David Axinn
Special Deputy Superintendent: New York Liquidation Bureau

David Axinn has been the Special Deputy Superintendent of the New York Liquidation Bureau since November 2016, following an earlier stint of service as Deputy General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer from 2008–2011. In between, he worked at Millennium Management, a New York investment adviser, as a Senior Compliance Officer. He also served for seven years in the New York Attorney General’s Office in multiple capacities, including securities enforcement and government integrity. Mr. Axinn started his legal career as an associate at the law firms of Willkie Farr & Gallagher and Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello.


Mark J. Backe
Vice President & Insurance and Operations Counsel: The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company

Mark Backe is the Vice President and Insurance and Operations Counsel of The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company. In this role, he oversees a team of attorneys responsible for providing counsel relating to the company’s manufacture and servicing of its insurance products; advertising and marketing; client services; vendor risk management; information protection and cybersecurity; and digital solutions for the company’s clients, employees, and financial representatives. He also serves as the secretary to the Distribution and Technology Committee of the Company’s Board of Trustees.

Mr. Backe joined the company in 2001 as an Assistant General Counsel and Assistant Secretary. His practice has recently focused on state and federal regulatory issues; regulatory reform initiatives at the state, federal, and international levels; guaranty association issues; and governance matters. Prior to joining Northwestern Mutual, Mr. Backe was General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer for United Government Services, LLC, a Medicare fiscal intermediary and a subsidiary of Blue Cross and Blue Shield United of Wisconsin. Before that he served as a Staff Attorney and Assistant Corporate Compliance Officer for the Wisconsin Blue Plan. He began his career as a Litigation Associate with the law firm Godfrey & Kahn, S.C., in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, after receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, from Marquette University and his Juris Doctor degree, with honors, from the University of Wisconsin Law School.

Mr. Backe has been active within the ACLI as a member of the Receivership Committee, the Insurance Regulation Committee, the Global Regulatory Modernization Committee, and in other roles. He has served on the Boards of several state guaranty associations, and he currently serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of the National Organization of Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Associations. He represents Northwestern Mutual on the Board of the Illinois Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association, and he is also a director of the Wisconsin Equal Justice Fund. He lives in Milwaukee and has two adult sons.


Birny Birnbaum
Director: Center for Economic Justice

Birny Birnbaum is the Director of the Center for Economic Justice, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to advocate on behalf of low-income consumers on issues of availability; affordability; and accessibility of basic goods and services, such as utilities, credit, and insurance. Mr. Birnbaum, an economist and former insurance regulator, has authored reports and testimony for numerous public agencies and consumer organizations, covering a wide variety of topics, including analysis of insurance markets, capital standards, insurers’ use of big data, market regulation, force-placed insurance, homeowners and flood insurance, consumer credit insurance, title insurance, and insurance credit scoring.

Mr. Birnbaum has served for many years as a designated Consumer Representative at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and routinely speaks to the National Conference of Insurance Legislators. He is a member of the Federal Advisory Committee on Insurance, chairing the Subcommittee on Affordability and Availability of Insurance. He served as Associate Commissioner for Policy and Research and the Chief Economist at the Texas Department of Insurance. He was educated at Bowdoin College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.


Patrick H. Cantilo
Co-founder & Managing Partner: Cantilo & Bennett, L.L.P.,

Co-founder and Managing Partner of the Austin, Texas, boutique firm Cantilo & Bennett, L.L.P., Patrick Cantilo has a B.A. and J.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. His law practice is concentrated on insurance complex transactions, regulation, insolvency, and complex litigation. Over the last four decades he has worked on receiverships, complex transactions, and similar matters for about half of the states. He has lectured and written extensively in the United States and abroad. He is a Principal Charter member and Past President of The International Association of Insurance Receivers, holding its highest designation—CIR-ML—and is also very involved in a number of activities of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. He is rated AV®Preeminent™ by Martindale Hubbell® and continues to be listed in The Best Lawyers in America® for Insurance law and Marquis Who’s Who®.


