Board of Directors
Chair: John McCorry (Princeton, NJ)
John McCorry is Senior Executive Editor for the Americas at Bloomberg News, in charge of more than 40 bureaus and the top news from the region. Previously, Mr. McCorry had been in charge of global company and regional news operations since 2003.
Prior to that, Mr. McCorry was Managing Editor for North American company news, a position he began in 1998. He joined Bloomberg as a reporter in 1992 covering municipal finance and the bond markets and helped Bloomberg News win a Deadline Club award for its coverage of the Orange County bankruptcy.
He became an editor for company news in 1995, and helped lead Bloomberg’s coverage of tobacco settlement negotiations; selective disclosure and Enron Corp. Stories on two of those topics — selective disclosure and Enron’s collapse — were finalists for Gerald Loeb Awards for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism. Mr. McCorry was Managing Editor of the Bond Buyer from 1982 through 1987 and the Founding Editor of Bond World for Thomson Financial in 1990.
Vice Chair: Monica Derbes Gibson, Esq. (New Orleans, LA)
Monica Derbes Gibson is an environmental attorney who has practiced in both the federal government and the private sector. Ms. Gibson currently works for the law firm of Liskow & Lewis in her home town of New Orleans. Monica was previously of counsel with Venable LLP. She also served as a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice and as an attorney and manager in the Office of General Counsel at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Ms. Gibson is an active member of the community. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America, and she currently serves as the Secretary and as a member of the Audit Committee. She also volunteers as a cook for So Others Might Eat, a Washington DC organization that helps the homeless. At St. Peter School on Capitol Hill, where her son is in fifth grade, she has served in numerous volunteer capacities, including bringing Mardi Gras to St. Peter School students.
Ms. Gibson is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, where she was on the managing board of the Virginia Environmental Law Journal and was active in community theatre and the Charlottesville AIDS Support Group. She is a member of the American Bar Association and is admitted to practice in Louisiana, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. She is also a member of the bars of the Supreme Court and the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the First Circuit, the Fourth Circuit, and the Fifth Circuit.
Treasurer: Steve Bruneau (Edgewater Park, NJ)
Steve Bruneau is a product-development expert and business leader who draws upon his engineering, information-technology (IT), and business skills to develop award-winning, patented products and services that have jump-started businesses ranging from startups, to Fortune 500 companies, to programs for the United States Military. Mr. Bruneau is presently the Chief Operating Officer for Pulsar Informatics Inc. in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Steve also presently serves as the Business Manager for Bruneau Family Care, P.C. in Mount Laurel, New Jersey.
Previous positions include Director, Managed Services at PTC in Marlton, New Jersey (formerly NetIDEAS, Inc.), and Director of Engineering, Director of Space Products, and Project Engineer at Marotta in Boonton, New Jersey. Mr. Bruneau’s education includes: attending the Executive Masters in Technology Management Program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania; Masters of Science in Aerospace Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University; and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Secretary: Ira M. Levee, Esq. (West Orange, NJ)
Ira Levee is an accomplished attorney with extensive experience in bankruptcy law as well as commercial and bankruptcy litigation. Presently, Mr. Levee is a Senior Legal Editor at Thomson Reuters/Practical Law (Bankruptcy). Previously, he was Of Counsel with Lowenstein Sandler LLP for 15 years, and prior to that time, was first an Associate and later a Partner with Ravin Sarasohn Cook Baumgarten Fisch & Rosen PC, where he worked for more than 11 years.
Mr. Levee received his law degree from Seton Hall University. He also attended Rutgers University and Bucknell University, where he received his master’s degree and bachelor’s degree, respectively. His bar and court admissions include the State and District Courts of both New Jersey and New York. Mr. Levee has authored several articles on bankruptcy issues.
In terms of memberships and affiliations, Mr. Levee is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute; he previously was a member of the Board of Trustees, NJ Metro Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society from 2002-2016, and the Chair of the Governance Committee from 2015-2016. Additionally, Mr. Levee provided legal services for the Volunteer Lawyers for Justice Bankruptcy Pro Bono Program (Newark, NJ) and the Honorable Morris Stern Bankruptcy Pro Bono Project (Rutgers University School of Law in Newark, NJ).
