KLN Team

Unique to KLN is the Company's expertise in all aspects of both institutional and professional health care risk management. Together, the KLN team delivers over 80 years of hands on experience in virtually all aspects of risk management and malpractice brokerage services.

Kevin W. Kelly

President & CEO

Mr. Kelly has spent over 23 years in the healthcare and insurance industry. He has been involved in operational/management and consulting activities spanning physician group practice development, managed care, hospital administration, business planning/implementation in the hospital, physician/PHO, and academic medical center environment. Mr. Kelly was the 1990 founder and CEO of MedSpan, a "provider driven" regional HMO which he sold in 2002. Before joining KLN Insurance (KLN), he spent two years as the Executive Director of the Signature Programs at the University of Connecticut Health Center. In this role, he directed the business plan development and implementation process of the University's three principle health care business strategies. Prior to that, Mr. Kelly was a National Fellow with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and the American Hospital Association in both Washington DC and Chicago. Mr. Kelly also served as an administrator at Hartford Hospital and the Connecticut Health System and the Executive Director of the Hartford Physician Hospital Organization. Mr. Kelly is a graduate of Providence College and Yale University. He is a frequent lecturer on the topics of healthcare financing, delivery and risk management View full CV

Attorney Joyce Lagnese

Chief Legal Officer

Attorney Lagnese brings over 25 years of experience in medical malpractice defense litigation and risk management consultation on behalf of medical institutions, long term care facilities and physician groups. She has defended hospitals, long-term care providers and physicians throughout the region encompassing virtually every medical specialty including internal medicine, cardiology, anesthesiology, OB/GYN, radiology, urology, psychiatry, neurology, pediatrics, emergency medicine, pathology and all of the surgical specialties.

Attorney Lagnese has utilized the insights which she has gained from her extensive courtroom and claims management experience to assist medical institutions, physician groups and malpractice carriers to identify risk prone practices and implement strategies to mitigate risks, avoid claims and improve patient care.

Attorney Lagnese has been active in promoting Tort Reform through the political process. She was invited to testify before the Connecticut State Legislature in support of caps on non-economic damages in Medical Malpractice cases and has published on the subject of National Tort Reform.

As part of her involvement in risk management, physician education and claims review, Attorney Lagnese has participated extensively in peer review programs and processes. She has a keen appreciation for the virtues of formal peer review in medical practice and institutional settings. Properly deployed, peer review is a useful educational tool, a critical component of systematic risk management and very useful in establishing standards of care for improvement of patient safety. Attorney Lagnese has actively participated in establishing traditional peer review programs for many organizations.

As part of their role as primary defense counsel of medical malpractice claims, Attorney Lagnese has been responsible for evaluating hundreds of claims for malpractice insurers for reserve purposes. They are familiar with industry reserve criteria and of the imperatives of setting accurate reserves as early as possible. Attorney Lagnese has been involved in establishing reserve criteria for malpractice insurance carriers and in establishing and modifying reserves over the life of many hundreds of malpractice cases. She has worked extensively with commercial carriers, physician-owned carriers, captive insurers and self-funded entities.

Anne Johnson, RN, BSN

Director, Medical Risk Services

Ms. Johnson leads KLN's project/risk management team. In this capacity Ms. Johnson coordinates information collection and support of the daily interactions among KLN staff and its clients. Ms. Johnson is a registered nurse who had over 10 years experience in clinical care nursing at Hartford Hospital before bringing her knowledge and skills to investigating and evaluating medical malpractice risk exposures in the medical-legal arena. Ms. Johnson brings 15 years of experience of direct involvement with medical risk management issues in physician office, long term care and hospital arenas. Ms Johnson is well versed in the identification and rectification of the most prevalent risk exposures encountered in physician's offices, hospitals and long term care facilities. Ms. Johnson is a graduate of the University of Connecticut. View full CV

Trent R. Sullivan, MBA

Director, Medical Risk Services

Mr. Sullivan has spent over 15 years in the healthcare and insurance industry. He has been involved in hospital-based Quality and Utilization Management prior to becoming involved in Risk Management and Insurance. Before joining KLN, he spent five years as the Director of Risk Management at Eastern Connecticut Health Network (ECHN) where he was responsible for development and implementation of the risk management plan, organizational loss prevention, claims management and insurance solutions. Mr. Sullivan also formed a medical malpractice and general liability captive insurance company for ECHN. He as lectured to physicians, nurses, administrators in the acute care setting, office practice and long term care setting. He was the chair of the Connecticut Hospital Association’s Risk Management Group and is the current President-elect of the Connecticut Society of Healthcare Risk Managers. Mr. Sullivan received his undergraduate degree from the University of Connecticut and an MBA at the University of Hartford.

Patricia A. Peters, BSN, HRM, MBA

Consulting Operations

With more than 30 years of experience in the healthcare field, Ms. Peters is responsible for coordinating the Risk Management Consulting Services. Ms. Peters was formerly Vice President, Risk Management Consulting Services for The Saint Paul Companies in Chicago, Illinois and prior to its merger with St. Paul she ran the MMI Risk Management Resource Inc. consulting operations. In those capacities Ms. Peters directed risk assessment teams and personally performed in-depth healthcare risk management assessments and program/process implementation at numerous hospital systems, multispecialty faculty practices, large physician group practices, home care facilities and a variety of other healthcare facilities.

In addition, Ms. Peters has held a variety of administrative positions with Premier Hospitals Alliance, Inc. (Westchester, Illinois) in the clinical services area. Her professional experience also includes working at various health care organizations such as Lutheran General Health Care System in a variety of management positions related to home care. Her clinical experience includes a number of years in behavioral health, and emergency services nursing.

Pat has also completed the Healthcare risk Management Certificate Program and is also a member of the American Society of Health Risk managers. She has published numerous articles and book chapters on risk management for healthcare facilities and personnel and is a frequent speaker on various risk management topics at the National, State and local levels. She is registered professional nurse in the State of Illinois. View full CV

Nancy Walsh

Client Service Administrator

Ms. Walsh has over 15 years office practice management experience and has worked with KLN Specialty Insurance for the last 5 years. Ms. Walsh is responsible for all aspects of client service needs and office management. Ms. Walsh is the liaison for Continuing Medical Education approval for Medical Risk Management’s educational modules. Ms. Walsh has an extensive working knowledge of policy terms and conditions and risk management in the medical/professional liability insurance arena.

Laura Johnson

Client Service Representative

Ms. Johnson has been a Client Service Representative with KLN Specialty Insurance since the fall of 2006. She received her property and casualty license and currently works with clients servicing their accounts. Her areas of focus include client application submission, report generation, policy creation and review, technical support and general office management. Additionally, Ms. Johnson is well versed in risk management issues facing healthcare professionals in today’s medico-legal environment. Ms. Johnson is a 2006 graduate of Plymouth State University where she received a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a minor in communication studies.