More About Us:
A Commitment to Excellence
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Jerry Laval
President and Founder
Jerry Laval is the President and founder of The PATH Alliance and past president of Pacific Claims Management. His experience in the insurance, and more specifically, workers’ compensation industry has ranged widely over the years, giving him an acute sense and understanding of the various struggles employers face in the state of California.
Jerry began his career in the late 1980s, specializing in workers’ compensation claims management for Fresno Unified School District. After a few short years, he moved on to manage all litigated workers’ compensation claims throughout California for Nationwide Insurance. He later began his tenure with two local insurance defense firms providing expertise in claims management to the partners.
After nearly a decade of working in the industry, Jerry began to focus on an entrepreneurial career by forming a series of insurance-related businesses. These included a California-based workers’ compensation insurance company, as well as a pair of companies involved in the reclamation and sale of assets from property and casualty insurance claims.
By the mid-2000s, several public and private employers were seeking Jerry’s help with operational turnarounds and workers’ compensation program management. Jerry formed Occlink, LLC to serve these needs. The consulting Occlink provided has evolved into what is The PATH Alliance today.
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Jon Wroten
Senior Vice President, Self-Insurance & Compliance
Jon Wroten, MBA, CPP is Senior Vice President at The PATH Alliance, and Managing Director of California Risk Advisors LLC, where he provides strategic leadership to help California employers derive maximum benefit from being self-insured. Throughout his distinguished career, he has developed a unique combination of expertise related to self-insurance, regulatory compliance and risk management.
From 2011 to 2015, Jon served as the Chief of the California Office of Self-Insurance Plans (OSIP) where he oversaw and was the chief regulator of the nation’s largest self-insurance marketplace. In this capacity he was responsible for managing $22 billion in risk exposure, protecting 4.6 million California workers which represented $192 billion in annual payroll. As Chief, Jon also served as a Trustee of the California Self Insurers’ Security Fund (SISF), where he was responsible for policy, risk management, and oversight of a $9 billion collateral guarantee program and management of the $250 million claims portfolio safety net protecting injured workers.
Following his years at OSIP, Jon took a leadership role as the Senior Vice President at Sedgwick CMS, the nation’s largest third-party administrator, where he was responsible for national regulatory compliance and quality. Jon also taught business, insurance, and risk management as an adjunct professor at Sierra College for more than fifteen years.
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Jack Passarella
Vice President of Safety and Loss Control
Jack Passarella is Vice President of Safety and Loss Control at The PATH Alliance. His safety training and career started in the United States Air Force in 1976 where he spent eight years as a safety technician serving our country. He separated from the USAF in 1984 and finished his BA in Occupational Safety and Health from CSU Fresno in 1988.
Jack started his loss control career in California in 1985 while working for a California workers’ compensation company located in the Central Valley. He gained a wealth of knowledge for many industries including Agriculture, Construction, Restaurants, Manufacturing, Trucking, Banking, Auto Dealerships, and more, and was able to adapt his safety experience to achieve success in reducing work-related incidents and insurance costs.
Over the last 15 years, Jack has become an accomplished trainer and speaker in numerous safety topics for a variety of agencies. These topics include lockout/tagout, forklift train the trainer, agricultural operations and equipment, dairy safety, and supervisor/management training. The agencies include Fresno County Farm Bureau, California Fresh Fruit Association, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Western United Dairymen, and many more.
Now, Jack takes his more than 40 years of safety experience to work closely with self-insured groups and their members, helping them achieve their goals in incident and cost reduction and be compliant with state and federal regulations. Through a commitment to safety, he intends to help members lead the way in the success of their programs and attain the highest possible outcomes regarding employee safety and welfare.
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Lisa Brogan
Group Manager
Lisa Brogan is Group Manager at The PATH Alliance. Her extensive background in business administration, finance, compliance, and insurance over the years has given her a unique expertise to utilize in the world of workers’ compensation self-insured group administration.
Lisa began her career in the life insurance industry where she held a Series 6 NASD license. During the six years of employment in that field, she enjoyed developing long-term financial planning solutions for individuals and families. The importance of stability, feasibility, financial planning, and peace of mind through this type of insurance is still a key motivator to her work today.
After leaving the life insurance industry, an opportunity arose at a private school where she continued to work for almost 22 years, eventually becoming the Director of Business Operations and Safety Committee Chair for the school and its subsidiaries. She witnessed the school’s transition into a self-insured group for workers’ compensation insurance in 2004, was nominated to serve on its Board of Trustees in 2012, and was elected as Board Chair in 2018. Her time on the Board served invaluable in growing her knowledge and understanding of self-insurance for the stability, control, and sound financial management that it offers.
Today, Lisa works for The PATH Alliance as Group Manager for a self-insured group she once chaired. In this position, she is able to help other self-insured groups with the various skills she built in her previous role relating to financial and risk management. She is now looking forward to expanding and serving the growing need for the stable environment of self-insurance.
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Daniel G. Yohman
Business Advisor
Daniel G. Yohman is Business Advisor at The PATH Alliance. In this role, he provides valuable insight and assistance for internal operations and the administration of self-insured groups. Prior to joining The PATH Alliance, Daniel worked for more than 30 years as a California workers’ compensation lawyer, primarily representing employers in matters relating to on-the-job injuries and job safety. During this time, he started his own law firm and came to understand the many challenges employers face.
In his current role, Daniel brings his years of experience as a lawyer and business owner to help find effective solutions for employers. His deep familiarity with the system of workers’ compensation in California makes him a tremendous asset to The PATH Alliance and the employers we serve.
Daniel earned a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from California State University, Fresno, before serving six years in the California Army National Guard. He then went on to complete his law degree at San Joaquin College of Law. Some of Daniel’s past accomplishments include working as a part-time teacher of Human Relations at Fresno City College, serving as President of the California Workers’ Compensation Defense Attorney Association, and acting as a Judge Pro Tem before the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board in Fresno.