Karen A. Frankel

Ms. Frankel is one of the panelists for Workshop M3, "Wrap-Up Dos and Don'ts," on Monday. She has spent over 32 years associated with the construction and construction insurance industry. She began her career in 1977, spending the first 3 years as a project accountant, estimator, and project manager for two Minnesota-based general contracting firms. Ms. Frankel transitioned from construction to insurance in 1980 when she joined an agency specializing in insurance and surety for contractors.

She was recruited to Alexander & Alexander's (A&A) Construction Division in 1984 working primarily on a large general contractor (36th on the ENR listing at that time) and wrap-up accounts. In 1993, Ms. Frankel was promoted to Deputy Director of Alexander & Alexander's National Wrap-Up Unit and then in 1995 became the Director for the National practice. She led the development of A&A's newest wrap-up RMIS system (A&AWrap). She was named as a charter member of A&A's Chairman's Council reporting to Frank Zarb, Chairman of A&A, in 1995 as the only female executive among 42 executives worldwide.

In 1997, Ms. Frankel was asked to join Arthur J. Gallagher to create a National Wrap-Up Practice. She developed the sales and marketing materials necessary to support wrap-up business opportunities. Ms. Frankel established the wrap-up Best Practices and Professional Standards and identified, recruited, and trained staff in servicing this business. She was an integral member of the design/development team for Gallagher's CIPWorks RMIS system. During her tenure at Gallagher, Ms. Frankel received numerous awards for innovation and business development.

Ms. Frankel was recruited to Marsh's National Wrap-Up Practice in 2003. Her responsibilities included business development, carrier development, program design and placement, team leader for Marsh's proprietary RMIS system development (MWrap), review and ongoing refinement of wrap-up professional standards, development of core competencies, and credentialing of wrap-up staff for implementation and administration.

In January 2008, she was asked to join Willis' National Wrap-Up Team, focusing on sales and marketing, product development, training and development of staff, expansion of wrap-up service centers, and review and refinement of Willis' wrap-up tools and marketing materials. She is a strategic member of the Willis WrapTrac RMIS team, providing input and direction with ongoing refinements.

Over the years, Ms. Frankel has spoken about wrap-ups at various seminars: National American Public Transportation Association (APTA) (2004); Chicago Association of Subcontractor's (ASB) (2002); International Institute for Research (IIR) (2000); National Risk & Insurance Management Society (RIMS) (1998); National CFMA Conference (1996).