Gutierrez with underwriting, claims analysis, and risk management applications. Prior to coming to Chelsea Rhone, Alice was a healthcare software consultant working with several hospital systems throughout the country on large-scale electronic medical records systems and practice management software. Ms. MacDonald received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and her master’s degree in Information Systems from Eastern Michigan University.

 

 

 

Brian Kuehn, CPCU, Technical Lead

Mr. Kuehn performs a variety of tasks at Chelsea Rhone that no one really wants to do, including policy form construction. Like a barnacle, for the past 35 years Brian has floated in the insurance ocean, attaching himself to a number of carriers, only to be scraped off somewhere along the voyage. Most recently he found himself at sea in Ann Arbor where the Feeney family threw him a lifeline. A champion beer pong player at Dartmouth College, Brian has since turned in his paddle for a set of golf clubs. When not on the golf course, Brian is one of three people worldwide who read insurance policies for fun in their spare time. Mr. Kuehn is an honors graduate of Dartmouth College with a B.A. in Economics.

 

 

Stephanie Humeniuk, Assistant Controller

Ms. Humeniuk brings 23 years of accounting experience to Chelsea Rhone with a specialization in job costing, management reporting, and Excel VBA programming. She handles claim payment processing for HealthCap as well as regulatory reporting for the program’s investments. Ms. Humeniuk performs Human Resource functions for Chelsea Rhone, and produces all financial statements for Chelsea Rhone Captive Services clients. She completed her education at Eastern Michigan University.

 

 

 

Jim Ryans, CFA, Investment Consultant

As an adviser, Mr. Ryans supports the executive team on financial and management issues and he provides investment oversight for the HealthCap investment portfolio, which has performed consistently well despite severe market fluctuations in 2008. Mr. Ryans is currently a doctoral student in accounting at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. From 2003 through 2011, Mr. Ryans was a member of the executive team, provided investment supervision and directed the alternative risk division at Chelsea Rhone, managing over 30 single parent, group parent, and risk retention group clients. Prior to joining Chelsea Rhone in 2003, Jim worked for Deloitte & Touche in Toronto. He received his Bachelors of Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo, Canada, and has an MBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

 

Evan Swedish, Marketing Associate

Mr. Swedish supports business development, marketing and sales of HealthCap products and services. In addition to assisting in the distribution of HealthCap insurance products, Mr. Swedish directs the development and marketing of HealthCap University, an online educational program provided for our members to help manage risk. Mr. Swedish joined Chelsea Rhone in 2010.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sophia Alexander, Marketing Associate

Ms. Alexander supports the marketing and administrative functions within Chelsea Rhone. She assists with website development, graphic design, seminar marketing and advertising campaign management. Sophia is pursuing a M.S. in Accounting at Eastern Michigan University.