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2008 Speakers Jacqueline W.S. Amai, Esq., Shareholder Darwin L.D. Ching, Esq., Director Scott R. Devenney, Esq., Attorney Kenneth T. Goya, Esq., Partner Laurie H. Hamano, M. Ed., CRC, President Sylvia K. Higashi, Esq., Attorney Stephen M. Hirasuna, MD Walter Kawamura, Hearings Branch Supervisor Lucia U. Keane, Work Comp Supervisor Charles R. Kelley, MD, MPH, MBA, Vice President Michael M. Kusaka, MD Merideth Q. McEntire, Esq., Attorney Sharon K. Ohata, CIC, CRM, MBA, Director of Training and Development Russell Park, Managing Consultant Craig Shoji, CHST, Safety Manager Karen R. Tashima, Esq., Partner Jacqueline W. S. Amai, Esq. Ms. Amai's practice concentrates on providing legal representation of employers, insurance carriers, and third-party administrators in the defense of workers' compensation claims, which includes the management and direction of defense litigation at administrative and appellate levels in state and federal forums, analyzing compensability and liability issues, investigating and prosecuting fraud complaints, the pursuit of third-party recovery and subrogation lien rights, and conducting settlement evaluations and negotiations. She has been a speaker and moderator for numerous seminars on workers' compensation in Hawaii, and she recently participated as a presenter at the 2008 10th Biennial Governor's Pacific Rim Safety & Health Conference. Ms. Amai is a graduate of the William S. Richardson School of Law and is a member of the Hawaii bar. Darwin L. D. Ching, Esq. As Director, Mr. Ching believes that his role at the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations is to foster collaborative working relationships with labor unions, the state legislature, businesses and the community. He considers the department's employees as its most valuable asset and believes strongly in their continued development and training. He is committed to ensuring the progressive growth and education of DLIR's employees, which will enable them to remain competitive and skilled in the work force, today and in the future. Before his appointment, Mr. Ching was a solo practitioner in the areas of criminal, personal injury, business, family disputes and family law. Between 1990-1998, he was a partner in the law firms of Yoshida & Ching and Graulty, Ikeda, Ching & Yoshida. From 1981-1988, Mr. Ching worked for the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney for the City and County of Honolulu. He served in various positions, including supervising attorney for the White Collar Crime Unit and for the District and Family Court Unit. Mr. Ching also served as a deputy attorney general with the state Attorney General's office from 1979-1981, where he was assigned to the administration division and litigation civil rights and education cases for the Department of Education. In his private practice, Mr. Ching represented workers before the Disability Compensation Division of the DLIR and the Labor Board of Appeals, as well as labor arbitrations. He was also a labor arbitrator for the state on cases involving the Hawai`i Government Employees Association (HGEA) and United Public Workers (UPW). Scott R. Devenney, Esq. Mr. Devenney attended Denison University where he graduated with honors. He attended law school at the University of Missouri in Columbus, Missouri. Mr. Devenney was a member of the University of Missouri Law Review from 1980 through 1982. Mr. Devenney joined the law firm of Char Hamilton Campbell & Thom as an Associate Attorney. In 1987 he worked as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Esther N. Mix of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. He returned to Char Hamilton Campbell & Thom in 1988. From 1989 through 1993, Mr. Devenney was an Associate Attorney with Kessner Duca Umebayashi Bain & Matsunaga. Thereafter, he worked at the Law Offices of Glenn J. Stanford. In 1999, he opened the Law Office of Scott R. Devenney. In September of 2003, Mr. Devenney joined Ann K. Kuwaye, Esq. and formed the law firm of Devenney & Kuwaye, A Law Corporation. In 2006, Paul A. Brooke, Esq. joined Mr. Devenney and Ms. Kuwaye, now known as Ann K. Watanabe, to form the law firm of Devenney Watanabe & Brooke, A Law Corporation. Mr. Devenney has over 20 years of experience defending workers’ compensation cases on behalf of the employer, insurance carrier and insurance adjuster. Mr. Devenney’s experience in the workers’ compensation area involves both Workers’ Compensation Law of the State of Hawaii and Longshore Workers’ Compensation. He has appeared before the State of Hawaii, Disability Compensation Division; the Labor and Industrial Relations Appeals Board of the State of Hawaii; the Circuit Courts for the State of Hawaii; the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals; the Hawaii Supreme Court; Administrative Law Judges; District Directors and Claims Examiners at the United States Department of Labor, Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs; Federal District Court for the District of Hawaii; and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Kenneth T. Goya, Esq. Kenneth T. Goya is a partner in the Honolulu law firm of Ayabe, Chong, Nishimoto, Sia & Nakamura LLLP, a litigation firm of 25 attorneys practicing in the fields of personal injury and commercial litigation, workers’ compensation, insurance defense, products liability, employment law, medical/legal/other professional malpractice, real estate and business law. For the last 25 years Mr. Goya’s practice has been in workers' compensation