Zurich Insurance Academy International Adjunct Faculty
Meet the faculty
Spring Uphoff Neely
Head of Strategy & Execution, Zurich Multinational
Zurich North America
As part of Zurich North America, Spring Uphoff Neely is the Head of Strategy and Execution, Zurich Multinational for U.S. Commercial Insurance. She has more than 21 years of Property and Casualty insurance experience, including 20 years managing complex multinational financial program structures. Throughout her career, Spring has helped deliver innovative services and digital tools, tapping into her strong market and technical knowledge of multinational risk needs
During her career, she has played a significant role in the development of value-added solutions that have pushed the multinational insurance industry forward. A few highlights include a strategic role in the launch and design of Zurich’s award-winning Exporter Solutions digital platform for incidental multinational exposures, her contributions in data, integration, and user experience requirements for the My Zurich customer portal, and as a key driver of Zurich’s Multinational Insurance Application, now called the Global Program Support tool, an industry leading tool that ensures compliant solutions in a world of evolving tax and regulatory requirements.
In addition, Spring has been instrumental in developing new products and solutions for complex multinational risks, such as the award-winning International Towers by Zurich product, the Zurich Loss Pooling Program, and Zurich’s International Programs Training & Certification platform.
Educational background, certifications and honors
Spring holds a Bachelor of Science degree in international business with a concentration in international marketing and a Bachelor of Arts degree in German, both from Bradley University. In addition, she has a certificate in offshore operations from the Petroleum Extension of The University of Texas at Austin.
Spring was recognized in 2008 as one of four key drivers globally of Zurich’s Multinational Insurance Application (MIA), which supports Zurich’s strong commitment to compliant risk programs. She was also honored with a Zurich Excellence Award in 2021 for her pivotal role in the creation and delivery of the Zurich Loss Pooling Program.
Bryan Betts
Global Relationship Leader, Zurich Multinational
Zurich North America
Bryan Betts is a senior strategic relationship leader for Zurich North America, acting as the point of contact globally for his assigned portfolio of customers. Bryan works closely with customer risk managers and Treasury, with broker client executives and with Zurich underwriting, servicing, risk engineering and claims colleagues.
Bryan has lived and worked in Canada, Europe and the U.S. Since joining Zurich in 2005 he has worked in the U.S. and in Europe, living and residing in Zurich, Switzerland for 3 years. During that time, he was responsible for International Sales & Distribution across the EMEA countries and was a member of Zurich’s global training team.
Bryan began his insurance career working as a risk engineering specialist, underwriter, sales professional and held various managerial and leadership roles with FM Global, Allianz and Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance.
Educational background, certifications and honorsBryan is a graduate of The University of Calgary with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering and achieved his Professional Engineering designation prior to moving to the U.S.
Tom Dohrer
Multinational Claims Coordinator
Zurich North America
Tom Dohrer is the U.S. Multinational Claims Coordinator for Zurich North America, acting as the point of contact in the U.S. for any claim-related issues. Tom works closely with the local U.S. Claims teams and the network of Multinational Claim coordinators around the world to assist distributors and customers to ensure they have a positive claims experience.
Tom has held various roles in Claims at Zurich for 20 years. Prior to his current position, he led the Claims Strategy and Execution Team and was involved in projects that focused on innovation, digitalization and process improvement. In that role, he worked and coordinated with all parts of Claims to support leadership and to deliver key improvements within the organization. Tom has also held leadership roles throughout Zurich’s Technical Claims’ organization, managing Claims teams on a domestic and international level. Tom is a licensed attorney and previously practiced law, where he had extensive litigation and trial experience.
Educational background, certifications and honors
Tom holds a Bachelor of Arts in history and architecture from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a Juris Doctor from DePaul College of Law in Chicago.
This is intended as a general description of certain types of services, tools and courses available to brokers through the companies of Zurich North America. Zurich does not guarantee a particular outcome and further assumes no liability in connection with the provision of services. Zurich reserves the right to make changes in course offerings at any time.