Joseph Engelhard
Senior Vice President, Head of Regulatory Policy Group, Global Government Relations: MetLife

Joseph Engelhard is a Senior Vice President at MetLife and leads the Regulatory Policy Group (RPG). RPG works closely with MetLife’s corporate functions and businesses to ensure that regulations at the state, federal, and international level result in a level playing field and are transparent as well as appropriately tailored for the insurance business model.

Mr. Engelhard has extensive public sector experience, which includes serving as: Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Treasury Department, where he led financial services negotiations; Senior Counsel at the House Financial Services Committee, where he helped pass the Gramm-Leach-Bliley bill; Principal Advisor at the Inter-American Development Bank, where he led efforts to improve the investment climate and capital markets; and General Counsel of the Joint Economic Committee, where he did research on pension and financial reform initiatives.

Prior to working at MetLife, Mr. Engelhard was a Senior Vice President at Capital Alpha Partners, where he provided strategic insights on the direction of financial policy developments, including insurance regulations and pension reforms, to investment banks and a wide range of buy-side firms.

Mr. Engelhard received his J.D. from Fordham Law School and his B.A. from Saint Louis University. He is also an Adjunct Fellow at the Center for Strategic & International Studies.


Thomas F. English
Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel & Chief Insurance Counsel: New York Life Insurance Company

Thomas English is Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, and Chief Insurance Counsel for New York Life Insurance Company. In that role he serves as chief counsel to the company’s Insurance and Agency Group, which includes all the company’s insurance and annuity businesses, along with its distribution system. Mr. English has been employed as in-house counsel in the life insurance industry since 1983. He began his career at Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, rising to Vice President and Associate General Counsel before joining New York Life in 2000.

Mr. English is admitted to practice in Massachusetts, New York, and the District of Columbia and before the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. He is the Past-President of the Association of Life Insurance Counsel (ALIC) and former Chair of the Board of MIB Group, Inc. He currently serves on the board of the National Organization of Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Associations (NOLHGA) and on committees of the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI).

He received his undergraduate and law degrees from Georgetown University. He and his wife, Peggy, have four children and reside in Stamford, Connecticut.


Peter G. Gallanis
President: NOLHGA

Peter Gallanis became President of the National Organization of Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Associations (NOLHGA) in April 1999. NOLHGA was formed in 1983 to coordinate the activities of its 51 member state guaranty associations and their member companies (comprising the entire U.S. life and health insurance industry) in connection with insolvencies of multi-state life and health insurers. Mr. Gallanis is generally responsible for all the financial, legal, strategic, educational, communications, and administrative services that NOLHGA provides to its membership. He is an active member of the insolvency response working groups for a number of major insolvencies.

Prior to joining NOLHGA in 1999, Mr. Gallanis was the Special Deputy Insurance Receiver for the State of Illinois, where he managed the administration of approximately 80 insolvent domestic insurers of all types. He had been Illinois Special Deputy Receiver since 1995 and General Counsel of the Office of the Special Deputy Receiver since 1992. Before that, Mr. Gallanis was a partner in a large law firm in Chicago, where he was in private practice from 1978 through 1991.

Mr. Gallanis also served as Adjunct Professor of Insurance Law at the DePaul University College of Law in Chicago from 1992 until he joined NOLHGA in 1999. He received a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago in 1975 and a law degree from the University of Illinois College of Law in 1978. He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court and the Supreme Court of the State of Illinois.

Mr. Gallanis has frequently participated in trial and appellate court receivership proceedings, both on behalf of parties and as amicus curiae. He has lectured and published often on insurance topics in the United States and in Canada, England, Switzerland, Bermuda, Spain, and Taiwan. In addition, he has testified on insurance matters before a number of courts, state legislatures, and the Congress of the United States.

Any comments by Mr. Gallanis during this program are made solely for the purpose of facilitating open and wide-ranging debate on a variety of topics. His comments may not represent the views or positions of his current or former employers or any past, present, or future clients, and such comments may not reflect the personal views or positions of Mr. Gallanis on any particular issue.


