Elizabeth Heck, Chairman, President and CEO
Elizabeth Heck is Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Greater New York Insurance Companies. Ms. Heck first joined GNY in 2001 as the company's Corporate Controller and subsequently served as its Chief Financial Officer before being named President in August 2010. She assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer in January 2015 and Chairman of the Board in March 2020. Prior to joining GNY, Ms. Heck served in senior financial roles at GRE Insurance Group (subsidiary of Guardian Royal Exchange) and the Home Insurance Company. She began her career at Ernst & Young where her focus was financial services.
Ms. Heck earned a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting and Finance from Franklin & Marshall College. She also completed executive training at the Wharton School of Business and holds a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) designation. She serves on the Board of several insurance associations, including the Insurance Brokers Association of New York, New York Insurance Association (past Chair), American Society of Workers' Compensation Professionals (Chair), New York Compensation Insurance Rating Board (past Chair), and the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (Vice Chair).
She has been recognized for her contributions to the insurance industry by the New York Insurance Association with its Chair's Distinguished Service Award (2022), the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation with its Vision of Hope Award (2021), the Insurance Brokers Association of New York as its Professional of the Year (2018), the American Society of Workers Compensation Professionals with its Legends Award (2017), the NYC Association of Insurance Women as its Insurance Professional of the Year (2016), the State of Israel Bonds with Neil Levin Memorial Government Service Award (2013), and by the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation as its Corporate Partner of the Year (2013).
Thomas D. Hughes, EVP, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary
Thomas Hughes is Executive Vice President & General Counsel, Corporate Secretary for GNY Insurance Companies. Mr. Hughes is in his third decade at GNY. Before joining GNY, Mr. Hughes served as the Deputy Solicitor General in charge of the New York State Attorney General's New York City Appeals & Opinions Bureau, where he argued a number of nationally significant appeals before state and Federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. He was admitted to the bar after a 10-year stint in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Foreign Counterintelligence Division, where he earned a rare commendation from the Director of the FBI for his work on a "security matter of great interest to the Bureau and the Nation." His first legal position was as a Law Clerk to a Federal judge, after which he served as appellate counsel to a number of highly-regarded law firms. Mr. Hughes presently teaches Metaphysics at St. John's University and previously taught Legal Writing and Analysis at New York Law School. A Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), Mr. Hughes holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the New School, a LL.M from New York University School of Law, a J.D. from New York Law School, an M.Phil. in Philosophy from the New School, an M.A. in Philosophy from the New School, an M.A. in Philosophy from Columbia University, an M.A. in Theology from Fordham University, and a BS in Criminal Justice from St. John's University, cum laude. Mr. Hughes has been appointed to the Dean's Leadership Committee at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Fordham University, as Chairman of the Advisory Board of St. John University's Lesley H. and William L. Collins College of Professional Studies, and as a member of the Equity, Inclusion, and Antiracism Committee in Collins College of Professional Studies. Mr. Hughes is a recipient of the Israel Bonds' "Insurance Division Leadership Award," of the St. John's "Criminal Justice Distinguished Alumnus Award," and of the "College of Professional Studies Distinguished Alumni Award."
Chris McNulty, EVP, CFO, Treasurer
Christopher McNulty is the Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer for the GNY Insurance Companies. He joined GNY in 2013 with 28 years of experience in the financial workings of prominent insurance companies. He has a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Fordham University, and is a CPA. He is a board member, and past president, of the Society of Insurance Financial Management, a not-for-profit organization that provides training to financial professionals employed in, or servicing, the insurance industry. Mr. McNulty is also a member of the AICPA and NY State Society of CPAs, and is often called on for presentations to insurance professionals at industry conferences.
