Strategic Leadership Team

Eric Spencer is president and CEO of Arbitration Forums, Inc. (AF), the nation’s largest arbitration services provider. He joined AF in May 2024 after five years with American Family Insurance, where he was vice president of auto adjusting services. 

Eric is an experienced insurance executive who began his career in 1987 with Mercury Insurance Company. In addition to American Family, he has held leadership roles at Travelers, QBE, and Amerisure insurance companies. He brings over 30 years of experience leading highly engaged teams and superior workplace cultures that enable employees to share their unique ideas and apply their talents toward delivering performance excellence and innovation. 

Eric holds master’s degrees in organizational management and business administration. His deep experience includes organizational transformation, proven success through technology development, and process improvements. He prioritizes partner relationships, data-driven insights, team building, and supporting ongoing employee success.

Prior to joining AF, Eric served on its Board of Directors for four years. 
 

Steve came to Arbitration Forums, Inc. (AF) in January 2010 as Product Manager. He is currently responsible for strategic and financial planning, budgeting, accounting, risk mitigation and controls, financial reporting, and serves as Secretary and Treasurer of AF’s Board of Directors.

Steve has nearly 20 years of experience in the insurance industry across a variety of positions. He began his career with USAA and held positions of increasing responsibility including claims adjuster, business analyst, claims manager, and financial director. He also held positions of controller and management information director for Travelers prior to coming to AF.

Steve has a MBA in finance from the University of South Florida and a B.A. in economics from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He holds numerous designations including Associate in Research and Planning, Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter, Senior Claims Law Associate, and Chartered Financial Consultant.

Stacey LaFehr-Yoder joined the organization in July 2025, and she is responsible for developing administrative policies and systems that enhance operational efficiency across the organization. She oversees shared service groups such as marketing, communication, risk management, compliance, legal, portfolio/project management, and other support functions that enable strategic execution.

Stacey has over 25 years of experience in operational, financial, and compliance roles, across several industries, with 13 years of experience leading various shared service operations at large, medium, and small multi-line P&C carriers. Prior roles include VP Corporate Governance & Administration, VP Claim Operations, and AVP Claim Analytics & Operations. She brings expertise in corporate strategy, risk management, analytics, process improvement, compliance, and operations management. Stacey is recognized as a transformational leader who streamlines operations, enhances transparency, strengthens engagement, and consistently delivers measurable impact. 

Stacey holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration, a master’s degree in accounting, is a certified public accountant, chartered global management accountant, and a certified internal auditor.

John joined Arbitration Forums, Inc. (AF) in September 2014, bringing more than 30 years of technology experience and leadership to the role.

Prior to joining AF, John served as vice president of technology for Catalina Marketing, leading systems development and delivery management. Preceding that, he was an operating vice president of technology for HSN. 

John’s primary area of responsibility with AF is to direct all technology functions at AF, which includes but is not limited to application development and technology infrastructure. John also administers safeguards to secure AF’s information resources, including hardware, software, and company and member data. 

John obtained his B.S. in information systems and M.S. in cybercrime at the University of South Florida. Additionally, he is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).

John is active in the technology community and serves as a board member for the Tampa Bay Technology Forum. 

Candy has led product and technology teams for over 25 years, with the last 17 focused on Property and Casualty insurance. She has a proven track record of building product technology value for insurance claims organizations.
 
Candy brings a wealth of experience in customer success management that includes defining and developing technology products that meet customer and market needs, while providing a broad perspective to evolving technology.
 
Candy is a certified scrum master who has also served in the role of agile product owner and product manager with her most recent positions as the Senior Product Manager, Accident Management, at Agero and Director, US Consumer Markets, Claims Strategic Partner Solutions, at Liberty Mutual.
 
Candy earned her Bachelor of Arts in business management and economics from Illinois Benedictine College.

Jennifer began her career with Arbitration Forums, Inc. (AF) in 2009 in a member satisfaction position focused on gathering feedback on AF’s products and services, reporting on the voice of AF’s membership, and collaborating with various departments throughout the organization to ensure AF continues delivering excellent service and innovative solutions to the industry.  

Throughout her career with AF, Jennifer has taken on additional roles with increasing responsibilities. Jennifer’s primary areas of responsibility currently include marketing, communications, and member satisfaction. These areas encompass brand management, corporate and external communications, AF website content, survey methodologies, reporting, and market research processes focused on identifying key areas of innovation, disruption, and change emerging within the Property and Casualty industry.

Prior to joining AF, Jennifer worked for a large utility company for eight years where she served in various management roles including oversight of consumer affairs, revenue protection, client services, and regional energy efficiency services.  

Jennifer is a member of the National Association of Subrogation Professionals.

Elizabeth is an accomplished Human Resources Professional with over 15 years of comprehensive human resources experience including employee relations, recruitment and retention, compensation and benefits administration, organizational strategy and development, and facilities.
 
Elizabeth has a wealth of experience with her most recent position as the Human Resource Regional Director for American Addiction Centers.
 
Elizabeth earned her B.S. in business with human resource management certification and Master of Health Administration and MBA from University of Phoenix. 
 
Elizabeth has been a member of the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) – National Organization since 2018.

David has a passion for employee engagement and customer service and brings more than 25 years of experience at Farmers Insurance and State Farm Insurance to Arbitration Forums, Inc.

Prior to joining AF, David served as the Head of Claims Quality Assurance for Farmers Insurance, where he led a large, remote employee team through a cultural and organizational transformation of their Quality Assurance program.

David’s previous roles at Farmers Insurance include National Manager of Claims Support and Solutions, Property Claims Territory Manager, and Branch Claims Manager where he led teams and projects focused on continuous improvement and achieved significant benefits for employees, customers, and organizational outcomes. 

David attended California State University in Los Angeles and received his B.S. in criminal justice.
 

Maria is a passionate and successful innovator with diversified experience in leading the enhancement of enterprise capabilities through the usage of emerging technologies and artificial intelligence.

She brings wide experience in the orchestration of digital transformation and data-based strategic initiatives that result in business growth, efficiency gains, and improvement of the customer experience. Her role at AF includes the definition and implementation of AI-powered innovations based on data insights.

Prior to joining AF, Maria served as Managing Director of Innovation and Technology at Spire, VP of Technology and Customer Experience at Equifax, and Sr. Director of the Transformation Management Office at ACT. 

Maria holds a MBA from IESE Business School and a Ph.D. in Computational Linguistics from the University of Alcala de Henares. 
 

Danielle is a passionate of leader of people focused on employee engagement, development, and organizational performance. 

Danielle brings extensive leadership experience in the insurance industry where she worked with internal and external colleagues to identify, mitigate, and address legal and vendor risk while supporting continuous improvement in processes. 

Danielle brings 18 years of experience from USAA where she held a variety of positions in the Claims organization including Litigation Manager, Claims Service Manager, and Director of Litigation Operations. 

Danielle attended Florida State University and earned her B.S in criminal justice and economics. She also holds a Senior Claims Law Associate designation.