menu
Profile
Debra J. Roberts
vCard vCard
Credentials
  • Attorney:
    No
  • Education:
    MBA Finance, Chartered Financial Analyst
  • Other Information:
    Served as expert witness for 15 arbitrations (11 in U.S., 4 in U.K.) and 5 litigations (U.S. federal and state courts).
    Panel member, ARIAS U.K.
Work Experience
  • Reinsurance Company: 10 years.
    Underwriting Department: 10 years. Senior Underwriter, Vice President
  • Independent/Other Relevant Experience: 19 years.
    Independent/Unaffiliated Arbitrator, Umpire and/or Mediator: 19 years. Independent/Unaffilliated Arbitrator, Umpire and/or Expert Witness
Breakdown of Experience
  • Finite
    20%
  • Contract Wording
    10%
  • Catastrophes (Property)
    5%
  • Workers' Compensation
    4%
  • Financial Guarantee
    4%
  • Long Term Disability
    3%
  • Agricultural
    2%
  • Insolvencies
    2%
  • Life
    2%
  • MGA/MGU
    2%
  • Environmental/Pollution
    2%
  • Personal Lines
    2%
  • Product/Consumer Warranties
    2%
  • Product Liability
    2%
  • Professional Liability/Errors &, Omissions
    2%
  • Regulatory/Licensing
    2%
  • Third Party Administrator
    2%
  • Toxic Tort
    2%
  • Excess/Surplus Lines
    2%
  • Accident & Health
    2%
  • Fidelity &, Surety
    2%
  • Captives/Risk Retention Groups
    2%
  • Disability
    2%
  • Directors &, Officers
    2%
  • Alternative/Self-Insurance/Risk Management
    2%
  • Commutations
    2%
  • Asbestos
    2%
  • Automobile Liability/Property
    2%
  • Commercial Property
    2%
  • Bad Faith/ECO
    2%
  • Employment Practices Liability
    2%
  • Commercial Liability
    2%
  • Catastrophes (Casualty)
    2%
By Market
  • U.S. Market:
    70%
  • Bermuda/Off-shore Market:
    30%

Insurance vs. Reinsurance: 10/90%
Treaty vs. Facultative Reinsurance: 80/20%

ARIAS Experience

Workshops, as Faculty: 1; September 2007

Ethics Training, as Trainee: 1; March 2010

ARIAS Conference Faculty: 6; Spring 2004, Spring 2007, Fall 2007, Spring 2010, Spring 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014

Other Approved Training:

ARIAS Fall 2009 Educational Seminar - FACULTY
ARIAS November 2011 Educational Seminar - FACULTY

Arbitration Experience

Number of Arbitrations

As an Arbitrator: 24

As an Umpire: 11

Arbitrator Experience
Number of Arbitrations
8
Appointed as an arbitrator.
8
Acted as an arbitrator through the organizational meeting or the arbitration has only reached this stage.
5
Acted as an arbitrator through the organizational meeting or the arbitration has only reached this stage and the resolution of significant pre-hearing motions.
1
Acted as an arbitrator through to final award after completion of an evidentiary hearing of at least one full day and less than three full days regarding the substantive merits of the parties' dispute.
2
Acted as an arbitrator through to final award after completion of an evidentiary hearing of at least three full days regarding the substantive merits of the parties' dispute.
Umpire Experience
Number of Arbitrations
2
Appointed as an umpire.
3
Acted as an umpire through the organizational meeting or the arbitration has only reached this stage.
2
Acted as an umpire through the organizational meeting or the arbitration has only reached this stage and the resolution of significant pre-hearing motions.
1
Acted as an umpire through to final award after completion of an evidentiary hearing of at least one full day and less than three full days regarding the substantive merits of the parties' dispute.
3
Acted as an umpire through to final award after completion of an evidentiary hearing of at least three full days regarding the substantive merits of the parties' dispute.
Biography

Debra J. Roberts, CFA
Debra Roberts & Associates, LLC
445 Park Avenue, 9th floor
New York, NY
djroberts0407@gmail.com

Since 1993, I have been President and CEO of Debra Roberts & Associates, providing services to the insurance and reinsurance industry. I have extensive background in the areas of (re)insurance accounting, actuarial practice, underwriting, contract wording, claims, investments and investment banking. In 1997, I became certified as a reinsurance arbitrator by AIDA Reinsurance & Insurance Arbitration Society – U. S. (“ARIAS – U.S.”) and since that time have participated in numerous international reinsurance arbitrations as party-appointed and umpire. I have also served as an expert witness in international arbitrations as well as (re)insurance litigations in U.S. State and Federal Courts. In 2006 I was accepted as a Panel Member of ARIAS-U.K.

In 1981, I began my reinsurance career as an underwriter at North American Reassurance Company, a life/health reinsurer of the Swiss Re Group based in New York City. While employed there, I obtained an MBA in Finance from Fordham University Graduate School of Business in 1983.

After completing the MBA program, I joined Quest Advisory Corporation, a registered investment adviser in New York City, in 1984, as a Senior Associate. Quest managed four mutual funds and several corporate pension accounts, with assets totaling approximately $1 billion. My responsibilities included equity analysis for small cap, thinly-traded stocks and trading desk experience.

In 1986, I joined Atrium Corporation, a Swiss Re Group company in New York City, as a Vice President. My responsibilities included the formation of reinsurance companies in Bermuda and Barbados, which involved raising the private equity necessary for U.S.-controlled ownership (Swiss Re provided 49% of initial capital). These companies were dedicated facilities for alternative risk reinsurance contracts provided to U.S. insurers.