Gary Baird, a former Senior Executive and Vice President, Claims for a National Canadian Insurer (hereinafter the Company) reported to the President and was an officer and director of the Company. Having retired from his former employer 4 years ago, he saw a niche for his area of expertise and so incorporated ICMS, January 2013.

Gary began his insurance career as an independent adjuster in 1977 and for 34 years held various positions of responsibility, including: General Adjuster, Senior Examiner, Claims Manager and Senior Executive. Gary has a significant degree of technical, administration and leadership experience (including teaching, mentoring, coaching); as well as, auditing in respect to mitigation of risk and implementation of controls in compliance with Financial Control Frameworks for claims.

When Gary was asked to lead Claims for the Company it was focused on growth organically and through acquisitions. During his ten years as a senior executive the Company business grew aggressively, more than doubling in size. Gary's vision and strategic initiatives led to the creation of a Claims School, Claims Express, Practice Teams, and a Catastrophe Team. Additionally, Gary designed, developed and implemented a plan for building a 'new region', Western Canada, Claims Operation.

Gary completed a CIP, FCIP, and a Business Diploma at Memorial University of Newfoundland. As well, he completed a program of study with the University of Windsor's Faculty of Law (Ontario, Canada), receiving certification in Advanced Alternate Dispute Resolution.

Gary has volunteered extensively over the years with various professional organizations and served as:

• President of the Insurance Institute of Newfoundland (IIN)
• Director of the Board of Governors of the Insurance Institute of Canada (IIC)
• National Director of the Society of Fellows
• Arbitration Chair with the Canadian Insurance Claims Managers Association (CICMA)
• Member of the Communications/Professional Division of the Insurance Institute of Canada (IIC)
• Instructor and text auditor for IIN and IIC respectively
• Founding member of the National Chartered Insurance Professionals Society Board of Directors
• Member of the International Claims Group, Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance Group plc (RSA)
• Served on the Steering Committee of the RSA Global Claims Group, 

Finally, Gary is the recipient of several industry awards including the Mullaly Award for Industry Service and the Award of Merit from the Insurance Institute of Canada.