Janice Menke Abraham joined UE as president and CEO in 1998. During her tenure, UE has become known as the premier risk management and liability insurance company serving educational institutions; nearly 1,600 schools, colleges, and universities rely on UE’s education-specific expertise. In addition, UE has been consistently profitable, produced high return on equity, and maintained the financial strength and stability to earn an A.M. Best Rating “A” (Excellent) every year since 2001.  UE has been recognized by Ward’s 50 as one of the top performers in the property-casualty insurance industry.   

Prior to joining UE, Abraham served the higher education community as chief financial officer/ treasurer at Whitman College, in various senior positions at Cornell University, and as a staff associate at the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO). Abraham also served as an international banker for J. P. Morgan. 

Abraham is a trustee at Whitman College and American University. She serves on The Institutes Board of Directors, The Griffith Foundation’s Leadership Council, American University’s School of International Service Dean’s Advisory Council, and the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB) Editorial Board. She served as the first woman chair of the board of governors of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America from 2009-2010. She currently serves on the association’s executive and investment committees. Abraham also serves on the board of directors of UE, United Educators Management Company, and Education Insurance Services. She is a former president of the Western Association of College and University Business Officers and a past board member of NACUBO and the National Risk Retention Association. 

Abraham earned an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree in international service from American University. 

She is the author of the 2013 book, Risk Management: An Accountability Guide for University and College Trustees, published by AGB, which encourages board oversight of enterprise risk management activities at their institution.

Honors for Abraham’s contributions to insurance and education include:

• Griffith Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, 2012
• One of the Power 50, Captive Review, 2012
• A "Woman in Insurance Leadership," Insurance Networking News, 2011
• A Rising Star, Reactions, 2011
• A "Woman to Watch" as a leader of change, Business Insurance, 2006
• Great Alumni Award, Mount Lebanon High School, 2005
• Professional Development Award, NACUBO, 2005
• Insurance Woman of the Year, The Association of Professional Insurance Women, 2004
• One of the 100 Top Leading Women in the field of insurance, Business Insurance, 2004
  
  

In 2011, during a sabbatical leave, Abraham worked with LeapFrog Investments, a micro-insurance private equity fund focused on developing and launching microinsurance products in emerging markets. She has testified before Congress and the Treasury Department on insurance issues and writes and speaks frequently on strategic issues affecting educational institutions and the insurance industry.

Follow Janice on Twitter: @jmenkeabraham

Sean Barnes provides financial and administrative leadership to UE, optimizing investment returns, offering financial insights, and ensuring UE retains its position as a top place to work.

Sean oversees finance, accounting, treasury, human resource, and facility management functions at UE. He also co-leads the company’s business strategic planning efforts on organizational efficiencies.

Prior to joining UE in 2018, Sean was executive vice president and chief financial officer of Assure Holding Corporation. In that role, he modernized and transitioned all finance and accounting functions to the headquarters office. He also supported the company’s capital raising activities.

Sean has held a variety of corporate finance and accounting roles across diverse industries involving SEC reporting, consolidations, general accounting, and mergers and acquisitions. He began his career at Johnson Lambert & Co. LLP, specializing in the audits of property casualty insurance companies.

Sean also serves as a board member for the Insurance Accounting & Systems Association Mid-Atlantic Chapter. In addition, he serves on the Vermont Captive Insurance Association’s legislative committee.

Sean has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from James Madison University and a master’s in business administration from George Mason University. He is a certified public accountant in Virginia and has completed The Institutes’ Associate in Insurance Accounting and Finance program.

The married father of two lives in Vienna, Va., and enjoys running, golfing and spending time at the beach.

Ramesh Bulusu leads UE’s data, digital, and technology services and co-leads UE’s business strategic planning and implementation efforts. He and his team are driving digital transformation efforts at UE, modernizing core business systems, enabling organizational efficiencies and workforce productivity, and innovating with enterprise data analytics and digital experience solutions.