Joel A. Glover
Partner: Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP

Joel Glover is a partner with Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP in their Denver office. He has worked extensively in the insurance insolvency field since he began practicing law in 1991. He has represented life and health insurance guaranty associations and receivers throughout the country and has been involved in virtually all aspects of an insurance insolvency (regulatory, transactional and litigation) from start to finish. Mr. Glover and the insurance team at Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP represent several guaranty associations, serve as task force counsel for NOLHGA on various multi-state insolvencies, and have also served as counsel to the Insurance Commissioners in Colorado, Hawaii, and Arizona in their capacities as Liquidators of insolvent insurers.

Mr. Glover’s practice also focuses on representing insurance entities involving complex commercial litigation, insurance regulatory matters, and transactional projects.

He is a member of the Federation of Regulatory Counsel. He graduated cum laude from the University of South Dakota in 1988 and magna cum laude and Order of the Coif from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1991.


Mary A. Griffin
President & CEO: Life Insurance Council of New York (LICONY)

Mary A. (Ciaccio) Griffin is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Life Insurance Council of New York (LICONY). She oversees the organization’s operations and works directly with the LICONY Board of Directors to develop and guide the strategic mission of the organization. LICONY is the leading life insurance organization in New York, representing over 75 life insurer member companies and more than 20 allied professional firm members. Its mission is to create and maintain a legislative and regulatory environment in the State of New York that encourages the members of LICONY to conduct and grow their life insurance businesses.

Ms. Griffin joined LICONY in April 2016 and spearheaded the reorganization of the association, consolidating operations in Albany, reducing association expenses, and providing LICONY members with their first ever dues reduction. Under her leadership, LICONY has experienced strong member growth while maintaining a near perfect member retention rate. Ms. Griffin has made strong advocacy a central part of LICONY’s mission on issues such as cybersecurity, the best interest standard, and principle-based reserving. She has also lead efforts to substantially grow the association’s political action committee.

Prior to joining LICONY, Ms. Griffin served as a Senior Vice President with Citigroup’s government affairs department, where she had responsibility for developing and managing Citi’s legislative and regulatory strategy in New York in areas such as tax policy, mortgage lending, and retail banking. Her insurance career includes working at the American Insurance Association (AIA) representing their interests before the state legislature, Department of Insurance, and Workers Compensation Board. Ms. Griffin also has extensive legislative and regulatory experience, having served at the New York Department of Insurance (forerunner to the current Department of Financial Services) in the administration of Governor Mario Cuomo and as a program associate with the New York State Assembly.

Ms. Griffin has been consistently recognized for her accomplishments. During her tenure at the Insurance Department, she was named as an ‘Outstanding Woman in Government’ for her significant contributions to New York State government. She is also a past recipient of an award from the Northeast Financial Services Association as their ‘Outstanding Government Affairs Representative’ for her work on banking issues in New York.

A native of Rochester, New York, Ms. Griffin attended Newton College of the Sacred Heart and graduated from Boston College with a B.A. with honors in American History.


Kim Holland
Vice President, State Affairs: Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA)

Kim Holland is Vice President of State Affairs for the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA), a national federation of 36 independent, community-based and locally operated Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies. The Blue System is the nation's largest health insurer, covering one-in-three of all Americans.

In her role with BCBSA, Ms. Holland is responsible for ensuring that Blue Cross Blue Shield Plan interests are represented in the development of federal and state legislative and regulatory positions and priorities. She is also responsible for coordinating resource development and deployment to assist member Plans in advancing Blue positions in the states. Ms. Holland has worked on many priority issues for BCBSA, including state flexibility for exchanges and appropriate accounting treatment of the health insurance tax.

Prior to joining BCBSA, Ms. Holland, a former career insurance producer and independent agency executive, was the first woman elected insurance commissioner in Oklahoma, an office she held for six years. She has served on numerous healthcare related boards and commissions, including the state’s employees’ benefits board and Medicaid authority.


