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Member, Beacon International Group, Ltd.
Sharon Kaleta
Chief Executive Officer and President
Disability Management Employer Coalition
San Diego
Age: 58
Ms. Kaleta, co-founder of the San Diego-based Disability Management Employer Coalition, is known as a grass-roots leader. Through her DMEC work, Ms. Kaleta helped create an industry professional designation, the Certified Professional in Disability Management. She also worked for two decades as a risk manager in the restaurant and aerospace industry. During a portion of that time, she also managed benefits that included overseeing a self-insured and self-administered disability program, which became a springboard for her DMEC work.
What would you change: "I think the insurance industry as well as employers in this country need to think about long-term objectives and be willing to put programs in place that don't benefit them in the second quarter but in the second year. The industry moves too slow. It needs quicker implementation of new innovative programs. We spend too much time talking and analyzing things to death instead of using common sense to find avenues that work. Some will not work, but most will. Just do it."