CATIC Foundation

Damon Carter is the Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer for Connecticut Attorneys Title Insurance Company (CATIC) and is responsible for developing and executing the company’s human capital strategy. A business leader with over 20 years of diverse experience, he has held HR leadership roles with several Fortune 50 companies including DaimlerChrysler, United Technologies Corporation, General Electric, Express Scripts and Aetna. He also serves as an Adjunct Research Analyst for International Data Corporation’s global IT Executive Program and provides HR thought leadership to the information technology, telecommunications and consumer technology markets.

Damon is a member of CATIC’s board of directors. He is also a board member of Nutmeg Big Brothers Big Sisters in Hartford, CT.

Damon graduated magna cum laude from Wayne State University with a B.S. in Psychology and received his M.A. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology, cum laude, from the University of Detroit-Mercy.

Dick Lawrence is licensed as a Certified Public Accountant in Connecticut. He has extensive finance and accounting experience through senior finance and management roles for a variety of insurance organizations located in Connecticut, and has also helped establish insurance enterprises in Vermont, London, and Bermuda. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Connecticut Society of Certified Public Accountants. Dick earned his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Fairfield University and his Master of Professional Accounting degree from the University of Hartford.

Dick retired from his position at CATIC in August 2019, having served as Senior Vice President, Treasurer, and Chief Financial Officer. He continues to serve as a member of the CATIC Board and the CATIC Foundation Board.

Attorney Guarnaccia is a partner in Guarnaccia, Connors, Kalom & Zorn, LLC, with offices in Willimantic and Colchester, CT. His practice focuses on real estate, both commercial and residential; business law; corporate law; probate and wills; and elder law. A graduate of William & Mary Law School, Attorney Guarnaccia is a member of the Connecticut Bar Association’s Elder Law, Estates and Probate, and Real Property Sections.

Andy was engaged in the private practice of law for 13 years before becoming State Manager and Title Counsel at Vermont Attorneys Title Corporation in 1997. He graduated from Williams College and Vermont Law School. As an underwriter, Andy is a problem solver – helping nearly 200 CATIC attorneys resolve title issues. He is a member of the Vermont Bar Association’s Title Standards subcommittee, which he chaired for seven years, and the VBA Real Property Law Committee, which he chaired for eight years. Andy regularly presents at professional education seminars on real property issues and he is always active in legislative issues affecting the marketability of title. He and his wife live in Williston, Vermont where he is a former member of the town select board and school board. He currently chairs the town’s Board of Civil Authority.

Meghan E. Smith is the founder/member of Smith Law Group, LLC. Attorney Smith has been practicing for over fourteen (14) years in the area of Real Estate.. For the past nine (9) years, Attorney Smith has been also practicing commercial real estate, corporate law, commercial law, estate planning, probate administration and cannabis law. Prior to opening Smith Law Group, LLC in 2020, Attorney Smith was a partner at Kahan, Kerensky & Capossela, LLP. Attorney Smith currently serves on the Standards of Title Committee and is a Member of the Board of Education of Ashford School District. She formerly served on the Board of Directors for the Western New England University School of Law Alumni Association, as well as the New England Veterans Chamber of Commerce. Attorney Smith has also served as Legal Counsel, Executive Vice-President, President and Chairman of the Board of the Greater Hartford Jaycees, organizers of the PGA Tour Greater Hartford Open, currently known as the Travelers Championship. Attorney Smith was previously Vice-President of the South Windsor Chamber of Commerce and has 2 held several officer positions on the Tolland County Bar Association. In 2020, she was selected as a Hartford Business Journal 40 Under 40 honoree. She also participated in the 2020 Connecticut Professionals Leadership Academy.

Melanie S. Lewis is the Assistant Director of Career Services and the Public Interest Coordinator at Western New England School of Law. She is also the Adjunct Professor of the law school's Real Estate Practicum.  Previously, Melanie worked primarily in private practice as a public defender in the areas of criminal, family and mental health law. She has represented clients as a trial court litigator and appellate attorney, and continues to mentor attorneys new to the mental health appellate area of practice.  Additionally, Melanie has worked as Assistant District Attorney in the Northwest District Attorney's Office, as Review Examiner for the Department of Unemployment Assistance, as Mediation Director for Quabbin Mediation, and with Western Massachusetts Legal Services' ( n/k/a Community Legal Aid) AmeriCorps Domestic Violence Project .  Melanie S. Lewis is an alumna of Western New England University School of Law, cum laude, and received her Bachelor of Arts from Sarah Lawrence College.