Objective
Focused
Credible
Quality
Flexible

Management and Office Support Team

Donald W. Abbott, MD. - CEO

Dr. Abbott founded Professional Disability Associates and provides the medical leadership and strategic direction for the business. He has become a leading expert in disability medicine in the country having consulted at numerous disability insurers and lectured to numerous national audiences. He has also led training and quality assessment initiatives at many of these companies as well. Following an 8 year career as a medical director at Unum he left to begin consulting in disability medicine in 2000. Under his leadership, Professional Disability Associates has grown to over 120 consulting physicians, psychologists and nurses as well as vocational experts all across the country.

Dr. Abbott graduated from the University of Massachusetts Medical School and completed his Family Practice Residency at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine. During his residency he received the Mead-Johnson Award as one of the outstanding Family Practice Residents in the United States. As a Board Certified Family Physician he practiced in Yarmouth, Maine for 15 years. During that time he was the acting chairman of The Department of Family Medicine and the acting chief of the Family Practice Residency Program for almost 2 years. He was also the President of the Maine Academy of Family Physicians, was elected the Outstanding Family Physician in Maine in 1990, was the President of the Medical Staff at Maine Medical Center and served on the board of Medical Mutual of Maine, the physicians' owned and operated medical malpractice company. He participated in a joint learning program in the Soviet Union sponsored by Soyuzmedinform and Physicians for Social Responsibility where he lectured in five cities across the then Soviet Union describing the medical system and Family Practice training in the United States.

Al Hemond, President - International and Domestic Business

Al directs the Planning, Operations and Financial activities of PDA and leads the company while focusing on strategic goals both domestically and abroad. Al has an extensive background in executive leadership, most recently with Prudential as Senior Vice President managing their disability claims organization. Al spent the first 23 years of his career working for UNUM in various capacities including two years in Los Angeles and two years in the UK.

Al holds a B.A. degree in Mathematics from Boston College and an MBA from the Whittemore School at the University of New Hampshire.

Kevin Riley, Senior Vice President - Marketing and Product Development

Kevin directs the Marketing and Product Development activities for PDA.

Kevin has worked in the insurance industry for over 25 years. He has held a variety of positions in underwriting and claims. Most recently Kevin was Senior Vice President, Risk and Account Management with JHA in Portland, Maine. Kevin is a graduate of Colby College with a degree in Administrative Science.

Maureen Keeley- Senior Vice President- Operations and Customer Value

Maureen leads the operations staff in delivering quality and high value risk management services to our clients. Her abilities to manage both tasks and strategies provide PDA’s clients a unique and highly effective range of consulting results. Maureen has over 17 years of experience in disability claims management and customer service; most recently, at UNUM where she held a variety of positions including Vice President in the claims organization. Maureen also worked in the Non Profit sector for the Institute for Civic Leadership.

She holds a B.S. in Education from The University of Maine and a M.S. in Rehabilitation Counseling from the University of Southern Maine. Maureen is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor.

Vern Baillargeon- Senior Vice President- Strategic Performance Solutions

Vern leads the client consultant activities at PDA. Vern brings 24 years of disability operational experience to his role. During Vern’s eighteen years with UNUM, he held leadership roles in customer service and individual disability and group disability claims. Vern’s last role at UNUM was Vice President of Disability Claims in the Portland, Maine site. Vern also spent six years with Prudential as a Vice President, where he had multi-site responsibility for all long term disability claims, appeals, quality review, training, clinical and medical.

Vern has a B.S. degree in Accounting from the University of Maine, Orono and a M.S. degree in Finance from Thomas College in Waterville, Maine. Vern is a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Employee Benefits Specialist.

Tonia Curran-Arnold, RN -Assistant Vice President, Network Management

Tonia oversees the acquisition, development and management of our medical consultants in support of all our clients. She also provides education and training to keep our resources current in disability and medically related issues and developments.

In addition to her nursing degree, Tonia has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern Maine in Leadership and Organizational Studies. She has 15 years of experience in the disability insurance industry particularly Life, AD&D, Long and Short Term Disability as well as clinical experience in emergency medicine, pediatrics, maternal/child care, wound care and hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

Francis A. Bellino, MD -Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Bellino brings his extensive medical skills and leadership to bear in providing risk assessment support to PDA clients and PDA’s consulting staff. Prior to joining PDA, Dr. Bellino has been Vice president and Chief Medical Officer at United Healthcare Group in Portland for over 7 years. As part of that management team he directed the clinical and vocational staffs and operations supporting a range of products and services that helped to increase UHC’s industry leadership through the years. Dr. Bellino spent over 5 years at Unum and left there as VP and Senior Medical Director in 2004 to assume his UHC role. Following 18 years in private practice as a family physician, he also spent 4 years at a medical informatics company, Heads Up LLC, as Medical Director.

MaryAnne Tranfaglia- PA-C –Director, Quality Review

MaryAnne leads PDA's quality review functions. Every file report is reviewed and verified for accuracy before it is forwarded to our clients.

Following more than 10 years in clinical practice, MaryAnne has had even greater tenure in the disability industry, consulting primarily on medical reviews for long term disability claims. Originally from Michigan, she received her BS degree from Madonna College and completed the Physician Assistant program at the University of Detroit Mercy.

Scott Abbott, Financial Manager

Scott manages PDA’s financial activities including monitoring and controlling the flow of cash receipts and disbursements, budget forecasting, modeling and reporting. Internally he also manages payroll, tax reporting and related HR benefits and reporting activities. Scott previously worked in real estate sales and is a graduate of Syracuse University majoring in Political Science.

Doreen Riordan, Director- Operations

Doreen oversees the development and delivery of front-line operational services for PDA’s disability insurance customers. Doreen’s extensive background in management and disability claims along with over 12 years in the disability insurance industry adds tremendous value to PDA’s business operations. A graduate of the University of Maine, Farmington with her degree in Secondary Education/Social Services, Doreen has also had experience managing people and programs at Goodwill Industries.

Mike Quinn- Director, Information Technology

Mike is responsible for coordinating vendor support of PDA’s computing environment and software tools. He ensures that PDA meets accepted data security standards, provides local desktop support and develops software solutions.

Mike has over 30 years experience designing, developing and implementing technical solutions. He joined us following a ten year career with GenRe in South Portland where he was 2^nd VP of Information Technology. He has an A. S. in Information Technology from New Hampshire Technical Institute and a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Maine.

PDA Office Support Staff

Bobbie Ahern- Quality Review Nurse