Board

Terri Parker’s litigation practice includes defending product liability cases, employment disputes, and general tort, contract and eminent domain disputes. Terri is experienced in all phases of pretrial litigation and trial support, including taking and defending key depositions, managing discovery and case teams, preparing expert witnesses, third-chairing complex product liability trials, litigating and resolving post-trial claims for attorneys’ fees and costs, and arguing pretrial hearings, including dispositive motions. Some of Terri’s successes include winning summary judgment in three high-profile wrongful death cases. Terri’s thorough and detail-oriented discovery practices have effectively resolved a number of cases without the need for a trial. Terri also has deep knowledge of the Florida Wrongful Death Act.

Terri joined the legal profession with 15 years of operations and management experience in the insurance and financial services industry where she managed a variety of insurance underwriting, claims and customer service divisions for a Fortune 500 financial services company. This professional experience, coupled with an Executive MBA, provide Terri with a unique understanding and passion for defending corporations in today’s litigious environment.

Adam Besnard is President and Chief Executive Officer of Besnard Insurance, a large national insurance agency/broker in the US. Besnard Insurance has offices in Tampa and Minneapolis, and does business in all 50 states. Besnard Insurance represents the largest global insurance companies and markets around the world including Lloyds of London. Among other things, Besnard Insurance insures over 8,000 restaurants. His professionalism, attitude, and hard work has paid off with improved long-term insurance solutions for his clients.

Prior to starting Besnard Insurance, Adam graduated from Florida State University in 1996 from the College of Business majoring in Management of Information Systems. He worked for Accenture (f.k.a. Andersen Consulting), the leader in business services worldwide. While there, he provided business consulting services to numerous Fortune 500 companies across various industries. Adam went on to start his own consulting company, Galleon Technologies, which delivered global strategy, process, and technology solutions to some of the largest worldwide companies. Among his numerous clients were DuPont, Johnson & Johnson, Medline, Sodexho, State of Florida, and AT&T. Adam had over 300 people reporting to him around the world to deliver global information technology and process solutions.

Adam, a Florida native, is married and has three children. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his family, boating, fishing, and doing his part to give back to his local community.

Elizabeth (Beth) McCarty is an experienced Human Resources executive now offering consulting and interim services as McCarty HR. She recently served as Interim VP, HR for a healthcare company and is working with small companies to build their HR infrastructure and leadership talent to support rapid growth.

Previously, Beth led Talent Management for over 20 years, helping companies as diverse as Ernst & Young Consulting, Discover Financial Services, Darden Restaurants, HSNi, and Catalina Marketing build corporate cultures that supported the attraction and development of top talent in all roles and leaders who could fully engage their diverse teams.

Beth is the very proud mother of an accomplished daughter who received her BS and Master’s Degree from the University of Florida. She serves as Vice Chair and Board Member for Friends of the Children – Tampa Bay and as a Guardian ad Litem in Pinellas County. She loves to travel, cook, and read and hates weeding her gardens in Florida’s semi-tropical climate!

Gretchen Whalen is the leader of the state and local tax practice in the East region responsible for delivery of a variety of SALT services to CLA’s clients. She specializes in multistate income/franchise and sales/use tax consulting for a diverse client base including companies in the following industries: retail, hospitality, manufacturing, distribution, financial services, insurance, and technology. Gretchen has spent significant time working with companies as they integrate newly acquired businesses into their structure and undertake domestic and international restructuring. She also has substantial experience with Florida corporate income tax matters and controversy.

Gretchen joined CliftonLarsonAllen in 2016. Prior to joining the Firm, she spent 13 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Tampa, Florida, and Detroit, Michigan.

Chris Horan joined WellCare in 2013 and currently serves as the Vice President of Corporate Compliance Investigations for WellCare Health Plans, Inc. Chris has over 25 years of experience in compliance and health care fraud investigations including serving as the director of operations for WellPoint; Vice President of Compliance & Regulatory Affairs for AbsoluteTotalCare, a Centene subsidiary, and prior to that he was the Corporate Compliance Officer at TriCenturion Inc., a Program Safeguard Contractor (PSC). Additionally, Chris led investigations at Palmetto GBA resulting in over $100 million in fraud recoveries.