matters, representing self-insured employers and insurance companies and their insureds, and pursing subrogation against third parties for recovery of workers’ compensation liens. He is a frequent speaker for insurance groups and employers on workers’ compensation and subrogation matters. He also serves as an arbitrator for grievances brought by an employee against a government employer pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement. Mr. Goya received his B.A. degree, with distinction, from the University of Hawaii and J.D. degree from Willamette University College of Law. He is a member of the Hawaii State Bar Association, and is admitted to the U.S. District Court and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He has worked for the Office of the Public Defender, State of Hawaii from 1981-1983, which entailed an extensive motions and bench and jury trial practice, in Family, District and Circuit Courts, including appellate work before the Supreme Court of Hawaii, for criminal misdemeanor and felony cases. Mr. Goya has served in the armed forces and recently retired from the Army National Guard as a Lieutenant Colonel. Laurie H. Hamano, M. Ed., CRC Laurie H. Hamano M. Ed. CRC, LMHC has worked in the vocational rehabilitation field for the past 24 years working directly with injured workers in the State of Hawaii. She is President of Vocational Management Consultants, Inc. for the past 13 years and VMC now has an office on Maui. She not only does the vocational rehabilitation counseling with the injured workers and Veterans, but she also continues to do expert witness work as well as vocational assessments. She has been actively involved with the International Association of Rehabilitation Providers for the private sector counselors as well as the Hawaii Injured Workers Alliance. Sylvia K. Higashi, Esq. Sylvia K. Higashi is an attorney with the law firm of Kessner Umebayashi Bain & Matsunaga where her practice focuses on representing Employers and Insurance carriers in workers’ compensation claims brought under the State and Federal law. She is a regular speaker on topics related to workers’ compensation issues and serves on several non-profit boards. She holds a B.A. degree in English, M.Ed. and a J.D. from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She served as the research editor of the University of Hawaii Law Review and clerked for the Honorable Corinne Watanabe at the Intermediate Court of Appeals. Walter Kawamura Mr. Kawamura is currently the Hearings Branch Supervisor at the Disability Compensation Division through the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations in Hawaii. He started at the DLIR as a Compliance Officer with HIOSH, then moved to the workers’ comp arena as a Hearings Officer, and in 1985 was promoted to his current position. As the Hearings Branch Supervisor, he has earned awards including DLIR and State Manager of the Year. Lucia U. Keane Lucia graduated from the University of Hawaii at Manoa with a B.A. and from Windward Community College with an A.A. She was previously employed with Kessner, Duca, Umebayashi, Bain & Matusunaga from 1993-1994 as a legal secretary and from 1994-1995 as a paralegal. Lucia was employed with Adjusting Services of Hawaii, Inc., from 1995 to August 2000 as a workers’ compensation claims adjuster. She joined John Mullen & Company in August 2000 as a workers’ compensation claims adjuster. Lucia represented our Maui location from September 2001 through May 2003, then relocated to our Honolulu office effective June 2003. In April 2004, she was promoted to workers’ compensation supervisor. Charles R. Kelley, MD, MPH, MBA Dr. Charles Kelley is board certified in Occupational Medicine and Internal Medicine. He spent ten years in group practice at Straub Clinic and Hospital treating exclusively injured workers covered by Workers’ Compensation insurance. Currently he is employed as a Vice President at Outrigger Enterprises Inc, and part of his duties are assuring that the company employees receive timely and effective medical treatment without creating unnecessary medical, wage replacement, or insurance settlement expenses. During his career, Dr. Kelley has experienced the Workers Compensation system from both sides of the table—as physician provider, and as employer. With this unique perspective, he will be delighted to share his insights on the good and bad parts of the Hawaii Workers’ Compensation system. Michael M. Kusaka, MD Dr. Kusaka joined Straub in 1989. He is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Occupational Health. His special interests include occupational health, prevention of cardiovascular disease, cancer screening, and health promotion . Dr. Kusaka is a Certified Medical Review Officer. He received his Doctorate of Medicine degree from the Tulane University School of Medicine, and did his residency and fellowship at the Mayo Clinic. Merideth Q. H. McEntire, Esq. Ms. McEntire is a 2007 honors graduate of the William H. Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Ms. McEntire was a member of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review Editorial Board as the National Conference of Law Reviews Editor and authored sections of the 2007 Annual Survey of Caselaw. She received a Bachelor of Arts cum laude with distinction in Politics from Hendrix College in 1998. Ms. McEntire has experience in recruiting and employee relations in information technology, light industrial, call center, and transportation industries. Additionally, she was a law clerk at the Little Rock firms of Huckabay, Munson, Rowlett & Moore, P.A.; Wilson, Engstrom, Corum & Coulter; Cross, Gunter, Witherspoon & Galchus, P.C.; and Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard, P.L.L.C., where she worked in the areas of labor and employment, employment discrimination, commercial litigation, and insurance defense. Ms. McEntire's practice includes cases in the areas of workers' compensation, insurance coverage, and insurance defense. She is admitted to practice in all state and federal courts of Hawaii and is a member of the Hawaii State Bar and the American Bar Associations. Sharon K. Ohata, CIC, CRM, MBA Sharon is the Director of Training and Development for Island Insurance Company, Ltd., which is the largest locally owned and managed property and casualty insurance carrier in the State of Hawaii. Island offers professional development opportunities through in-house seminars, leadership development training, as well as tuition and financial incentives for those pursuing specialized insurance designations. Sharon is responsible for creating the process and guidelines by which training and development programs are established throughout the Company. She is also responsible for Island’s Property and Casualty Internship Program; whose purpose is to introduce and develop new talent to the insurance industry. Prior to joining Island in January 2008, Sharon served as the Vice-President/Claims Consultant for Atlas Insurance Agency. She was a resource to Atlas’ agents and clients on claim issues; and functioned as their advocate for the claim management process. She conducted educational seminars and provided training to clients in order to optimize their insurance program. Before Atlas, Sharon was the Vice President of John Mullen and Company’s Workers’ Compensation Department for 18 years. During her tenure at John Mullen and Company, she was instrumental in the set up and roll out of several self insured and captive insurers’ claims management programs. She had the opportunity to work with a number of large employers from varying industries including Wal*Mart, Longs Drug Stores, Costco, Maui Land and Pineapple, Hawaii Pacific Health and the Roman Catholic Church. Sharon is involved in a number of professional organizations, including the Hawaii Claims Association and the Society of Human Resource Management. She holds the Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) and Certified Risk Manager (CRM) designations Sharon received her Master in Business Administration from Chaminade University and is a licensed independent adjuster. Russell Park Russ joined Atlas in August 2001 and serves as the Managing Sales Consultant for all in-house Account Executives, including the Client Consulting Group, Condominium Specialty Group, Construction Specialty Group, and Benefits Consulting Group. He is responsible for ensuring that clients are provided with the most cost-effective programs, tailored insurance coverages, and optimal services by serving as a resource for all new and existing business. He has over 20 years of insurance experience in Hawaii and California. He worked for a regional agency in California for 4 years, at Johnson & Higgins/Marsh in Honolulu for 11 years, and the past 7 years with Atlas. He has extensive experience in the management of alternative risk funding and risk management techniques, designing and implementing self-insured and captive programs, review of contractual transfers, as well as all forms of insurance, including large real estate. His formal education includes an associate in Risk Management designation, as well as a BBA from the University of Hawaii. Russ has been affiliated with multiple professional and non-profit organizations throughout his career. Craig Shoji, CHST Craig Shoji is currently employed at Goodfellow Bros., Inc. as a Safety Manager where he provides training (OSHA, First Aid/CPR/AED, etc.) and assists with workers’ comp claims. Craig has 10 years’ experience in safety and workers’ compensation. Previously, he worked for Albert C. Kobayashi, Inc. were he was a Safety Administrator, where his duties were job site inspections and managing the workers’ comp claims. Prior to Kobayashi, he worked for Hawaii Employers Mutual Insurance for three years as a Loss Control Representative were he assisted various insureds by providing training and other services. Prior to Employers Mutual, he worked for Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. for 16 years in various departments. Mr. Shoji is currently the ASSE Hawaii chapter Secretary. Mr. Shoji graduated from the OSEM program at HCC. Karen R. Tashima, Esq. Karen R. Tashima is the managing director of Choy & Tashima, Attorneys At Law, A Law Corporation, where she counsels and represents employers in a variety of employment matters, such as wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation with an emphasis on disability management and employer defense in the areas of workers’ compensation insurance, work injury, and disability discrimination. Ms. Tashima serves as a state liaison for the Workers’ Compensation and Employers’ Liability Law Committee for the American Bar Association’s Torts and Trial Insurance Practice Section and is a member of the Disability Management Coalition and the Society for Human Resource Management – Hawaii Chapter. She received her B.A. degree, cum laude, in Economics and Psychology from the University of Denver and her J.D. degree from the University of Oregon, School of Law. Ms. Tashima is a member of the American, Oregon, and Hawaii State Bar Associations. |