Patrick D. Hughes
Partner: Faegre Baker Daniels LLP

Pat Hughes serves the insurance industry as a leading public policy advocate, strategic advisor, and regulatory attorney. He previously served 10 years as a senior regulator with the State of Illinois, including General Counsel to the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, which then included the Division of Insurance, and Chief Legal Counsel to the Office of the Governor, where he oversaw state regulatory affairs. He also served as the Special Deputy Receiver to the Illinois Director of Insurance, overseeing the liquidation or rehabilitation of 47 insurance estates. While with the State of Illinois, he chaired NAIC working groups on Dodd-Frank implementation and the management of derivatives in insurance receiverships.


J. Mark Iwry
Nonresident Senior Fellow: Brookings Institution

J. Mark Iwry (pronounced “Eevry”) is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and a Visiting Scholar at the Wharton School. He served from 2009 to January 2017 as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury and concurrently as the U.S. Treasury Department’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Retirement and Health Policy. He has been a partner in the law firm of Covington & Burling, Of Counsel to the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell, the Treasury Department's Benefits Tax Counsel, and a Research Professor at Georgetown University.

Mr. Iwry has been recognized as one of the world’s “30 top financial players” (Smart Money magazine), “Investment News 20” (20 individuals expected to have a major influence on the financial services industry), number 3 among the “100 most influential people in 401(k)” (401(k) Wire), etc., and has received awards for achievement, leadership, and innovation from the Insured Retirement Institute, American Payroll Association, Retirement Income Industry Association, Pension Rights Center, Small Business Council of America, U.S. Treasury, and IRS.

Mr. Iwry co-authored President Obama’s legislative proposal to expand retirement savings coverage to 30-to-40 million households through automatic enrollment in IRAs, played a central role in initiating and designing the nationwide state-facilitated initiative to expand coverage through private-sector automatic IRAs, led the government’s efforts (2010–2016) to promote lifetime retirement income (including QLAC longevity annuities, default target date fund annuities, and other partial or incremental annuities in 401(k)s, DBs, and IRAs), was a principal architect of the Saver’s Credit to expand coverage (claimed annually on 8 million tax returns) and the startup tax credit for small businesses adopting new plans, and was the main author of the myRA and the “SIMPLE” IRA plan (covering 3 million workers). He formulated and directed Treasury’s strategy to define, approve, and promote 401(k) automatic enrollment (and automatic rollovers) beginning in the 1990s, and was instrumental in developing the Pension Protection Act of 2006 autoenrollment provisions. He is a graduate of Harvard College, Harvard Law School, and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.


Mike Kaster, FSA, MAAA
Executive Vice President; Head, Life Solutions (U.S.): Willis Re Inc.

Mike Kaster is the leader of Willis Re’s Life Solutions Group (LSG) in the United States, focused on reinsurance solutions for clients. An experienced life actuary, he has extensive experience in life, annuity, and long-term care (LTC) reinsurance, leveraging his years of experience in capital management, valuation, and insurance product pricing. He joined Willis Re in early 2011.

During his time at Willis Re, Mr. Kaster has led efforts to expand the reinsurance brokerage business into the growing asset-intensive life reinsurance business. LSG, under his leadership, has executed reinsurance transactions in life insurance, deferred fixed annuities, indexed annuities, and LTC. He has also led engagements around several other closed-block life and annuity businesses, a longevity transaction, and more recently in the variable annuity reinsurance space. Of significance, he was the lead broker on the only LTC closed-block transaction completed in the reinsurance market within the last 10 years, and more recently served as the lead for the recently closed transaction between RGA and Zurich/Farmers on their closed-block annuity divestiture.