Chris' background includes extensive experience in compliance, fraud investigations, Medicaid and Medicare operations and regulatory affairs. Chris is currently a Certified Compliance & Ethics Professional (CCEP) with the Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics and has held previous certifications as an Accredited Health Care Fraud Investigator (AHFI) with the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association and Certified Compliance Professional (CCP) with Health Ethics Trust.

Chris is a recipient of the FBI Director's Award, received several recognitions from the Office of Inspector General, and is a Leadership Columbia Graduate. He also has a BS in Criminal Justice from Winona State University.

Carmi Brown is the Chief Program Officer for Friends of the Children. She started her work with Friends in 2014 and served as the Program Director and then Executive Director of the Tampa Bay chapter prior to joining the National team in 2018. Carmi has worked in the human services field for over 20 years, with most of her work being in the area of child welfare. She has held multiple positions within the public and private sector. Carmi is an active member of several community organizations such as the Tampa Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and The Greater Tampa Chapter of Jack and Jill of America, Inc.

Johnny Bush is a native of Lake Worth, Florida, located in Palm Beach County. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in School Social Work from Concordia Lutheran University in Seward, NE, and a Master’s Degree in Deaf Education from the University of North Florida, Jacksonville. Mr. Bush received his certification in Educational Leadership from the University of South Florida. He began his teaching career in the elementary department at the Florida School for the Deaf in St. Augustine, Florida. His career with Hillsborough County Public Schools began in 1997 as a teacher of Deaf/Hard of Hearing students at Brandon High School. He went on to become the Assistant Principal for Student Affairs at Riverview High School (2003-2006), Assistant Principal for Administration at Brandon High School (2006-2009), Assistant Principal for Curriculum (2009-2012), and eventually Principal of Robinson High School (2012-2016). In 2016, Mr. Bush was appointed General Manager for Professional Standards for Hillsborough County Public Schools. After one year in this position, he was appointed principal of high performing H.B. Plant High School in 2017. After 33 plus years as an educator, Mr. Bush retired from education. He currently serves as the Executive Director for the Hillsborough Association of School Administrators (HASA).

Mr. Bush has experienced many highlights. As principal of T.R. Robinson High School and H.B. Plant High School, both schools maintained “A” ratings. He has served on many district committees. Most notability he served as a member of the Wallace Grant Committee, a substantial grant awarded to Hillsborough County Public Schools. Mr. Bush has worked with special needs children since age 15. Being blessed with the support of many mentors and advocates, he has always felt the need to “give back.”Mr. Bush has been married 23 years. He and his wife Lauren have two teenage daughters. He served as their principal at H.B. Plant High School. In 2015, he was featured in the May issue of Tampa Parenting magazine. When it comes to raising children, Mr. Bush firmly believes, “loves comes in many forms.” In his spare time, he enjoys longboard surfing and other water activities on the East Coast of Florida.

Since moving to Florida two years ago, Shirley Dehmlow has been a mentor in the Lunch Pals Program in Pinellas County and a reading tutor in the Lawyers for Literacy program. She is currently the Treasurer for the Vinoy Ladies Golf Association.

Shirley spent the previous 38 years in Illinois. She has been married to her husband Steve for 40 years. Shirley has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and an MBA in Finance, both from Tulane University. She worked in accounting for ten years before electing to stay home and raise her three children. In addition to volunteering in her children's schools and church, she was a volunteer who mentored formerly homeless families in DuPage Co., Illinois.

Nicole Hisler is the SVP, Director of Charitable Solutions, at Raymond James Trust. In this role Nicole leads the charitable solutions business for RJ Trust, including the team that provides general administration for RJ Charitable, a public 501c3 with a donor advised fund program. Prior to taking on this role in 2018, Nicole was the Director of Corporate Marketing for Raymond James and has worked at Raymond James since 2011.

Nicole spent 16 years in the marketing industry before joining RJ Trust. She started off working as a marketing director for her family’s MassMutual agency, Levin Financial Group, and two years later moved to a top local advertising agency, now named 22Squared, working on the Publix account. Nicole also ran her own marketing agency for a few years and was an adjunct professor at the University of Florida – her alma mater – teaching social media management. In 2004, while active in the local community with the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce, Emerge Tampa Bay and Ad2, Nicole was recognized by the Tampa Bay Business Journal as a 30-Under-30 award winner.