Immediate Past Chair: James M. Anderson, Esq. (Ridgeland, MS)
Jim Anderson is the Managing Member of Anderson Crawley & Burke, pllc, a Mississippi law firm headquartered in the Jackson, Mississippi area. An Honor graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi and a cum laude graduate of the Mississippi College School of Law, Mr. Anderson is active in numerous professional organizations surrounding his private law practice where he focuses on workers’ compensation litigation, insurance/self-insurance regulation, and mediation.
Mr. Anderson carries Martindale Hubbell’s highest rating (A-V), has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America since 1995, and he was named Lawyer of the Year for 2012 by Best Lawyers in the field of Workers’ Compensation – Employers in the Jackson, Mississippi area. Also in 2012, he was named the Lawyer of the Year for Outstanding Lifetime Achievement in the Legal Community by the Mississippi College School of Law.
Chair of MSAA’s Healthcare Advisory Council: Mary Alissa Willis, MD (Cleveland, OH)
Dr. Alissa Willis is a board certified neurologist practicing at the Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis Treatment and Research at the Cleveland Clinic. Originally from Jackson, Mississippi, she graduated summa cum laude from the University of Mississippi Medical School. Her interest in multiple sclerosis began as a medical student and grew during neurology residency at UMMC. She completed fellowship training in clinical neuroimmunology at the Mellen Center in 2011.
Dr. Willis joined the MSAA Board of Directors in May 2013. She also serves on the editorial board for the International Journal of MS Care and participates in research at the Mellen Center. She supports the efforts of her local National MS Society chapter through educational talks and participation in the annual MS bike ride.
Robert J. Barth, Ph.D (Chattanooga,TN)
Robert J. Barth, Ph.D. has been named a Fellow of the National Academy of Neuropsychology, for making “significant contributions to the science and profession of neuropsychology.” He has been invited to provide faculty, writing, editorial review, and program development duties for many health science academies, governmental agencies, healthcare publishers, and other organizations (e.g., American Medical Association, American Osteopathic Association, American Psychological Association, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, American Academy of Neurology, etc.).
Dr. Barth’s family accuses him of excessively doing volunteer work, due to his very long history of involvement with a wide variety of health-related non-profit organizations (e.g., focused on helping people who are faced with incurable illness, brain injury, dementia, occupational injuries, disability, etc.).
Eric K. Bossard (Worcester, PA)
Eric Bossard founded Commonwealth Insurance Advantage in 2016 in an effort to expand his outsourced risk management and insurance expertise globally. In addition, he co-founded Archway Insurance in 2002 as an outsource risk manager, which placed insurance coverage on behalf of brokers nationwide. In 2006, Mr. Bossard was instrumental in the acquisition of Alliance National Insurance Company (formally UMI Insurance Company), a New York domiciled property and casualty insurance company where he originally served as president and chief operating officer. He is currently one of the owners.
A graduate of West Chester University in West Chester, Pennsylvania, Mr. Bossard has amassed more than 30 years of industry experience on both the broker side (sales, marketing, and e-commerce) and the carrier side (accounting, finance, preparation of the insurance company annual statement, budgeting, underwriting, and reinsurance, including captives). He has served on the Board of Directors for both profit and nonprofit entities. He also volunteers his time coaching youth sports.
Susan Kowitz (Columbus, OH)
Susan Kowitz is a senior information and technology business executive. She is a results-oriented leader and relationship manager, managing the relationship between business and technology.
Ms. Kowitz is currently employed by L Brands, a member of the MAST Global Technology Omni-Channel organization, based in Columbus, Ohio. In this position, she has direct oversight of the stores’ functional and application development teams, focusing on support and delivery of best-in-class technology solutions. Ms. Kowitz is also responsible for the strategy, vision, and management of applications in stores, supporting the company’s direction in these areas.