With over 30 years of experience in the overall life insurance market, Mr. Kaster has held senior actuarial positions for major direct life insurance companies including Conseco, Allstate International, Irish Life, and Lincoln National. He has also held senior consulting and managing principal positions with Watson Wyatt and his own consulting company, Kaster Actuarial Resources. He has been very active in several industry committees and leadership positions, currently serving as the Chair of the Society of Actuaries’s Reinsurance Section Council, as well as previously serving as the chair of the Marketing and Distribution Section Council and a member of the Product Development Section Council.

Mr. Kaster holds a bachelor’s degree (with honors) in mathematics from Wabash College in Indiana and a M.B.A. from the University of Illinois–Chicago. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries.


James Kennedy
Attorney: Texas Department of Insurance

James Kennedy is a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law and has specialized in handling insurance insolvencies for over 28 years. He has also been involved in drafting insurance legislation, including the Texas Insurer Receivership Act and amendments to guaranty association acts. He represents Texas as Vice-Chair of the NAIC Receivership and Insolvency Task Force and as Chair of the NAIC Receivership Model Law Working Group. He also serves as an NAIC representative on the International Association of Insurance Supervisors Resolution Working Group.

Mr. Kennedy is President of the International Association of Insurance Receivers and a master in the Robert W. Calvert Inn of Court. He has been a speaker at courses sponsored by the American Bar Association, Federation of Regulatory Counsel, National Organization of Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Associations, National Conference of Insurance Guaranty Funds, State Bar of Texas, University of Texas School of Law, and University of Connecticut School of Law.


Candie Kinch, CFE (retired)
Executive Director: Idaho Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association & Oregon Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association
Administrator: Wyoming Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association

Candie Kinch has been the Executive Director of the Idaho Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association since 1999. Since joining the Idaho association, she has been active at the national level, including serving as a member of NOLHGA’s Members’ Participation Council (MPC) Executive Committee, as Chair of the Administrators Education Steering Committee and Asset Recovery Report Working Group, and co-Chair of the Security Advisory Committee. She has also served on the Accounting Issues Committee and several MPC Executive Committee subgroups, including the Best Practices Subgroup.

Ms. Kinch is the owner/sole member of Pine Tree Administrators, LLC, which also provides administrative services to the Oregon Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association and the Wyoming Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association. Ms. Kinch has served as Executive Director of the Oregon association since 2012 and as Administrator of the Wyoming association since February 2016.

Prior to joining the Idaho association, Ms. Kinch was Senior Insurance Examiner at the Idaho Department of Insurance, supervising the on-site insurance company examination program. In her 12 years at the Department of Insurance, Ms. Kinch also served in the premium tax section and in insurance company licensing. Ms. Kinch is a Certified Financial Examiner (retired).


Nicholas Kourides
Senior Counsel: DLA Piper

In 2017, Nicholas Kourides joined DLA Piper’s Insurance practice as Senior Counsel in New York. He brings significant experience in corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, restructuring and divestitures, and cross-border matters, and he also has expertise regarding regulatory issues around the world. Prior to joining DLA Piper, from 2007–2017 he served as Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for AIG with responsibility as AIG’s Head of Global Regulatory and Federal Reserve Supervision and General Counsel for Mergers and Acquisitions. Before that he held senior positions at American Express Company and The Chase Manhattan Bank and was with the law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton.

Mr. Kourides received his J.D. from Columbia Law School and a B.A. from Princeton University. Since 1994, he has taught a seminar on International Banking and Financial Law at Columbia Law School. He has been a frequent speaker at international seminars and events.


Chris LaFollette
Vice President of Tax: Anthem, Inc.

Chris LaFollette is Vice President of Tax at Anthem. He is responsible for managing the company’s tax function, including strategy, compliance, GAAP and statutory accounting provisions, merger and acquisitions, tax research and planning, tax controversy (IRS audit activity), and working with business partners on tax impacts of operational activities.

Mr. LaFollette joined the Anthem tax department in 2007. Prior to that, he spent 13 years with Ernst & Young in both Indianapolis and New York City, where his primary focus was managing tax planning initiatives, tax controversy, mergers and acquisition transactions, and general consulting on tax accounting. He has a B.S. in Accounting from Indiana University and is a Certified Public Accountant.


