National Workers’ Compensation and Disability 2017

Dawn Watkins
Director, Integrated Disability Management
Los Angeles Unified School District


Dawn Watkins is the Director of Integrated Disability Management for the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD); the second largest school district in the nation. Ms. Watkins has over 25 years of risk management experience in both the private and public sectors. In 2004, she joined the Risk Management Division of LAUSD where she has held progressively responsible positions. Since 2006, she has led one of the largest self-insured workers’ compensation programs in California which includes oversight of the Absence Management, Reasonable Accommodations, Return to Work, and Protected Leave programs for approximately 70,000 employees. In 2008, Risk and Insurance magazine issued Ms. Watkins the “Risk Innovator” award for outstanding leadership and LAUSD the “Theodore Roosevelt” award for excellence in workers’ compensation and disability management in the public sector. Ms. Watkins holds a Bachelor of Science degree, a California Self Insured Administrators certificate, and multiple designations in Risk Management and Human Resources. She is a frequent speaker at national and local risk management conferences and events.

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