Palisades Leadership Team

Ed Fernandez, President and CEO

Ed Fernandez has 32 years of experience in the property/casualty insurance industry. Ed assumed his current position at Palisades in 2006. 

Prior to Palisades he was with Chubb Insurance for almost 20 years, during which time he held management positions in marketing, personal lines, and branch management. His most recent position was managing director and chief field officer for Chubb Personal Insurance. He developed a strong track record for profitable growth and innovation, and a reputation as a strong supporter of the independent agency system.

He started his career with Crum & Forster, a national property and casualty insurance group. He started at an entry level position in operations and worked in finance, reinsurance, claims, and planning and analysis. Just before leaving Crum & Forster he was an assistant vice president for Personal Insurance division.

Ed is a graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University, Pace University (MBA), and holds the Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation. He’s a board director for Employment Horizons, Palisades Safety and Insurance Management Corporation, Palisades Safety Insurance Agency, and the Encharter Group. He lives in Basking Ridge, NJ, where he volunteers for several nonprofit organizations that serve disabled children and adults. He drives a car with a backup camera – that lets his car practically park itself.

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Bill Emmons, Vice President of Product Management, Company Actuary

Bill is responsible for studies and decisions related to pricing, loss reserves, agent profitability, product development, and marketing strategies. Bill has over 25 years of experience in the property and casualty insurance industry. His roles have focused on pricing analysis, loss reserving and profitability forecasting. Bill is the Appointed Actuary for Palisades and all Plymouth Rock managed companies.

Prior to Palisades, Bill was vice president and senior actuary for CNA Personal Insurance where he was responsible for rate review, pricing, and results analysis for the $1.6 billion auto, home, package and umbrella businesses. Earlier in his career he held pricing and reserving positions in Personal Insurance, Workers’ Compensation, and General Liability for The Continental Insurance Companies. Bill is a graduate of Rutgers University where he majored in Statistics and Business Administration. He received his Associateship from the Casualty Actuarial Society in 1991. He lives in Farmingdale, NJ, and he’s planning to trade in his car when it's driven 300,000 miles. It currently has 245,000 miles.

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Carroll Foley, Vice President and CFO

Carroll joined Palisades in 2006 and is responsible for finance, mergers & acquisitions, and internal audit. Carroll has more than 15 of years experience in the insurance industry. 

Prior to Palisades she was vice president of Finance at Swiss Reinsurance. Earlier, she held positions with Prudential International and GE Financial, working on M&A, strategic and financial planning, financial reporting, capital planning, and life insurance securitizations. She holds a BS degree in Math and Statistics from the University of Connecticut. She lives in Branchburg, NJ, and her car wants to go on safari.

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Mike Luciani, Vice President of Claims

Mike’s department looks after all claims, from handling first reports to ensuring policyholders are paid. Mike brings to Palisades over 25 years of claims experience in the state of New Jersey. 

Prior to Palisades, Mike was the Casualty Vice President for Material Damage Adjustment Corporation of New Jersey. He was responsible for all of the bodily injury claims for the Robert Plan Companies in New Jersey. Mike was in charge of the litigated files, large loss exposures and all litigation against the company. Before joining Material Damage Adjustment Corp, Mike was with Hanover Insurance Company. He is a member of the New Jersey Defense Association and the New Jersey Vehicle Theft Investigators. Mike is a graduate of Seton Hall University, and lives in Randolph, NJ. His first car was a 1958 Buick Special.

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Karen Murdock, Vice President of Marketing & Distribution

Karen’s group oversees agent relationships, marketing, communication, advertising, and the management of the Palisades Agency. She has over 30 years of experience in operations, underwriting and marketing. She joined Palisades in 1992 as the Operations Manager, and later assumed accountability for Marketing where she was directly responsible for the Company’s growth. In 1996 Karen was voted Vice President of Marketing and Underwriting Operations. Karen has also been responsible for Human Resources, Business Systems and has been the Senior Manager sponsor working with the technology department on the new enterprise agent interface. 

Prior to Palisades, she worked at Crum & Forster and Allstate Insurance Company. Karen is a graduate of Rider University. She lives in Cedar Grove and drives a car with a convertible roof and a bud vase.

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Joe Scaturro, Vice President of Underwriting Operations

Joe is responsible for Underwriting, Customer Care, Administration and Facilities departments. He has over 20 years experience in the property/casualty insurance industry, largely focused on managing underwriting and underwriting operations. His experience spans personal and commercial programs in both the voluntary and residual markets. Joe joined Palisades in 2003 as the Underwriting Services Manager. 

Earlier in his career Joe held leadership positions at AON Risk Services, INSpire Insurance Solutions, and The Robert Plan Corp. Joe earned the Associate in Commercial Underwriting (AU) and Associate in Insurance Services (AIS) designations, and is working towards a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters designation. Prior to his career in the insurance industry, Joe served four years in the United States Marine Corps. He lives in North Brunswick, NJ and uses his car for tailgating at Giants football games.

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Paul Luongo, Chief Information Officer

Paul is responsible for all information technology services, including application development & support, infrastructure, hardware, network, telephony, disaster recovery, business continuity and system operations. He joined the executive team of Palisades in December of 2000, and also oversees the technology of all Plymouth Rock group of companies. His team delivers enterprise solutions for agents, consumers, and employees, that leverage innovation and cost to make their lives easier. Key systems include the employee intranet RockTalk, the consumer website, and the Agent Web portal.

Earlier in his career, Paul led the US outsourcing organization for CGI, including developing the Center of Excellence. His responsibilities included the delivery of business solutions for CGI’s business lines.

Paul attended Northeastern University in Boston and Babson College. You’ll find him traveling between Boston, Massachusetts, and the New Jersey offices of the group companies in Berkeley Heights, Redbank, and Freehold. His first car was a Chevy Camaro.

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Carl Peterson Esq., SPHR, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary

Carl is responsible for the legal and regulatory affairs of Palisades, including trial counsel operation and the corporate legal department. He brings over 30 years of experience in the property and casualty insurance industry.

Prior to joining Palisades in 2003, he was a member of Prudential’s Property and Casualty Insurance Group Legal Department for over 20 years. He was Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary of the Property and Casualty Group from 1995-2003. Earlier, he was Assistant General Counsel with the Motor Club of America companies.

Carl received his Juris Doctorate degree from Wake Forest University School of Law in 1974, and his BA in History from Wake Forest University, Cum Laude with Honors in 1971. He holds the Senior Professional in Human Resources designation (SPHR). Carl has been an active participant in state and national property and casualty industry associations and a member of corporate counsel professional organizations. He is on the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of the Insurance Council of New Jersey. Carl lives in Ocean Township, next to Asbury Park, NJ. While he drives his car every day, his last car insurance claim was over 13 years ago.

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Laura Bacek, Human Resources Director

Laura’s department is responsible for staffing, training and development, benefits administration, employee relations and payroll. That includes making sure that Palisades attracts and hires the nicest and most effective employees. She joined Palisades in 2002, and assumed her current role in 2007. 

Laura received her BA from the University of Delaware. She lives in Clark, NJ and, with her frequent road trips, she is very happy that her car gets 35 mpg.

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