Anthony R. O’Donnell // October 31, 2025 
(Marina Barg, Chief Claims Officer, Ascot U.S., on stage at Connections 2025. Source: Guidewire.)
Marina Barg, Chief Claims Officer of Ascot U.S. (New York), opened her keynote at Guidewire Connections 2025 at The Fontainebleau, Las Vegas, with a personal story of courage and transformation. She recalled a photograph from 1979 showing her parents standing on a balcony in an Italian seaside village—an image that concealed a dramatic truth. Only days earlier, her family had fled Kiev, USSR, leaving behind their home, friends, and possessions as stateless refugees bound for