Ramesh has more than 20 years of IT management experience across diverse industries. Prior to accepting his role at UE in 2015, Ramesh was a vice president in HCL America’s healthcare business unit, where he was responsible for delivering technology services to U.S.-based clients. He has held leadership positions at AARP and at AOL, helping transform organizations with innovative technology solutions. Ramesh also has worked at IBM and PWC, advising clients on business and operational transformation with product and technology solutions.

In 2018, Ramesh was awarded the Capital CIO of the Year ORBIE Award in the corporate sector category. This honor recognizes CIOs who have demonstrated excellence in technology, based on scope of responsibilities, leadership effectiveness, business value created by innovation, and engagement in industry and community endeavors.

Ramesh is a member of the Capital CIO Leadership Association and serves on the board of The Institutes RiskBlock Alliance, an industry-led consortium collaborating to leverage blockchain technology in the insurance industry.

He has a bachelor’s degree in technology from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (Hyderabad, India), and a master’s in engineering from Utah State University. He has also earned an executive MBA at the College of William & Mary and executive management certificates from Georgetown University and the University of Virginia.

Ramesh lives with his wife and two children in Chantilly, Va., and spends time outside work performing community service, volunteering, running, and biking. 

Follow Ramesh on Twitter: @rbulusuc

Joe Carter sets the strategy for UE’s growth, which includes planning the sales, marketing, and distribution strategies that ensure success. He is responsible for teams that facilitate growth of new members and provide communications and marketing services.

Within business and personal lines insurance, Joe has extensive experience in marketing and strategic planning. Prior to joining UE in 2005, he served as vice president and managing director at Bank of America’s insurance services group.

Joe also served in executive and leadership roles with Prudential Property and Casualty and Allstate Corporation. He previously owned and served as president of a middle-market focused insurance brokerage/agency.

Joe has completed The Institutes’ Executive Education program at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business and the Creating and Managing Strategic Alliances program at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Business. He was honored with the 2015 Service Award from his alma mater, Old Dominion University.

He serves as a board member for the National Business Officers Association in Washington, D.C., and is an active member of several other education-focused associations.

Joe lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his family. He enjoys golfing, watching sports, reading, traveling, and culinary arts. 

As vice president of underwriting, Bryan Elie's key responsibilities include researching and creating new insurance products, revising existing policy language, applications, and underwriting guidelines, and managing the underwriting approach on UE's most complex new and renewal accounts. Elie started his career with UE in 1995. He was promoted to associate vice president of underwriting in 2004, and moved to the underwriting leadership position in 2009.

Before joining UE, Elie worked for Aetna Casualty for five years and at Great American Insurance for two years in both marketing and underwriting positions.

Elie received his Bachelor of Science degree in business from Wake Forest University in 1988.

Johnny Gilbert guides strategic and tactical direction and resources for ensuring appropriate risk selection, aggregation, and mitigation for UE. His team provides support through pricing, reserve analysis, reinsurance procurement, product development, and data analytics.

In addition, Johnny leads UE’s enterprise risk management (ERM) efforts including risk monitoring and capital modeling. Through his ERM work, he provides quantitative and qualitative analysis and recommendations for managing the risks UE faces.

At UE, he introduced predictive modeling for rating and pricing accounts. This helps more accurately tie schools’ risk of loss to the rates they pay. He also has been a champion for data science, helping to provide valuable insights across UE’s functions and ultimately to its constituents.

Johnny joined UE in 2010 and became a vice president in 2017.

He previously worked in actuarial roles for Geico and as a business analyst for Health Management Systems.

Johnny has a bachelor of arts in mathematics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also has a master’s in business administration from American University. Johnny earned an associate in reinsurance (ARe) designation in 2012 and earned his chartered enterprise risk analyst (CERA) designation in 2013.

He is a fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society (FCAS) since 2012 and an active volunteer.

Johnny lives in Fairfax, Va., with his husband, two sons, and pet Pomeranian. He and his family are known for their elaborate annual Halloween displays.

Robb Jones is UE's senior vice president and general counsel for claims management. He heads a team of 26 lawyers and 29 other professionals responsible for liability claims management for UE's nearly 1,600 members. He has been at UE since 1997.

