Management Team

Andy Pinkowski is the President and Chief Executive Officer of American Nuclear Insurers. He has been with ANI since 2010, previously serving as ANI’s General Counsel. Mr. Pinkowski leads a team of experienced underwriting, finance, engineering, and claims professionals in deploying member capacity, achieving consistent returns, preventing loss, and successfully defending insureds: all in support of nuclear electric power and its contributions to a safe, reliable and clean energy future.

 Mr. Pinkowski is a seasoned attorney with broad experience providing counsel on enterprise risk, strategic, compliance, governance and institutional issues to ANI and its Board of Directors. Prior to his work at ANI, Mr. Pinkowski was an Assistant Vice President and Senior Counsel at The Hartford, managing many of the company’s highest profile cases and other unique exposures presenting significant risk to the enterprise. He began his legal career in private practice working for insurance clients for two national law firms: Bingham McCutchen and Robinson & Cole.

 Mr. Pinkowski is a graduate of Duke University and earned his J.D. from the University of Connecticut School of Law. He is also a graduate of the Reactor Training Course for Utility Executives at MIT and has completed programs at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business and at the Harvard School of Public Health. He is a member of the Connecticut and Federal bars, the Connecticut and American Bar Associations and the International Nuclear Law Association.

Laura Clouser is Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at American Nuclear Insurers (ANI), overseeing both the finance and human resources functions.  She also participates in the Enterprise Risk and Opportunity Management and strategic planning processes at ANI. 

She joined ANI in 2007 as the Assistant Controller and was promoted in 2013 to Controller before being appointed to Vice President in 2016. She then assumed the Chief Financial Officer role in 2022. Prior to joining ANI, Ms. Clouser spent 3 years at The Hartford working in Corporate Finance as Assistant Director as well as 4 years as an auditor for Deloitte and Touche LLP. 

Ms. Clouser earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Master of Science in Professional Accounting from the University of Hartford.  She also completed the Reactor Technology Course for Utility Executives at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2018. Ms. Clouser    is a licensed CPA in the state of Connecticut and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), Connecticut Society of Certified Public Accountants (CTCPA), and the Society of Insurance Financial Management (SIFM).

As Vice President, Claims and General Counsel, Mr. DeMerchant provides strategic guidance and in-house lead on internal litigation matters and manages the investigation, evaluation and disposition of complex nuclear liability claims brought against insureds of American Nuclear Insurers. He also directs ANI’s Emergency Response program, which exists primarily to respond, on behalf of ANI insureds, to the immediate emergency financial needs of the public impacted by a nuclear accident. Prior to his work at ANI, Mr. DeMerchant was a large loss legal consultant at The Hartford managing high exposure commercial litigation brought against its insureds. He began his legal career as a trial attorney at the law firm of Howd & Ludorf LLC in Hartford, Connecticut, litigating complex commercial cases for over ten years in both federal and state courts.

Mr. DeMerchant received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Stetson University and earned a law degree from Quinnipiac College School of Law. He also completed The Reactor Technology Training Course for Utility Executives at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2015. He is admitted to practice in the state of Connecticut and is a member of the Connecticut Bar Association and the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel. Mr. DeMerchant is also a member of the NEI Lawyer’s Committee and the International Nuclear Law Association.

Jim Palaia is Vice President of Underwriting at American Nuclear Insurers (ANI). He is responsible for all domestic and foreign liability and property underwriting and reinsurance operations. In addition, he is responsible for developing and maintaining a strong marketing presence with ANI’s customer base and for maintaining and forging new business relationships with domestic and foreign reinsurance partners.

Mr. Palaia was hired by ANI in 2011 as Director, Underwriting and was promoted to Vice President, Underwriting in 2016. He assumed management of the Underwriting department in 2021.  Prior to joining ANI, he was employed at The Hartford where he spent six years in various roles in their Home Office.  Mr. Palaia began his career in 2000 at GenRe as a casualty facultative underwriter for five years in their Hartford office.

Mr. Palaia completed The Institute’s Business Strategy for Emerging Leaders at the University of Wisconsin’s School of Business in 2019, and The Reactor Technology Training Course for Utility Executives at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2016. He received his Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree in 1992 from The University of Connecticut.

Otto Walter is Vice President, Engineering at American Nuclear Insurers (ANI). He is responsible for ANI’s International and Domestic Engineering activities including inspections and projects to monitor nuclear liability insurance risk with ANI’s policyholders. He works with the Nuclear Energy Institute, Institute for Nuclear Power Operations and the Electric Power Research Institute on projects of mutual interest. He manages a technically diverse group of subject matter experts within the ANI engineering department. His team evaluates a broad range of areas include radiation safety, miscellaneous nuclear facilities, and research and power reactors.

Mr. Walter joined ANI in 2013 as an Account Engineer. He was promoted in 2015 to Senior Account Engineer, to Principal Engineer in 2017, and to Manger, Decommissioning in 2019. He has been in his current position since 2020. Prior to ANI, Mr. Walter served as a submarine officer for the United States Navy, where he received two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals and a Navy Commendation Medal.

Mr. Walter received his Bachelor of Science degree in General Engineering from Montana Technological University and a Master of Engineering Management from Old Dominion University. He is a licensed Professional Engineer with the State of Connecticut.

Brian Carvell is Vice President, Legal Compliance at American Nuclear Insurers (ANI), providing legal support to all departments within the organization.  His responsibilities largely revolve around regulatory, corporate governance and security matters, as well as contract work and supporting ANI’s Emergency Response program speaking at disaster recovery training workshops. 

Mr. Carvell joined ANI in 2018 as Senior Counsel and has been in his current position since 2023. Prior to ANI, he served as Associate General Counsel for a specialty program insurer where he spent almost 10 years providing legal support across the entire organization and managed the majority of the organization’s regulatory and compliance matters.  Mr. Carvell also worked in the Complex Claims Group at a large property & casualty insurance group. He began his career in private practice.

Mr. Carvell received a Juris Doctor from Western New England School of Law, and his LL.M. in Taxation from Boston University School of Law.  He is admitted to practice in Connecticut and is also a member of the International Nuclear Law Association.

Chase Clouser is Director, Information Systems and Technology at American Nuclear Insurers. As head of the Information Services Department, Mr. Clouser oversees internal systems development projects and directs technical strategy and operations. Mr. Clouser closely engages with ANI’s Managed Services and Security Services Providers in support of the overall performance and security of corporate assets, information and resources.

Mr. Clouser joined ANI in 2006 as a Technology Support Specialist and has served in several roles during his tenure. He was promoted to Systems Administrator in 2010 followed by Manager, Information Services in 2013. He became Director, Information Services in 2016 and has been in his current position since 2019.

Mr. Clouser holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Maryland, and is a professional member of the Association for Computing Machinery.