About Zellman

Stuart Levine

Before starting the Zellman Group, Stuart worked for more than 20 years in retail loss prevention, including executive positions at Lord & Taylor, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Limited Brands, Stuart is a proud leader in the loss prevention field. 

He is an expert public speaker and interviewer, having trained extensively with Wicklander-Zulawski and Associates and The Laboratory for Scientific Interrogation. He shares his insights during speaking engagements with a number of trade associations in the retail and security sectors.

Stuart created the Zellman Group in 1997 when he saw a need in the industry for innovation, quality, and creativity. He brought to the table a deep understanding of loss prevention best practices for companies both large and small, a keen eye for alternative solutions to common problems, and the ability to develop long-lasting relationships with clients and industry leaders alike.

Michael Ira Asen

Michael is an attorney-at-law with over 41 years of legal experience under his belt and a background in criminal investigations, trial law, civil litigation, and business development and management. Michael is licensed in New York and New Jersey and admitted to practice in numerous federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Second and Third Circuits, and the U.S. District Courts for the Southern District of New York, the Eastern District of New York, and the District of New Jersey.

Over the course of his storied career, Michael has cultivated superior judgment, legal knowledge, analytic capabilities, and communication skills. As such, he is the sole attorney in the civil recovery industry who has received an AV Preeminent Peer Review Rating—the highest professional rating attorneys can receive—from law services firm Martindale-Hubbell.

With a background in criminal investigations, civil litigations, business development and management, and trial law, Michael uses his experience and skills to ensure that the recovery process is legal, courteous, and competent and maintains the highest standards in the industry.

Lauren Bridgeo

Before joining Zellman as VP of Operations, Lauren spent over 30 years running regional and corporate loss prevention programs for numerous department stores and national big box retailers.  

Lauren is responsible for new client services, civil recovery, data analytics, and consulting.

She ensures the company's operations are client-focused, implementations are seamless, and day-to-day client relationships are positive. She uses her hands-on experience to ensure clients receive optimum results.

Thanks to her extensive experience in the field, Lauren is now an industry leader, frequently featured in industry publications and honored by trade associations.

William “Bill” Ramos

Bill has more than 40 years of experience in retail loss prevention; he started as an investigator and worked his way up to executive positions at both American and foreign retail companies. He is CFI certified and trained in interview and interrogation techniques and forensic statement analysis, and he is additionally fluent in both English and Spanish.

Bill is responsible for our ORC Recovery Program and assisting clients with ORC investigations. He specializes in using both propriety tools and OSINT methods to develop subject profiles.

He has used his expertise in interviewing and data analysis to develop programs to deter and prevent loss, identify areas of opportunity for client growth, and educate and train both loss prevention and non-loss prevention teams in industry best practices. 
When he came to Zellman in 2002 as a regional loss prevention manager, he quickly rose through the ranks thanks to his leadership and dedication to our clients.

Linda Chiappone

Linda is passionate about technology and understanding data. She takes her innate understanding of how data can improve productivity, reduce lag, and optimize strategy and applies it to her more than 20 years in loss prevention.

She has an extensive background in POS exception-based reporting (EBR) analytics in the retail, food service, and grocery industries, and prior to joining Zellman, she managed EBR application implementation and case management systems at both a Fortune 500 retailer and a large grocery chain.

This experience has given her the ability to understand business operational needs on a practical level and associate those needs with relevant data points, which allows her to identify fraud trends and reverse engineer theft cases and improve future reporting methodologies. Her attention to detail and unceasing dedication to innovating new ways of using data to accomplish client goals is a chief driver of delivering client success.

Lisa Levine

Lisa had over 10 years of experience in loss prevention and asset protection for retail and small businesses when she came to Zellman in 2009. Her dedication to detail, ability to manage specialized solutions for financial audits, and unwavering logistical support of our analytics and investigative teams all inform her approach to operations management.

Cristhian Arana

When he joined The Zellman Group in 2011, Cristhian had more than 10 years of customer service call center experience.  He started at the Zellman call center as a restitution specialist, but his strong commitment and proven talent for developing his fellow team members' skills resulted in Cristhan’s rapid rise to the management team.  Cristhian now manages two call centers and all mail production. His management skills embrace our company mission, values, client-focused vision.