Jones has over 35 years of experience serving the education community. He currently serves as a trustee for a liberal arts college, as an adviser to the American Law Institute’s Project on Sexual and Gender-Based Misconduct on Campus, and is a member of the National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA). He frequently speaks on topics and developments related to Title IX, campus violence, education law, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Jones has evaluated higher education legal programs for the federal government and a state board of regents and has taught as an adjunct faculty member at two institutions. From 1994-97 he was director of the Judicial Education Division of the Federal Judicial Center, where he developed and managed training and continuing legal education programs for the federal courts. From 1991-94 he served as chief of staff to Chief Justice William Rehnquist at the U.S. Supreme Court. Before that time he was a litigation partner in a Washington law firm, where he concentrated on education, employment, and media litigation.

Jones received his undergraduate degree from Grove City College and graduate and law degrees from the University of Virginia.

Follow Robb on Twitter: @RobbJones_UE

Constance Neary oversees UE’s risk management department, supporting members in their efforts to successfully manage risks threatening student safety, faculty and staff performance, and the institution’s academic mission.

Constance works with a staff of subject matter experts, learning designers, technologists, and consultants to deliver publications, webinars, workshops, online courses, and consulting services to meet UE member needs. In addition, Constance oversees product development for the Canopy Programs business unit, which provides fee-based online risk management and compliance training resources to educational institutions beyond the UE membership.

Constance arrived at UE in 1993 as a claims attorney. After assuming leadership positions in the claims department and acquiring deep understanding of unique risks that expose educational institutions to potential liability, she developed a risk management “think tank” and expanded the range of educational resources that UE provides members. In 2009, Constance joined UE’s executive team and embarked upon a strategy to deliver risk management more broadly by providing online education to faculty, staff, and student populations. More than one million UE risk management and compliance online courses have been completed since they were first offered in 2010.

Constance serves as a trustee of Vermont Law School and presents regularly on liability and risk management topics to associations and insurance industry groups. She has participated in various committees of the National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA) and on the editorial board of the Journal of College and University Law. In 2011, she received Risk and Insurance’s “risk innovator of the year” award. More recently, Constance provided risk research advice and editorial guidance for the first and second editions of “Risk Management: An Accountability Guide for University and College Boards,” published by the Association of Governing Board of Universities and Colleges.

Prior to joining UE, Constance practiced law at Steptoe & Johnson in Washington, D.C. She completed her undergraduate work at Westminster College in theater arts, received her law degree from Vermont Law School, and completed executive education at the business schools of the University of Virginia and George Mason University.

Constance is a married mother of five who lives in Chevy Chase, Md., and enjoys reading, traveling, hiking, and golfing.

Ellen (“Ellie”) Swennes Kennedy develops and leads claims strategies and initiatives intended to deliver optimum legal resolutions and a superior claims experience for UE members. She oversees a 60-person claims resolutions team and ensures strong relationships with outside counsel working to defend UE members.

Ellie’s 20 years of litigation experience help her drive an effective and efficient claims resolutions process for UE members. Most of Ellie’s career has been dedicated to commercial litigation, with a focus on complex commercial contracts and insurance and franchise law. She has substantial experience developing trial and mediation strategies, which she uses both to resolve cases on behalf of her clients and to work with defense counsel to successfully resolve claims on behalf of insureds.

In her prior role as a partner at Hogan Lovells in Washington, D.C., Ellie also was responsible for recruiting new talent. This expertise is critical to maintaining the high quality of UE resolutions staff that have successfully represented UE members’ interests in thousands of claims.

Ellie earned a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law, Order of the Coif, where she was also a member of the Virginia Law Review. She earned a BA from Duke University, graduating magna cum laude and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

An avid proponent of healthy lifestyles, Ellie likes to start each working day with a run through her neighborhood or a spin class at the local gym.

Robb Jones Sr., vice president and general counsel for Resolutions Management, will retire on Dec. 31 after 22 years of service to UE. He and Ellie will work together closely during this transition.