MEMIC Rewards Longtime Team Members with Promotions

Portland,ME (WorkersCompensation.com) -  The MEMIC Group has promoted three veteran team members to key managerial roles: Janine Bard has been named Director of Claims and Ben Delcourt has been elevated to Director of Underwriting while Kaila MacCracken is the new Director of Financial Planning.

“In promoting these individuals, their supervisors emphasize the importance MEMIC places not just on expertise within their respective fields, which is considerable in each case, but also on their superior customer service and ability to manage team members with diverse skill sets and personal backgrounds,” MEMIC Group President & CEO Michael P. Bourque said. “I know Janine, Ben, and Kaila will use all their abilities to get the most from their people so we can better serve our policyholders.”

Janine Bard, Director of Claims, Maine Region

Bard leads the Maine regional operations of MEMIC’s Claims Department, effective Feb. 13. Her duties include development of staff to assure MEMIC delivers superior claim service to those involved in the claim process, pursuant to MEMIC’S Claims C.A.R.E. model; and ensuring claim quality and effective claim outcomes. Additionally, Bard is responsible for formulation of budgets, expense management, oversight of reserves and large financial transactions, review and adjustment of staffing levels, and management of selected high-profile cases.

With more than 25 years in workers’ compensation – almost 20 years at MEMIC – Bard started as a Compensation Specialist in 2002, handling claims in multiple New England jurisdictions, before being promoted to Claim Team Manager in the Northeast and then a Claim Team Manager in the Mid-Atlantic region.

“Working with our leadership team early on to build MEMIC was a team effort, and I am very happy I was a part of that early development,” Bard said. “I believe in discovering a person’s talent and nurturing it to allow people to grow, develop, and succeed to their fullest potential. I will continue to develop strong working relationships within MEMIC and with our policyholders, and I am very excited to be a part of MEMIC’s continued growth in the role of the Director of Claims in Maine.”

“The ability to manage claims fairly and efficiently, while delivering upon superior claim service, is a paramount concern for our policyholders and our leadership team,” MEMIC Vice President of Claims Tom Wiese said. “Having served in a variety of claims management roles, Janine has developed superior claim handling practices, shown better overall claim results, and developed strong working relationships with policyholders and agents. I’m confident her decades in the industry will blend compassion and analysis in developing and supporting her staff to arrive at claims decisions that are fair to injured workers and their employers in every case.”

Ben Delcourt, Director of Underwriting

A 10-year veteran of MEMIC, Delcourt is to supervise a team of underwriters as Director of Underwriting in a time of expansion. He will work closely with management to establish goals, monitor results, and to lead a growing team of underwriters responsible for annual profit and production goals. Delcourt also monitors workflow and legal compliance, ensures MEMIC is building and fostering business relationships to achieve a high level of customer satisfaction, and works to enhance profit and growth goals for MEMIC’s agency partners while underwriting a small book of business of his own.

“I’m extremely excited and grateful for my new position within the company. All the training and education MEMIC has provided me over the last 10 years has prepared me to make the most out of it,” Delcourt said. “I’m looking forward to maximizing my leadership abilities, improving our process efficiency as a company, and further strengthening our agency partnerships as Director of Underwriting in the Maine Region.”

Since joining MEMIC in 2012 as an Account Analyst, Delcourt has served in progressively more strategic underwriting roles, promoted to Associate Underwriter in 2014, Underwriter I in 2015, Underwriting Supervisor in 2016, and Manager of Underwriting in 2018. A holder of Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and Workers’ Compensation Professional (WCP) designations, Delcourt graduated from the University of Maine in Orono with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and obtained a Master of Science in Accounting degree from Kaplan University. He has also completed The Institutes’ Leadership Development Program at the University of Wisconsin and is on track to earn an MBA in Risk Management from Husson University this spring.

“Ben is a strategic thinker who has accrued great insight into the business needs in his region over many years,” Vice President of Underwriting Catherine Duranceau said. “He will be a great asset in a new role for MEMIC as he applies that knowledge to the company’s profit and growth goals.”

Ben was born in Portland and raised in Standish, Maine, and resides in North Windham, Maine, with his wife and two daughters.

Kaila McCracken, Director of Financial Planning

Quickly advancing in her six years with the company, McCracken will direct financial planning in a Finance Department whose operations underpin MEMIC’s ability to collect premiums, pay claims, and make prudent investments in a rapidly changing insurance industry. Her responsibilities include statutory business projections and analysis, and oversight, coordination, and implementation of periodic financial and risk-related analytics and dashboards for the insurance entities of The MEMIC Group.

“Over the past several years, MEMIC’s financial planning department has matured and evolved in support of the organization’s growth plan and strategic objectives,” McCracken said. “I am grateful to have been a part of that evolution and thrilled to help lead the team’s path forward.”

McCracken joined MEMIC in 2017 and, prior to her current position, served in a series of progressively more supervisory roles, from data analyst, to accountant, to financial planning analyst, to supervisor of financial planning. She’ll also serve as co-chairwoman of this year’s United Way Campaign Committee and represents the Risk and Finance business areas on the Enterprise Risk Management Committee. McCracken graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts in English, and in 2020 with a certificate in Accounting, both from University of Southern Maine.

“Kaila has been an integral part of the development of business projections, MEMIC’s annual reinsurance renewal, and the annual A.M. Best process, and she is a key contributor and key integration point to our risk management and strategy processes,” MEMIC Corporate Risk Officer Jim Romano said. “She also plays a critical role as the owner of the MEMIC Insights product team. I look forward to working with Kaila as she settles into her new role.”

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About MEMIC
The MEMIC Group includes MEMIC Indemnity Company, MEMIC Casualty Company, and parent company Maine Employers’ Mutual Insurance Company; all rated “A” (Excellent) by A.M. Best. The MEMIC Group holds licenses to write workers’ compensation across the entire country. The group insures and serves more than 20,000 employers and their estimated 300,000 employees with dedicated safety and injury management service teams from Maine to Florida.

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