Claims People: CorVel, Crawford & Co., Testan Law

CorVel Appoints Area VP for Calif.

CorVel Corp. appointed Joseph Rupp as area vice president for California.

He will supervise product and employee performance with a focus on meeting and exceeding market profit and revenue goals, the Irvine, Calif.-based claims management company said in a press release.

From 2008 to 2020, Rupp was Western region vice president for MetLife, where he was in charge of personal, commercial and life products in 20 states, according to his Linkedin page. Before then he worked for 17 years at Safeco Insurance, where he was an assistant vice president from 2002 to 2008.

Rupp has a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Southern California, according to Linkedin.

Crawford & Co. Appoints Non-Executive Chair

Crawford & Co. has appointed board member Michelle Jarrad as non-executive chair of its board of directors, effective May 14.

Jarrard was elected to the board in August 2018. Chief Executive Officer Rohit Verma said she has brought a “unique perspective” and “depth and strength” to the board since then. He said the Crawford board is “the most diverse in our sector.”

Jarrard is a former senior partner of McKinsey & Co., where she held several leadership roles during a 25-year career. Most recently she was global chief of human resources from 2007 until her retirement in January 2016.

Jarrard has a master’s degree in business administration from from Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She and her husband Jimmy currently live in Atlanta and have two grown children.

Testan Law Founder Dies

Steven Carl Testan, founder of workers’ compensation defense firm Testan Law in Westlake Village, Calif., died May 11 after a battle with cancer.

“Celebrated as a brilliant attorney by peers and colleagues, Mr. Testan proved a mighty force to be reckoned with both in and out of the courtroom,” his law firm said in a press release. “Throughout his career, he mentored many attorneys, including several who continue to serve on the firm’s executive member committee.”

Testan founded the law firm that bears his name in 1996. The firm now has 23 offices in California and dozens of other offices in Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Texas.

Testan was born in 1955, according to the firm. During his career, he was appointed as judge pro tem for the Los Angeles and Santa Monica Workers Compensation Appeals Board, and was a guest faculty member at the Harvard School of Public Health. In 2011, Testan was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States.

Testan is survived by his wife, Lesley, and two sons who are also attorneys.

The firm will continue to operate as Testan Law.