Gerard Ragusa, EVP, Claims
Gerard Ragusa is the Executive Vice President, Claims for the GNY Insurance Companies. He has been in the casualty claims field since 1981. He began his career as a liability claim examiner, representative and investigator. Since joining GNY as the Manager of GNY's out-of-state claims department in 1994 he has steadily increased his responsibilities ultimately taking on the supervision of all liability claims and lawsuits in all jurisdictions. In 2012 he assumed management responsibility of the First-Party Claims department and, in 2016, of the Workers’ Compensation department. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from The College of Insurance, with a major in property-casualty insurance. He has also earned the industry's prestigious professional designations of Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and Associate in Claims (AIC).
Lucas Sheldon, EVP and Chief Underwriting Officer
Lucas Sheldon is Executive Vice President and Chief Underwriting Officer for GNY Insurance Companies. Mr. Sheldon joined GNY in 2016 with over 15 years of property and casualty experience and has worked in the high-value territories of New York and New Jersey, forging and nurturing strong and working relationships with top brokers. A graduate of the State University of New York at Oneonta, his proven technical expertise in underwriting, strong broker relationships and strategic planning and operations management skills secured his appointment as GNY's EVP and CUO.
Christine Ng, SVP and Chief Actuary
Christine Ng is Senior Vice President and Chief Actuary of the Greater New York Insurance Companies (GNY). Ms. Ng joined GNY in 2014 to build up the Actuarial group and later the Data Science function to strategize data analytics and predictive modeling for insurance pricing, risk selection and profitability growth. Prior to joining GNY, she held global property & casualty insurance consulting and actuarial managerial positions at Deloitte, Liberty Mutual Insurance and Winterthur Insurance. Ms. Ng was a board member, and past president of Casualty Actuaries of Greater New York (CAGNY). She was recognized for her distinguished contributions to the actuarial society by the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) with its Above & Beyond Achievement Award in 2017. Ms. Ng holds an M.S. in Actuarial Science from University of Wisconsin-Madison, an MBA in Risk Management and Insurance from National Chengchi University, Taiwan and a BBA in Business Mathematics from Soochow University, Taiwan. She is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society (FCAS), a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA), and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries (MAAA).
Margaret G. Klein, SVP of Legal
Margaret G. Klein is the Attorney of Record for GNY's staff counsel. She joined GNY in 2006. She was born and educated in Ireland where she obtained a BA in Mathematics and Legal Science and an LLB postgraduate degree at The National University of Ireland before being admitted to the Irish Bar. She was admitted to the New York Bar in 1984, and began her legal career in New York as a litigation trial attorney, first with Fireman's Fund and later with Crum & Forster. In her last four years at Crum & Forster, she became Attorney of Record and then moved to GNY to lead and expand its legal department. She now supervises a staff of 18 attorneys who handle litigation throughout the five Boroughs of New York. Margaret served as President of The Defense Association of New York for 2015-2016, and is a member of The New York State Bar Association and The Defense Research Institute.
Nancy Pearlstein, SVP, Human Resources
Nancy Pearlstein is Senior Vice President, Human Resources for GNY Insurance Companies. Throughout Ms. Pearlstein’s 22 years in the insurance industry, she has served in multiple roles in employee benefit plan administration, employee relations and human resource management. Ms. Pearlstein has a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from The State University of New York at Binghamton and is a Certified Employee Benefit Specialist (CEBS) cosponsored by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Vasudevan Veeraraghavan, SVP and Chief Information Officer
Vasudevan Veeraraghavan is Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for GNY Insurance Companies. Vasu brings to this role 22 years of experience in the property and casualty insurance industry leading regional and global insurance carriers through their technological evolution and digital transformation journey. He joins us from Chubb, where he was Vice President, Commercial Insurance. In his role there, he was responsible for managing business critical commercial insurance applications and driving end-to-end execution of software development projects to develop new product offerings, modernize platforms, and integrate applications. Prior to joining Chubb, Vasu held key consulting and technology leadership positions at Capgemini and Westfield Insurance. Vasu holds a M.A. of Computer and Information Science (MCIS) from Cleveland State University and a Bachelor of Engineering (BE) from Madras University, India.