Scott L. Lenz
Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel & Chief Tax Counsel: New York Life Insurance Company

Scott Lenz is a Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, and Chief Tax Counsel at New York Life, where he has worked for over 13 years. He is involved in and oversees the tax legal aspects of all matters impacting the company, its workforce, products, and affiliates. This includes overseeing the tax aspects of general corporate, retirement, compensation, and M&A related matters as well as all federal, state, and local tax audit activity. He is a past Chairman of the Company Tax Committee of the American Council of Life Insurers, the primary trade organization for the life insurance industry in the United States. He served in that capacity for two years, where he was involved in making various presentations to federal legislative and administrative staff, as well as developing industry-wide tax policy positions. He is currently a member of that ACLI committee.

Prior to his career with New York Life, Mr. Lenz spent nine years with Prudential Financial, Inc., after spending five years with White & Case in New York. Immediately after law school, he clerked for the Hon. Henry H. Whiting of the Supreme Court of Virginia. Prior to attending law school, he was a senior accountant with Arthur Andersen’s Tax Department in New York.

Mr. Lenz graduated with an A.B. in Economics and Accounting from Muhlenberg College and received a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.


Ted D. Lewis
Executive Director: Utah Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association

Ted Lewis currently serves as Executive Director of the Utah Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association. He is the former Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary at Beneficial Life Insurance Company. He has been a member of the Utah State Bar since 1976. Mr. Lewis has been active in the Utah guaranty association and the guaranty association system in various capacities since 1979, when Utah first passed guaranty association–enabling legislation. At the community level, Mr. Lewis served five terms in the Utah House of Representatives (1983–1992), where in 1985 and 1986 he co-chaired the Insurance Law Revision Task Force. He has served as the Executive Director of the Utah guaranty association since 2009.


Paul H. Luehr
Partner: Faegre Baker Daniels LLP

Paul Luehr leads the global Privacy and Cybersecurity practice at Faegre Baker Daniels and advises clients on corporate governance, incident response, digital investigations, M&A cyber due diligence, and international privacy and cybersecurity issues. He pioneered many early internet investigations as a federal attorney with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). There he worked on early cases against online fraud and hacking and investigations into the 9/11 terrorists. He then spent 13 years as an executive and consultant advising Fortune 500 companies and serving as the “go to” professional on some of the world’s largest incidents, including the Yahoo! breaches.

In 2018, Mr. Luehr was named to the “Incident Response 30” list by Cybersecurity Docket. As a trusted thought leader on privacy, cybersecurity, and the digital economy, he also has traveled overseas as a U.S. State Department Speaker, and his insights have been featured on CBS, NBC, CNBC, and BBC television and in Business Week, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times.


Germaine “Gerrie” L. Marks
Vice President, Government Affairs: Prudential Financial, Inc.

Gerrie Marks joined Prudential Financial, Inc., in September 2015 as a Vice President, Government Affairs, overseeing 10 Western states. Ms. Marks is a member of six state guaranty association boards, serves on the NOLHGA GA Laws Committee, is a member of the Association of Life Insurance Counsel, and represents Prudential on the board of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

Ms. Marks was with the Arizona Department of Insurance from 1997–2015, and in 2012 she was appointed Director of Insurance. Prior to that, she was the Deputy Director for nine years and the Executive Director of Regulatory Affairs for six years. As the Arizona Director of Insurance, she oversaw the Department’s financial and market regulation of over 2,000 insurers and 200,000 licensed insurance professionals. Ms. Marks actively participated in the NAIC, including serving as the Vice Chair of the Western Zone and as a member of the Executive Committee.

Ms. Marks received a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a J.D. from the Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. Ms. Marks is an avid Nebraska football and Arizona Coyotes hockey fan.


