Vincent J. Armentano, vice president of workers' compensation claims at St. Paul Travelers, has been named Claims' Professional of the Year. The award, sponsored by New York-based Smith Mazure, a liability defense law firm that focuses on civil litigation, is given annually as the highlight of the opening general session at the ACE-SCLA Conference. It recognizes overall excellence in the claim-handling arena. Most often, the winner is a catalyst within his company, providing leadership initiatives that result in more efficient claim handling.

Armentano helped transform workers' compensation claim services by integrating the claim and medical adjuster roles, increasing specialization on claim activities, merging technology into day-to-day claim functions for improved efficiency, and using predictive and knowledge management applications to improve pay-outs. In addition, he helped change the traditional adversarial relationships between injured workers and physicians by engaging all constituents in the claim process in order to improve claim outcomes.

He is the chairman of the Workers' Compensation Research Institute and has written and spoken on emerging topics in claim management. He received his Juris Doctorate from Western New England College, is a member of the Connecticut Bar, holds an MBA in Management, and is a graduate of the Travelers Financial Development Program.