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Leadership at Class Action Refund has a distinct way of analyzing the constantly changing landscape of claims management with a systematic method that harvests the best ideas in yielding the most innovative approach to claims management. Our executive team brings a combined knowledge of more than 100 years of industry experience in providing long-term value for our clients.

RicHARD G. DelgatTo Sr.

Managing Member

Telephone: 914.630.5000

Email: info@classactionrefund.com

Bio

Mr. Richard G. DelGatto Sr. is the founder of Class Action Refund. Mr. DelGatto created the concept of the company when his business clients were affected by a class action lawsuit in 2002 and he endeavored in their best interests. He assisted his clients in obtaining their restitution and in the process, he identified the need to more efficiently connect claimants to their class action settlements and applied his experience in assisting his clients by strategizing a concept that could remove the complexities of claim filing for claimants. His vision was to make the claims filing process more accessible to class members of the business community affected by antitrust cases. He founded Class Action Refund a year later in 2003 and is considered a pioneer in the field of Class Action Claims Management.  Mr. DelGatto’s accomplishments include strategically guiding the management roles of the company in acquiring a clientele of 31,000 entities representing a full spectrum of Fortune 100 companies to micro-businesses. To date, Mr. DelGatto has overseen client settlements totalling over $700 million. As part of the organic growth of the company in 2016, he identified the need to support claimants affected by Financial Antitrust and Securities Class Actions. By including these areas of class actions as part of the company’s business model, Mr. DelGatto created the first Claims Management company that supports a full spectrum of class action filings for businesses. Prior to forming Class Action Refund, Mr. DelGatto had been a long-term entrepreneur. His entrepreneurship spans across several business sectors, where his leadership expanded beyond the boundaries of a traditional executive. His hands-on approach was instrumental in his prior business successes in terms of driving down costs and increasing revenue, an acumen that he now provides to his Class Action Refund clients.

Rocco V. Salerno JR.

General Counsel

Telephone: 914.630.5111

Email: rsalerno@classactionrefund.com

BIO

Mr. Rocco V. Salerno Jr. serves as General Counsel to Class Action Refund. Mr. Salerno began providing legal advice to Class Action Refund from its inception in 2003, as outside counsel. In 2016, Mr. Salerno was asked to join Class Action Refund in the capacity of General Counsel. Prior to Class Action Refund, Mr. Salerno practiced law for his own NY-based law firm for 35 years serving the interests of a diverse range of clients that included individuals, businesses, and lending institutions. The primary focus of Mr. Salerno’s practice was litigation. He has advocated for his clients in arbitrations, and trials. Mr. Salerno has extensive experience in all phases of civil litigation, including trial and appellate practice. He regularly counselled businesses and individual clients in various aspects of general business, corporate, commercial matters, real estate, and antitrust matters.  He has also served as counsel in the New York State Senate. Mr. Salerno graduated from Iona College, Cum Laude and attended Pace University School of Law, where he received his Juris Doctorate.

Rick Delgatto JR.

General Manager

Telephone: 914.630.5136

Email: rdelgattojr@classactionrefund.com

BIO

Responsible for developing and maintaining key relationships within Class Action Refund’s portfolio of clients. Serves as a trusted advisor and client’s primary point of contact, providing best-in-class service to meet the client’s needs and optimize the value of their class action recoveries. Collaborate with thought leaders to fully understand the technical aspects of all cases brought forth and how each relates to class member clients. Self-directed in developing strong proficiency in tools that support the client experience. Strong adherence to Class Action Refund’s security and compliance policies to ensure client data is managed in accordance to the firm’s SOC 2 Certification.

Joseph Espaillat

Deputy General Counsel

Head of Strategy & Research

Telephone: 914.630.5151

Email: jespaillat@classactionrefund.com

bio

Mr. Joseph Espaillat is Director of Strategy & Research at Class Action Refund.  Prior to joining the company, he spent more than a decade in the class action field both as a practicing attorney and as a settlement administrator.  While working at the world’s largest claims administrator, Epiq, Mr. Espaillat managed multiple teams of attorneys in both the claims review process and in payment processing.  He managed a team on the largest mass tort case in history, the BP Oil Spill, which developed sophisticated models for determining actual losses for business claimants. Mr. Espaillat worked on dozens of cases for Epiq, including the largest financial antitrust case in history, the Foreign Exchange Antitrust Litigation, and the multi-billion-dollar U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund.  In private practice, Mr. Espaillat worked on major antitrust cases including Netflix and Babies R Us. Prior to his legal career, he was an equity analyst at Value Line where he wrote published reports on the Midwestern Banking and Water Utility Industries and advised investors on which equities to purchase for their portfolios. As a mutual fund analyst, his analyses of funds and the fund's industry were quoted in the New York Times, Bloomberg, LA Times, Better Investing Magazine, and other publications.  Mr. Espaillat received his B.A. from Yale University and his J.D. from Temple Law School, where he was a Note/Comment Editor for the Temple Political & Civil Rights Law Review.

Tara DelGatto

Director

Claims Administration

Telephone: 914.630.5133

Email:  taradelgatto@classactionrefund.com

bio

Ms. Tara DelGatto serves as Director of Claims Administration for Class Action Refund. Ms. DelGatto began her career at the company since its inception. She began processing claims and handling all administrative tasks during the early years of Class Action Refund as an administrative manager of the company and diligently grew her career to Director of Claims Administration in 2016. Ms. DelGatto is responsible for managing the team responsible for the day-to-day administration of all client claims within the claim lifecycle. She ensures that all procedures are met that allows Class Action Refund to expertly execute the volume of claims processed for all settlements. She is instrumental in keeping the fast workflow organized and client issues properly managed. Ms. DelGatto also provides oversight with cross-functional teams on methodologies to enhance internal processes and serves as a senior point of contact for clients in addressing inquiries on pending claims. Her role also entails supervising the reconciliation of proceeds received from all settlements in conjunction with the Accounting Team. Ms. DelGatto holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Pace University in Criminal Justice.

AJ Tejeda

Director

Strategic Partnerships & Security Systems Administrator

Telephone: 914.630.5147

Email: atejeda@classactionrefund.com

bio

Mr. AJ Tejeda serves as Director of Strategic Partnerships and Security Systems Administrator for Class Action Refund. Since joining the company in 2017, his role has been instrumental in ensuring Class Action Refund’s business providers and partners are properly aligned to address the company’s technological needs, which are critical to its continued growth and success. Mr. Tejeda manages external relationships to ensure they comply with Class Action Refund’s SOC 2 compliance mandate from a technological and security perspective. He also serves as the technology coordinator for various client/partner relationships. Prior to Class Action Refund, Mr. Tejeda founded Triangulum Services, LLC to help businesses assess and implement their technological needs in order to improve company workflow. He also served as a relationship manager for Heartland Payment Systems, where he expanded the company’s business network via strategic partnering of entrepreneurs. Mr. Tejeda provided businesses with the expertise to manage their payment systems and implement solutions for their Credit/Debit, E-Billing, and E-Commerce systems. Consequently, Mr. Tejeda has expert knowledge of how interchange fee systems work. Mr. Tejeda is also a custom BI Software developer and Payment Software developer and attended La Guardia Community College for Engineering.

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