Her most recent previous positions include: Director of Business and Production Support with Macys.com in New York; EMEA Project Management Office and Customer Services Lead with Univar Corporation, based in the United Kingdom and The Netherlands; Business Systems Manager for Starbucks Coffee Company, also located in The Netherlands; and Senior Information Systems Officer with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Geneva, Switzerland.
Ms. Kowitz received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Management Information Systems from Augsburg College in Minneapolis.
Wendy B. Scott (Jackson, MS)
A graduate of Harvard University and New York University School of Law, Professor Wendy Scott made history as the first African-American to serve as Dean for the Mississippi College (MC) School of Law. Scott became the eighth Law Dean at MC Law and served with distinction from 2014 to 2016.
Prior to joining the MC Law faculty, Scott taught at the North Carolina Central School of Law for eight years, serving as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 2009 to 2012. She previously taught at Tulane Law School in New Orleans for 17 years and served as Vice Dean for Academic Affairs. She has also been an adjunct professor at Hunter College, Brooklyn Law School, and CUNY Law School.
Prof. Scott teaches Constitutional Law, Civil Procedure, Evidence, Native American Law, and Gender and the Law. Her scholarship focuses on constitutional theory and school desegregation. Her work on the desegregation of public colleges and universities has been widely cited. She is currently completing a book on the dissenting opinions of Justice Thurgood Marshall with co-author University of Wisconsin School of Law Professor Linda S. Greene.
Early in her career, Scott practiced employment law as a Staff Attorney for the Legal Action Center of the City of New York and as an Associate at Vladeck, Waldman, Elias & Engelhard in New York City. She directed litigation as the Associate Counsel for the Center for Law and Social Justice, a community law office in Brooklyn, New York.
Barry A. Singer, MD (St. Louis, MO)
Barry Singer, MD, has been the Director of The MS Center for Innovations in Care at Missouri Baptist Medical Center since 2008. He is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Neurology at Washington University School of Medicine since 1999 and maintains privileges at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. He has been an investigator in greater than 25 multiple sclerosis trials (Phases I to III) focused on new therapeutic options. He continues to publish peer-reviewed articles, present posters and lecture globally on multiple sclerosis.
Dr. Singer earned his undergraduate degree from Duke University and his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He completed his residency training in neurology at New York Hospital-Cornell University. In addition, Dr. Singer completed a neuroimmunology fellowship focusing on clinical and laboratory research in multiple sclerosis at the National Institutes of Health.
As a patient advocate, Dr. Singer started national award-winning www.mslivingwell.org and www.ICanWithMS.org that provide information and inspiration, respectively, to those living with MS globally. He has served on the health advisory committee of the Gateway Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society since 2000 and is the recipient of the 2008 Pathlighter Award. In addition, Dr. Singer has received a Congressional Proclamation for MS Research in 2008.
W. Frederick Uehlein, Esq. (Osterville, MA)
Fred Uehlein’s career spans 40 years as a lawyer, businessman and entrepreneur focusing primarily on service companies that manage disability and medical costs. He is the Founder and Chairman of Insurance Recovery Group, Inc., specializing in property and casualty subrogation, second injury fund and COLA recoveries for employers, insurers, and third party administrators throughout the United States. Mr. Uehlein was founder of Employee’s Advocacy Group, a leading provider of assistance to disabled workers seeking Social Security disability. He also has been Managing Partner and Founder of a Massachusetts law firm in the field of insurance defense and prior to that, advocated for injured workers claiming workers’ compensation benefits. He currently assists emerging companies that seek to improve the quality of life for injured workers.
In addition, Mr. Uehlein has been a frequent lecturer and writer on insurance claims issues, second injury fund and COLA recovery, as well as litigation management. He has testified before Congress on insurance issues. He has been a member of the Workers’ Compensation Trial Lawyers Association, on the Advisory Committee of John Burton’s “Workers’ Compensation Resources;” and an Associate Editor of the AMA (American Medical Association) Guides Newsletter. Mr. Uehlein is a graduate of Boston College Law School and Trinity College. He currently resides in Osterville, Massachusetts with his lovely wife Diana.
