Opinion Leaders 

Sam Friedman is the Editor-In-Chief of the Property & Casualty edition of National Underwriter, in charge of day-to-day editorial operations at the weekly newsmagazine--including story assignments, editing and graphic support. He also writes a weekly opinion column and a lively blog at www.nusamsoapbox.com, called "A View From the Press Box." He is a frequent speaker and panel moderator at industry events—both in-person and online. Mr. Friedman joined NU in 1981 as a staff writer covering the independent agent beat, moving up the ranks to Assistant Editor in 1984, Managing Editor in 1986, Editor in 1996 and Editor-In-Chief in 2001. He also served as Interim Publisher in 2003. Before joining NU, Mr. Friedman was Associate Editor of Modern Grocer for three years, and prior to that edited a number of community newspapers. He graduated from Brooklyn College in 1979, while also completing the Professional Publishing Course at Stanford University in 1997 and Northwestern University's Advanced Media Management course in 2003. He is a member of the American Society of Business Publication Editors, the American Business Press Association and the Society of Professional Journalists.

Susanne Sclafane is Managing Editor of NU’s Property & Casualty edition. Ms. Sclafane assists with the day-to-day management of the magazine, and is primarily responsible for the development and placement of stories relating to specialty lines of insurance—including the editing of a monthly e-newsletter. She also puts together NU's Data Insights special reports, including the annual “NU Top 100” premium ranking of p-c insurers, as well as in-depth reports on the Bermuda market.  Before joining NU as a staff writer in 1995, Ms. Sclafane worked as an actuary for 14 years. She began her career at the National Council on Compensation Insurance. She later held positions at two p-c insurance companies, and also worked as a consultant to more than 80 client companies for two major accounting firms. Her responsibilities included analyzing loss reserves, performing pricing analyses and managing valuation engagements related to insurance company acquisitions and other transactions. She is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries.

Caroline McDonald is Assistant Managing Editor of NU’s Property & Casualty weekly newsmagazine. She edits NU's 'Corporate Insurance Buyers Report,' with bonus circulation to 15,000 risk managers, employee benefit managers and CFOs of the Fortune 2500. One of her specialties is the alternative markets, particularly captives, as well as coverage of the London insurance market. She also helps edit the NU Online News Service, which posts stories daily at www.property-casualty.com. Before joining NU in 2000, she most recently worked as an editor for New York Life Insurance Company. Prior to that, she was an editor for in ACORD magazine and other publications for ACORD, and a staff writer at Insurance Journal in California. She previously freelanced for United Press International in Los Angeles and for The New York Times metro section in New York. Ms. McDonald holds a bachelor of arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Daniel Hays is Assistant Managing Editor, in charge of the National Underwriter daily Online News Service at www.property-casualty.com. For NU’s weekly P&C newsmagazine, he also specializes in workers' compensation and insurance fraud coverage, editing several NU special reports, including the "Workers' Compensation Review," "Claims Review," "Insurance Fraud Review" and "Claims Services Review." Mr. Hays joined NU in 1997. He previously worked at BestWeek, Reuters, the New York Daily News and Newark Star-Ledger. Mr. Hays holds a Bachelor of Journalism degree from Missouri University.

Mark E. Ruquet is an Associate Editor covering the agent/broker beat for National Underwriter. He oversees content for producer-related special reports, including NU’s quarterly “Agency Management & Technology” section. He periodically contributes columns with his views on insurance industry trends to NU’s “Final Say” page, and at times manages NU’s daily Online News Service.  Prior to joining NU in June 2000, he worked for the Ocean County Observer in Toms River, N.J., as a staff writer. Prior to that, he worked as a freelance reporter for two local New Jersey dailies, The Home News-Tribune in East Brunswick and the Asbury Park Press. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree from Rutgers University, Livingston College, in Piscataway, N.J.

Arthur D. Postal is Washington Bureau Chief for National Underwriter.  He has covered financial services regulation in Washington since 1986, writing and editing newsletters on regulation, legislation and legal issues involving banks, insurance companies, investment banks, mortgage companies, credit unions and mutual funds. For more than two decades, he has provided in-depth coverage of Congress, the Treasury Department, the White House and other government agencies. Prior to joining NU in 2004, he was Washington bureau chief of American Banker Newsletters, a Thomson company, for four years. He has worked in financial journalism since 1968, when he was a financial writer and editor with the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. He was also financial editor with a major daily and Sunday newspaper in Baltimore from 1978 to 1986.

Phil Gusman is an Associate Editor who joined National Underwriter in January 2008, filing a wide variety of breaking news stories and special report features, both online and in the weekly newsmagazine. Previously, he was editor of Insurance Advocate, where he began working in 2002 as an Editorial Assistant before being named editor in 2004. He also worked as an Assistant Editor of the New York political magazine Empire State Report, as well as an Associate Editor of Crackdown, a monthly publication that covered insurance fraud. He graduated from Plattsburgh State University with a B.A. in English, Writing.