John Hays

John’s professional experience includes:

• Volkswagen “Clean Diesel” Litigation (MDL 2672): Head of operations and client manager for one of three settlement programs, with Ankura serving as independent claims supervisor. Directed system development, claims processing, data analysis and reporting, and client engagement across approximately 550,000 claims.
• UK Voluntary Worker Compensation Claims Program: Engaged by a global technology company and its counsel to build a claims program for workers owed retroactive wages following a High Court ruling. Led software engineers and data scientists in standing up a claimant portal, support regime, and ClaimsOnline configuration within weeks; tens of thousands of workers used the program to track claims, receive offers and releases, and be paid.
• UK Umbrella Interchange Proceedings Settlement: Engaged by a global law firm to build the technology and process for claimant verification, anti-money laundering checks, and distribution of funds.
• Tehum Personal Injury Settlement Trust: Led technology design and implementation for the first non-talc, non-asbestos settlement arising from a Texas Two-Step bankruptcy.
• State Attorney General Restitution Program: Leads a member restitution program administered under a negotiated regulatory resolution with a large health insurer. Responsible for program design, eligibility and review protocols, staffing and training of the review team, and the technology build required to intake, adjudicate, and pay claims at scale.
• Regulatory Remediation Programs: Designed and executed remediation programs for financial institutions and corporates mandated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and internal risk and compliance functions. Led teams that confirmed eligibility from large data sets, distributed payments, and ran dedicated contact centers and claimant websites.
• Cryptocurrency Ponzi Scheme Receivership: Settlement administration lead for the claims and distribution process supporting the receiver of a cryptocurrency fund placed in receivership following an SEC investigation and conviction.
• Hernia Mesh Litigation: Managed pre-resolution engagements before and after consolidation. Built custom platforms for document and data exchange between the parties and imposed structure on large-scale discovery.
• Transvaginal Mesh MDL Settlement: Settlement administrator and client manager for a multibillion-dollar medical device mass tort settlement covering more than 65,000 claims. Managed a team of more than 20 settlement coordinators, data scientists, and contract attorneys, and directed software development addressing bankruptcy and probate discovery, lien resolution, and lawsuit review.
• Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) Wildfire Subrogation Trust: Led technology design and implementation for the $11 billion Subrogation Wildfire Trust established under PG&E’s Chapter 11 Plan of Reorganization to compensate insurance carriers for 2017 and 2018 California wildfire indemnity payments.
• National Prescription Opiate Litigation (MDL 2804): Operations and client engagement lead in Ankura’s court-appointed roles. Built and managed the state-federal coordination database that tracked state and federal opioid cases, maintained the deposition calendar and supported noticing and cross-noticing, and delivered custom reporting and analytics to plaintiffs, defendants, and the court.

Before joining Ankura, John spent seven years running a data-driven venture of his own, applying quantitative modeling and disciplined risk management to high-volume decision-making.