Verizon departments cooperate to resolve old insurance claims.(Risk Manager of the Year)(Verizon Communications Inc. )

Byline: DAVE LENCKUS

Resolving old insurance claims was a top priority for both the risk management department and legal staff following the long regulatory approval process for the merger that created Verizon Communications Inc.

Although elements of both departments had come from different companies before the merger, they were able to immediately pool their resources to resolve most of the outstanding claims, recovering millions of dollars of insurance proceeds for Verizon.

The legal team investigating the claims is headed by a Verizon legal department official who formerly was with GTE Corp. The risk management department at Verizon largely …