About Our Speakers

Nicole Aquilina is a Staff Accountant for Primoris Services Corp., Lacey Newman is the Regional Manager of Supplier Diversity for ARB, Inc., they both reside in Orange County, California. Lacey is the National Spokesperson and Ambassador for Stop the Bleed.

Lauren Rayner Davis is an associate in Peckar & Abramson’s Labor and Employment Practice. She represents employers on a wide range of labor and employment issues such as labor contract administration, collective bargaining agreement negotiations, unfair labor practices, discrimination, harassment, terminations, layoffs, reasonable accommodations, investigations, application of state and federal family and medical leave acts, interpretation of wage and hour laws, defense of Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI) and Directors & Officers (D&O) claims, and provides day-to-day advice on related legal issues.  Lauren practices before New York and New Jersey State Courts as well as Federal and State Agencies, including the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the New York State Division of Human Rights and the New Jersey State Division on Civil Rights.  She is also certified as a New Jersey court-trained mediator. Prior to joining Peckar & Abramson as an associate, Lauren was a judicial law clerk in the Civil and Appellate Divisions of the New Jersey Superior Court and a judicial intern in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Lauren’s unique experience at both the trial and appellate levels established a solid foundation for her practice.  Lauren earned her J.D. from Brooklyn Law School, where she served on the executive editorial board of the Brooklyn Law Review, and her B.A., cum laude, from the University of Southern California.

Paul Allen is the Risk Control Consulting Director for Industrial Hygiene at CNA. In this role, he is responsible for leading and advancing the Industrial Hygiene services provided by CNA’s Risk Control Field staff . Prior to joining CNA in 2019 , Paul worked at Chubb as an Assistant Vice President, Senior Workers Compensation Specialist and also was the field technical lead for construction. Paul has over 30 years of safety and risk control experience as a field specialist, manager, mentor, safety supervisor , and director of safety. Paul has spent the bulk of his career in the risk control field, but has also held positions as a safety supervisor in a manufacturing plant and served as a director of safety for a general contractor. His areas of focus have been in industrial hygiene, ergonomics, and general worker safety. In addition Paul has experience working with large fleets and was formerly a National Safety Council defensive driving instructor . He also has experience providing risk control services to healthcare/ retirement community clients. Paul holds a bachelor’s degree in Occupational Safety and Hygiene Management from Millersville University. Paul holds the Certified Industrial Hygienist designation from the American Board of Industrial Hygiene and the Certified Safety Professional designation from the Board of Certified Safety Professionals. Paul earned the Associate in Risk Management from the Insurance Institute of America, the Construction Risk Insurance Specialist designation from the International Risk Management Institute, and the Accredited Office Ergonomics Evaluator from The Ergonomic Center of North Carolina. Paul is a professional member of the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) and currently serves as treasurer for his local ASSP chapter. Paul is a member of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) and serves on both the Respiratory Protection Committee and The Protective Clothing and Equipment Committee. Paul is the vice chair of the advisory board for the Millersville University Occupational Safety & Environmental Health degree program.

Ralph Blessing earned his Doctor of Philosophy from Northcentral University in Business Administration, his MS in Occupational Safety and Health from Columbia Southern University, and a BS in Information Technology from the University of Phoenix.  He is a fulltime Professor at Columbia Southern University where he has been teaching for 11 years.  He has authored four courses at CSU. His safety experience covers general industry, construction and maritime safety.  He was involved in the demolition of coal burning plants, vessels and old storage farms, and was the safety manager for the construction of the Georgia Aquarium while Corporate Safety Director for McKenneys Mechanical. In addition, he is an inventory of hazardous materials manager, whose primary goal is to identify hazardous materials on vessels entering ports around the world, as part of the new Hong Kong Convention and holds the Licensed Safety Professional credentials. He sat on the Board of Trustees for the Sheet Metal Industry and was a member of the MCAA Safety Roundtable when it consisted of 7 safety professionals. He retired from the United States Navy in 1994, following a successful career as a cryptologist for the NSA.  In addition, he held the classification as an Afloat Safety Manager, and was the safety officer for Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territories.

Rebecca Klein has been in safety and risk for over 15 years.  She loves teaching and sharing ideas with fellow safety professionals and plumbers and mechanics alike. Rebecca has been with Pan-Pacific Mechanical in California and has watched the company grow from 350 employees to over 1200 in two states in her tenure there.  Rebecca’s brain is all about risk and she is constantly looking for ways to push the envelope while looking out for the total welfare of her employees.  Safety isn’t just on the job, it is a whole-life pursuit and she hopes to share her ideas and passion with her fellow workers.   

Regina McMichael, CSP, CIT is President of The Learning Factory, Inc., the safety passion-driven education and training company. She has over 31 years of experience in safety and health education, training, communication and leadership.  Regina teaches around the world and mentors safety professionals to achieve their dream of becoming the most awesome trainer who use their ninja skills like a master and to become the ultimate passion-driven professional!  Regina is also the founder of Peace, Love Safety, the leadership and training catalyst supporting organizations while elevating their SH&E programs from compliance driven checklists to human and humanity- based solutions.  Her diverse background has allowed her to provide hands-on expertise in the research, writing and production of training manuals, videos and articles.    Regina has worked in the construction, insurance, aerospace, automotive and service industries.  She loves traveling the world delivering her safety and leadership messages to all types of organizations. You can reach her at regina.mcmichael@gmail.com or visit ReginaMcMichael.com.

Shawn is a Risk Control Specialist with CNA Insurance and has been for the last 6.5 years. As a Risk Control rep, he works with several different construction trade contractors to act as a resource with their safety and health efforts to reduce exposures and improve controls for the businesses.  Shawn works with customers located throughout the Maryland, Washington DC, and Virginia regions mainly.    Shawn has both his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Safety and Occupational Health from Keene State College in New Hampshire.  He has obtained numerous designations including UL’s Recognized Risk Engineer (RRE), IRMI’s Construction Risk and Insurance Specialist (CRIS), and Construction Health and Safety Technician (CHST).  Shawn also assists John Mizurak with CNA’s partnership with the MCAA acting as an additional resource where needed.    

Vince Poscente has a prolific background regarding safe outcomes in volatile situations. He is as an Olympian (skiing at 135 mph down a mountain) and leads climbing expeditions in the Himalayas (zero incidents in 14 years). He is an expert in improving on the job performance and safety. His leadership approach with Radical Safety covers "must haves" for every employee. As a New York Times bestselling author and an expert in enriching mindsets from just safety behavior to on the job peak performance, Vince is dedicated to reaching zero incidents at any workplace.