Kristine A. Maurer, Esq.
Assistant Director, Division of Insurance: New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance

Kristine Maurer is the Assistant Director of the Insurance Division of the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance. Ms. Maurer assists Director Peter L. Hartt in managing the regulatory work of more than 300 in 6 operating units: Solvency Regulation, Consumer Protection, Property and Casualty, Life and Health, Captive Insurance, and the Bureau of Fraud Deterrence. Her work is primarily focused on emerging federal and international insurance regulatory developments; the growth of the insurance markets; insurer acquisitions, solvency regulation and monitoring of troubled companies; supervision and review of rulemaking and final agency decisions; and coordinating the Department’s participation as a member of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, including as chairperson of the Receivership and Insolvency Task Force and membership on the Group Solvency Issues Working Group and the Receivership Model Law Working Group. Ms. Maurer also serves on behalf of the NAIC at the International Association of Insurance Supervisors on its Resolution Working Group.

Prior to beginning her new role with the Department in April 2013, Ms. Maurer was a practicing attorney in the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General from 2001 through 2013. During this time, Ms. Maurer represented the Department of Banking and Insurance as a Deputy Attorney General, and from 2010 through 2013 she supervised the work of other attorneys as the Assistant Section Chief of the Banking, Insurance and Insurance Fraud Section. While there, she successfully litigated administrative prosecutions on behalf of the Department against insurance licensees and insurance companies and defended the Department’s rulemakings and final decisions in numerous appeals. She also provided legal advice on regulatory and public policy issues of importance to the Department, acted as the Department’s lead counsel on Open Public Records requests, and provided legal counsel for three years to the New Jersey Real Estate Commission.

Ms. Maurer has been a member of the bars in the State of New Jersey and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania since 2001. She earned her J.D. with honors from Rutgers School of Law - Camden in 2001, and while there she was a joint degree participant with Rutgers’s Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy in New Brunswick, earning a Master of Public Affairs and Politics degree in 2000. She was also a Harold and Reba Martin fellow at the Eagleton Institute of Politics during her joint-degree work, which provides graduate students an opportunity to further their understanding of the practice of politics and public affairs through direct access to practitioners in state and national politics and government.


Michael J. O’Connor
General Counsel: Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company

Mike O’Connor is MassMutual’s General Counsel, leading the company’s legal, compliance, government relations, internal audit, and corporate governance functions. He is a member of MassMutual’s Executive Leadership team. He initially joined the company’s Law Division in 2005, and from 2008–2011 he led the company’s corporate law and government relations teams.

From 2011 to 2017, Mr. O’Connor served in a number of business leadership positions at the company, first as Chief of Staff to MassMutual’s CEO Roger Crandall and later as head of corporate development and mergers and acquisitions and then as head of MassMutual’s international insurance operations. Most recently, he led the acquisition of the MetLife Premier Client Group and its ongoing integration into the MassMutual Financial Advisor network.

Prior to joining MassMutual, Mr. O’Connor served from 2002–2005 as U.S. General Counsel of Irving Oil Corporation, an independent global petroleum refiner and marketer. From 1995 until 2002, he practiced corporate law at Goodwin Procter LLP in Boston, where he was a member of the M&A/Corporate Governance and Securities & Corporate Finance practice groups.

Mr. O’Connor received a B.A. in Legal Studies from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He earned his J.D. from the Boston University School of Law, where he was a G. Joseph Tauro Distinguished Scholar and an Editor of the Boston University Law Review; and his M.B.A., majoring in Finance, from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.


Tim Page
Pulitzer Prize–Winning Author & Critic

Tim Page is a professor in both the Annenberg School of Journalism and the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California. He won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 1997 for his writings about music in The Washington Post. Before that, he served as the chief music critic for Newsday and as a music and cultural writer for The New York Times. During his years in New York, he was the host of an afternoon program on WNYC-FM that broadcast interviews with hundreds of composers and musicians, including Aaron Copland, Elliott Carter, Dizzy Gillespie, Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, and Steve Reich.

