{"id":25226,"date":"2026-07-24T16:54:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T16:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/?p=878993"},"modified":"2026-07-24T16:54:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T16:54:17","slug":"texas-division-of-workers-compensation-announces-staff-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/2026\/07\/24\/texas-division-of-workers-compensation-announces-staff-changes\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Division of Workers\u2019 Compensation Announces Staff Changes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/img\/social\/opengraph\/ij-social-default-1200x630.png\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<ul class=\"nav nav-tabs tabs tabs-entry\">\n<li class=\"active\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/news\/southcentral\/2026\/07\/24\/878993.htm\">Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/news\/southcentral\/2026\/07\/24\/878993.htm?comments\" rel=\"nofollow\">0 Comments<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"article-content clearfix\">\n<p>The Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers\u2019 Compensation announced leadership staff changes.<\/p>\n<p>DWC is launching a new program area, AI Innovation and Integration, focused on the responsible, mission-driven use of artificial intelligence to modernize processes and reduce administrative burdens, and evaluate how system participants are using AI services. Allen Craddock, formerly DWC\u2019s chief administrative law judge, will serve as deputy commissioner for this new area. Craddock brings a strong record of operational improvements in Hearings and will apply that same focus to agency modernization. He is board-certified in workers\u2019 compensation law, practiced in the field for 15 years before joining DWC in 2013,<\/p>\n<div class=\"bzn bzn-sized bzn-intext\">\n<ins data-revive-zoneid=\"79\" data-revive-topics=\"new-markets,talent,workers-comp\" data-revive-companies data-revive-block=\"1\" data-revive-id=\"36eb7c2bd3daa932a43cc2a8ffbed3a9\"><\/ins> <\/div>\n<p>Gerri Thomas will now serve as DWC\u2019s chief administrative law judge over Hearings. This program oversees the workers\u2019 compensation dispute resolution process, including benefit review conferences, contested case hearings, and Appeals Panel review.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas joined DWC in 2012 and has served as regional director for the Northern and Western regions. Her legal, clinical, and operational background gives her deep insight into dispute resolution and system needs.<\/p>\n<p>Under the leadership of General Counsel Kara Mace, DWC has reorganized legal, communications, and external relations services into Legal and Communications Services. This program provides legal services, editorial support, strategic communications, public outreach, and legislative coordination to ensure DWC\u2019s operations, messaging, and stakeholder engagement are accurate, consistent, and effective. Mitchell Koers joins this team as director of government relations, where he will oversee legislative activities and stakeholder outreach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagtag\"> <span class=\"tagtag\">Topics<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/location\/texas\/\" class=\"btn btn-sm btn-primary tagtag\">Texas<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/talent\/\" class=\"btn btn-sm btn-primary tagtag\">Talent<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/workers-comp\/\" class=\"btn btn-sm btn-primary tagtag\">Workers&#8217; Compensation<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/new-markets\/\" class=\"btn btn-sm btn-primary tagtag\">New Markets<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-poll\" data-post=\"878993\">\n<div class=\"article-poll-vote\">\n<p>Was this article valuable?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-poll-feedback voted-no\">\n<form class=\"feedback-form\">\n<p>Thank you! Please tell us what we can do to improve this article.<\/p>\n<p> <textarea placeholder=\"Enter your feedback...\"><\/textarea> <button type=\"submit\" class=\"submit\" disabled>Submit<\/button> <button class=\"cancel\">No Thanks<\/button> <\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-poll-feedback voted-yes\">\n<form class=\"feedback-form\">\n<p>Thank you! <span class=\"percent\"><\/span>% of people found this article valuable. Please tell us what you liked about it.<\/p>\n<p> <textarea placeholder=\"Enter your feedback...\"><\/textarea> <button type=\"submit\" class=\"submit\" disabled>Submit<\/button> <button class=\"cancel\">No Thanks<\/button> <\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-poll-more-articles\">\n<p class=\"thank-you-text\">Here are more articles you may enjoy.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"subscribe-banner subscribe-banner-in-content-2\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<h4>Interested in <em>New Markets<\/em>?<\/h4>\n<p>Get automatic alerts for this topic.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Article 0 Comments The Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers\u2019 Compensation announced leadership staff changes. DWC is launching a new program area, AI Innovation and Integration, focused on the responsible, mission-driven use of&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1,77,2184],"class_list":["post-25226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-news","tag-texas-south-central-news","tag-texas-department-of-insurance-division-of-workers-compensation-dwc"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/texas-division-of-workers-compensation-announces-staff-changes.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}