Nicole and her husband, Pram Dass, live in south Tampa and have four children – three boys and a girl – between the ages of 9 and 3.

Kristen M.J. Johnson is a transportation attorney at Taylor & Associates and handles a full range of business litigation, arbitration, appeals, and government investigations. She regularly handles freight claims under the Carmack Amendment, complex civil disputes, product and warranty claims, and contract disputes.

Kristen’s practice originated at a major Washington DC law firm, where she represented large corporate interests, sovereign governments, and high-stakes individual matters. Kristen spent part of her career in Doha, Qatar, where she advised on domestic and international disputes, construction claims, risk prevention, data protection, and corporate investigations. Her appellate work includes submissions before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First and Fourth Circuits, and state courts of appeals.

Kristen’s practice spans from traditional courtroom litigation to administrative actions to corporate planning. Kristen directly advises clients on risk management, case and witness preparation, investigations response and compliance programs, and critical strategy. She manages legal teams, streamlines budgets, and oversees deadlines. She is experienced as lead attorney at trials, hearings, depositions, and settlement negotiations.

Before entering the law, Kristen earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Michigan State University, Honors College. She was a recipient of a U.S. Fulbright Fellowship to Japan (2002-2003), where she researched labor and civil rights issues. Kristen received her Master’s of Arts in International Relations from American University, School of International Service, and a law degree from American University, Washington College of Law. As a thought leader, Kristen is active in the industry and community. She presently is a member of Women in Transportation and the Transportation Lawyers Association. Her other passion is humanitarian aid and children’s rights, and she is the co-founder of Pretrial Rights International, an organization focused on human rights of detainees. Kristen lives in Safety Harbor, Florida, with her husband, three sons, and adorable puppy dog.

Susan was born and raised in Daytona Beach, Florida. She has lived in Tampa since coming to attend University of South Florida in 1974. She majored in special education and psychology while at USF. Following USF, Susan began court reporting school, also in Tampa. She became a court reporter in 1980. She worked for several firms in Tampa before starting Riesdorph Reporting Group, Inc. in February 1998. Riesdorph Reporting Group was sold to Veritext, a national court reporting/litigation support company in November 2019. Susan is currently assisting with the Veritext/RRG transition and integration, following which time she will return to full-time court reporting with no further administrative duties.

Susan has been married to her husband Bobby since September 1977. Bobby works as a manufacturer’s rep for Leviton Manufacturing, who manufactures electrical devices, voice and data networking components, home automation, and many other related products. They have two grown children, Rachel and Matthew, both of whom are employed by Riesdorph Reporting/Veritext. They also have a son-in-law and three grandchildren. They enjoy family time, church time, and time at their townhome on Lake Santa Fe outside of Gainesville, FL.

Susan serves on the Advisory Council for K.I.D.S Campaign, a 501 (c)(3) devoted to assisting families of pediatric cancer patients. She has also served on the Board and several committees of Florida Court Reporters Association, in addition to serving as Board member and treasurer of DepoSpan Association, another court reporting association.

Susan and Bobby support several not-for-profit organizations, all serving to support kids and/or families. They are very excited about the work Friends of the Children is doing in the lives of at-risk kids.

Jamie Sewell is a passionate “dot connector” who specializes in helping organizations create cohesive sales, marketing and communications strategies to achieve long term brand awareness and growth. When she’s not working with businesses, she’s coaching individuals, helping them connect the dots for their personal wellbeing. Her background includes building and growing technology programs and online communities for companies ranging from early-stage startups and nonprofits, to billion-dollar global corporations.

She has worked in the areas of IoT technology and innovation for the past five years and is heavily involved in the Tampa startup community, serving as a startup mentor, as well as a member of the Marketing and Fundraising Committees at Tampa Bay Wave.

She is an expert in IoT commercial laundry technologies, most recently building and leading global tech initiatives for Alliance Laundry Systems, the world’s largest commercial laundry equipment manufacturer. Prior to Alliance, she was a founding member of a Tampa-based laundry technology startup, and held marketing and sales roles for two tech companies, including Dell Computers.

She graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in Public Relations and a minor in entrepreneurship, both of which continue to serve her well. She is a yoga addict and outdoor enthusiast and enjoys spending time in South Tampa with her husband and two dogs.