Leadership & Governance

Joseph Murphy is the chief executive officer and president of Coverys. He has served in this position since April 2021 and began his career at Coverys as chief operating officer in 2015.
 
Prior to joining Coverys, Murphy served as the Commissioner of Insurance for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from 2009 to 2014. In this previous role, Murphy oversaw the implementation of both state and national health reform as well as reforming the Massachusetts private passenger automobile marketplace.  He was an active member of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and served as chair of the Interstate Insurance Product Regulation Commission, and as a member of the Executive Committee, Property and Casualty Insurance Committee, Reinsurance Task Force, Surplus Lines Task Force and Workers’ Compensation Task Force as well as a number of other committees and task forces. 

As Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Liz oversees all aspects of Coverys’ legal functions. She brings more than 20 years of legal experience in the insurance industry.

Prior to joining Coverys, she most recently served as General Counsel at Safety Insurance in Boston helping to establish the first in-house non-claims-related legal function over the past nine years. Prior to her role as General Counsel, Liz served as the corporate counsel and led the legal and regulatory compliance team.

Prior to her work at Safety Insurance, Liz spent 14 years working for the Massachusetts Division of Insurance, serving in several positions of increasing responsibility, most recently as their First Deputy Commissioner of Insurance and, previously, Acting Deputy Commissioner and General Counsel.

She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Yale University and received her law and master’s degree in environmental law from Vermont Law School. She previously served as President of the Massachusetts Insurance Federation and Chair of the Governing Committee of Commonwealth Automobile Reinsurers.

Valoree Celona joined Coverys as president of programs and alternative markets in 2020. She has over 30 years of casualty and professional liability underwriting experience working within the primary, reinsurance, and consulting industries. Prior to Coverys, Celona was senior vice president of programs and physicians at Ironshore/Liberty Mutual and before that served as healthcare division executive for Liberty International Underwriters.
 
Celona earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Fordham University. She is a designated chartered property casualty underwriter (CPCU).

William Chapdelaine joined Coverys in August 2016 as the senior vice president of business development and distribution. Chapdelaine has over 30 years of years of industry experience and brings an extensive track record of building strategic distribution plans and driving results through foundational sales disciplines.

Chapdelaine received a MBA in finance from the University of Connecticut and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut.

Eric Crockett joined Coverys in 2002 and currently serves as the senior vice president of information technology. He provides strategy for application development, quality assurance, information security, voice and data communications, and oversees the underlying IT infrastructure for the entire organization.

Crockett has local area networks and data communications certifications from Northeastern University and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from St. Michael's College in Vermont.

Cathy Donahue joined Coverys as chief operating officer in 2023. She oversees a wide range of functions and business units within Coverys, including Claims; Human Resources; Risk Management and Analytics; Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion; Information Technology; Enterprise Risk Management; and Enterprise Project Management.
 
Prior to Coverys, Donahue served as assistant vice president and chief administrative officer at The Hartford. Before that she held senior operations roles at Chubb & Son, including vice president and managing director of Worldwide Surety Operations and operations manager for North America. 

Donahue holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology from Gettysburg College.

Noreen Fiore-Sarno has been with Coverys since 2000 and currently serves as the vice president of human resources. She is responsible for all human resource operations at Coverys.

Fiore-Sarno earned a graduate certificate in human resource management from Northeastern University and is a member of the Society of Human Resource Management. She is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts-Lowell where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in criminal justice and a minor in psychology.

Tara Gibson is the senior vice president of claims at Coverys. She is responsible for overseeing claims management across the Coverys enterprise and is committed to providing quality claims services for Coverys policyholders. Tara has been a member of the Coverys team since 1998 and has previously served as vice president of risk management, senior manager and manager of underwriting, and product development manager. She holds registered professional liability underwriter (RPLU), chartered property and casualty underwriter (CPCU), associate in fidelity and surety bonding (AFSB), and associate in reinsurance (ARe) designations. Tara is also a licensed Massachusetts Property and Casualty Broker and holds non-resident licenses throughout New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. She is a graduate of Rider University, where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in finance.

Steve Langlois has been with Coverys since 1989 and is vice president of enterprise underwriting. Previously he managed the actuarial function for the entire organization as vice president of actuarial. Langlois first joined the organization as an underwriting assistant and has also worked as an underwriter, a statistical analyst, and actuarial analyst during his tenure with Coverys.

Langlois received a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from Boston College and an associate degree in underwriting designation from the Insurance Institute of America.

Amanda McHale serves as vice president of International Underwriting. In this role, she is responsible for product and program development and strategy and reinsurance relationships to serve the needs of self-insured healthcare institutions and physician practices and those involved with captive structures. She joined Coverys in 1999 and has held various roles in the underwriting department.

McHale is a licensed Massachusetts property and casualty producer and a member of the Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS). She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in comprehensive science from Villanova University. 

Sam Mezzich joined Coverys in 2015 and leads Coverys Specialty Insurance Company as president. He manages all excess and surplus underwriting efforts for the organization.

Mezzich has over 25 years of medical professional underwriting experience and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from St. Francis College in New York City.

Todd Mills joined Coverys as chief financial officer in 2016. He oversees corporate finance functions and leads the financial analysis of short- and long-term strategy to support company growth. He has extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, strategic finance and planning, capital management, and finance function transformation.

Mills received a Bachelor of Business degree in accounting with a finance sub-major from the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia. He is a chartered accountant (CA) from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Australia.

Stephanie A. Sheps is vice president of claims at Coverys. She oversees the management of medical professional liability claims nationally, as well as claims operations for Coverys Specialty Insurance Company, Coverys Custom Accounts, and U.S.-based operations for Coverys Syndicate 1975.  

Prior to joining Coverys, Sheps worked as an attorney in private practice specializing in the defense of healthcare professionals. She is a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel, the Professional Liability Underwriters Society, and serves as vice chairperson of the Professional Liability Foundation of Massachusetts.  She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Duke University, with a dual major in political science and French. Sheps is a member of the Massachusetts bar and earned her Juris Doctor degree from Boston University School of Law.

 

Joseph P. Sullivan, Jr. joined Coverys in 2021 as chief underwriting officer. He oversees all underwriting segments and liases with Coverys London Underwriting.

Sullivan has over 25 years of experience serving the healthcare industry with several top global insurers, including Zurich, AIG, and CNA. He received his Bachelor of Science in business administration from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Joe Zorola, CPCU, oversees the direction and governance of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts across the Coverys enterprise. Previously, he was the chief underwriting officer with oversight of underwriting, workers compensation, and product development. Zorola has been a member of the Coverys team since 1986.
 
Zorola is a member of the Professional Liability Underwriting Society and is a licensed Massachusetts property and casualty producer. He is a governing member of the Massachusetts Medical Malpractice Reinsurance Plan. He is a graduate of Brown University where he earned his bachelor of arts degree with a concentration in mathematics.