Leigh Anne has fifteen years of experience in insurance defense, with more than eleven years of experience solely devoted to handling surety bond claims. She started as Surety Claims Counsel with The Gray Surety in 2013 and became Surety Claims Manager in 2015. As the claims manager, she refocused the claims department on negotiation rather than litigation, which has led to loss ratios of less than 15% for the past seven years, as well as a reduction in the number of open claims, and a reduction in third party legal expenses. Leigh Anne was promoted to Senior Vice President of Claims in 2018 and named Corporate Secretary in 2021.Leigh Anne has presented at many surety specific conferences including the following:ABA Forum on Construction Law Regional Meeting - San Francisco, 2023: Insurance and BondingABA, TIPS Fidelity & Surety Spring Meeting, 2023: From the TrenchesSouthern Surety & Fidelity Claims Conference, 2023: Case Law UpdateABA, TIPS Fidelity & Surety Mid-Winter Meeting, 2022: Contract Claims ProcessSouthern Surety & Fidelity Claims Conference, 2022, Program Co-ChairABA, TIPS Fidelity & Surety Mid-Winter Meeting, 2020, Emergency: How to Diagnose a Failing Contractor?ABA, TIPS Fidelity & Surety Spring Conference 2019, Better Safe than Sorry: Understanding Project SafetyPearlman Association, 2018, Risk Assessment in Litigation and Pre-Litigation: Emphasis on Fee ShiftingSouthern Surety & Fidelity Claims Conference, 2019, Specific Performance of the Indemnity AgreementSouthern Surety & Fidelity Claims Conference, 2018, Arbitration – Required or Not, and Why Does the Surety Care?Southern Surety & Fidelity Claims Conference, 2017, Program Co-ChairSouthern Surety & Fidelity Claims Conference, 2016, A Surety’s Right to Settle Claims over Principal’s Objection