Carla C. van Dongen

Carla Cowles van Dongen is Vice President-Counsel for State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company and currently leads State Farm’s claim litigation section, overseeing 38 staff counsel offices across the United States. She has served in several leadership roles, all involving litigation management. She has been actively engaged in the development and implementation of civil justice policy and initiatives for State Farm and served as operating committee co-chair for the civil justice reform group.

Prior to joining State Farm, Ms. van Dongen was a litigator with the Indianapolis law firm of Bingham Summers Welsh & Spilman (now Bingham Dentons).  Both before and since joining State Farm, she has written and spoken extensively on insurance and litigation-related topics, and she was awarded the Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation.

She is a member of the Board of Advisors for the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS), and she chairs it's Business Leadership Network.  She is pst president of the Insurance Staff council Committee for the ACC. She is also active with her local school district, McLean County Unit 5, serving as a member of its Citizen’s Advisory Council and currently as board presidnt for its Foundation.

She is a graduate of Butler University and Indiana University School of Law.