Nicole Abdallah
President and CEO
JND Healthcare Management Inc.
Naperville, Illinois
Age: 45

Nicole Abdallah, president and CEO of JND Healthcare Management Inc., a medical consulting firm in Naperville, Illinois, that specializes in disability and medical case management for corporations and employers, is the daughter of hard-working immigrants and has carried on in that family tradition.

Ms. Abdallah said her parents were both immigrants from Lebanon, with her father putting himself through college as a busboy. “We were raised with a strong work ethic,” said Ms. Abdallah. “I’ve been working since I was 15.”

Ms. Abdallah, whose first job after obtaining her nursing degree was as an intensive care nurse, “inadvertently fell into this industry” when asked to prepare a life care plan for an 8-year-old girl who had been hit by a truck.

She said she began doing life care plans in 2003 and the following year also moved into case management.

“Honesty and commitment” are the elements required to succeed in business and in life, said Ms. Abdallah. “You need to be committed to certain goals and certain processes.”

“I say this all the time: Claims are filed every day. We don’t need to chase claims. We need to chase consistency of quality of product,” said Ms. Abdallah, who describes herself as “very passionate.”

“She’s just very bright, she’s very responsive, she does an incredible job,” said Diana Mack, a Portland, Oregon-based claims consultant with Marsh LLC, who worked with Ms. Abdallah while Ms. Mack was at Rosemont, Illinois-based U.S. Foods Inc.

Elsa Lynch, who recently retired as a Marsh managing director, said workers comp “can be adversarial, but she was always looking to do the right thing for the injured worker.”

Ms. Abdallah, who is single — “I’m married to my work,” she said — rides horses competitively in her spare time and has worked with abused dogs.

“My parents are still a very significant part of my life,” she said. “I’m lucky every day to have them.”

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