Construction Defect Risk Management and Insurance Speaker Biographies

Construction Defect Risk Management and Insurance will be lead by two industry expert speakers and one guest speaker.

Jeffrey D. Masters is a partner in the Litigation Department and cochair of the Development Risk Management Practice Group at Cox, Castle & Nicholson LLP. Mr. Masters represents developers, home builders, and lenders in complex insurance coverage, construction defect, and real estate litigation matters. He also has extensive experience structuring insurance and risk management legal programs for projects of all sizes. Mr. Masters is a frequent lecturer for real estate industry groups.

Michael J. O’Neill, CPCU, ARM has been involved in the construction insurance industry for more than 30 years. He is executive vice president of American Contractors Insurance Group, a construction industry-owned insurance organization in Dallas. Mr. O’Neill is a frequent industry speaker with expertise in the areas of captive management, risk management, retention analysis, contractual risk transfer, development of specialized coverage, and risk funding programs.

Guest Speaker

Patrick J. Wielinski is a principal in the Dallas-Fort Worth office of Cokinos, Bosien & Young. He practices in the areas of construction, insurance coverage, and risk management. Mr. Wielinski has advised clients, and litigated and appealed insurance coverage claims involving defective workmanship for 25 years. He regularly lectures to construction, insurance, and legal groups on insurance coverage and risk management issues. He is the author of Insurance for Defective Construction, Second edition, published by IRMI, as well as numerous other publications for insurance, construction, and legal organizations. He also contributes articles on insurance coverage for defective construction to IRMI.com.