His books include The Glenn Gould Reader (Alfred A. Knopf, 1984); Selected Letters of Virgil Thomson (Summit, 1988); William Kapell: A Documentary Life History of the American Pianist (IPAM, 1992); Music from the Road: Views and Reviews 1978–1992, an anthology of previously published work (Oxford University Press, 1992); The Unknown Sigrid Undset (Steerforth, 2001); and Tim Page on Music (Amadeus Press, 2002). He is the author of the official history of Carnegie Hall (Carnegie Hall Treasures, 2011) and a memoir of his childhood, Parallel Play (2009).


Keith Passwater
Senior Vice President, Corporate Finance & Actuarial: Anthem, Inc.

Keith is Senior Vice President of Corporate Finance and Chief Actuary at Anthem. In this role, he guides the enterprise Budgeting, Forecasting, Clinical, and Transformation Finance teams. Since joining Anthem, he has held positions in the company with oversight for pricing, financial analysis, and informatics. Prior to joining Anthem in 2001, he led aspects of finance and actuarial within Coventry Health Care, Aon, and Cigna.


Dmitri Ponomarev
Vice President, Business Development, Wilton Re.

Dmitri Ponomarev is Vice President—Business Development at Wilton Re, focusing on evaluating new acquisition opportunities including LTC insurance businesses. Prior to joining Wilton Re in October 2015, he worked with Goldman, Sachs & Co. in the Financial Institutions Investment Banking Group.

Mr. Ponomarev received M.B.A. from NYU in 2003 and B.A. from Cleveland State University in 1999.


Edward J. Reich
Partner and US General Counsel, Dentons

Eddie Reich is a partner at Dentons and serves as its U.S. General Counsel. He is the firm’s principal lawyer, advising Firm management on a wide range of matters including ethics compliance, litigation, law firm governance, and insurance issues. He has more than 10 years’ experience in law firm risk management, having previously served as Dentons’ Deputy General Counsel and as a chair of the firm’s legacy Lawyers’ Professional Liability practice, which represents lawyers and law firms on a wide variety of legal and ethical issues.

Mr. Reich speaks and writes frequently on legal ethics, risk management, and professional responsibility matters. He is the principal author and editor of The Risk Tip, a unique and widely read blog that combines ethics and risk management issues with pop culture.

Prior to being appointed U.S. General Counsel, Mr. Reich enjoyed a successful and diverse litigation practice in areas such as insurance litigation, employment and trade secrets litigation, business and contractual disputes, and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). He has handled all phases of matters in courts and alternative dispute resolution forums across the country. He has tried cases and argued appeals in both state and federal courts and is resident in the firm’s New York office.


Randi Reichel
Vice President, National Regulatory Affairs: UnitedHealth Group

Randi Reichel is the Vice President for Regulatory Affairs at UnitedHealth Group. She is responsible for managing the United team at the NAIC and works with United representatives in the states to develop messaging and communications with insurance regulators across the country. Before joining United in early 2012, she was counsel with the law firm of Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard and had an active insurance regulatory practice. While there, and for more than a decade before that, she represented the health insurance industry—and AHIP—through her consulting firm, Reichel Consulting, Ltd., a regulatory consulting firm specializing in regulatory and legislative affairs.

Before founding Reichel Consulting, Ms. Reichel was the Vice President for State Affairs for the AAHP, AHIP’s predecessor organization. While there, she managed the state regulatory and legislative affairs office, providing guidance and representation for over a thousand managed care plans nationwide. Before assuming that role, she was, for over a decade, a part of the Maryland Insurance Administration, both as the Associate Commissioner for Life and Health and as Assistant Attorney General, representing the Department of Insurance. Prior to the Office of the Attorney General, Ms. Reichel was an attorney in private practice, where, among other clients, she represented the Commissioner of Insurance in numerous insolvencies.

She is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law; is licensed to practice in the State of Maryland and the District of Columbia; and currently lives in Baltimore, Maryland.


Dr. Dave Rengachary
Senior Vice President & Chief Medical Director for U.S. Mortality Markets: RGA Reinsurance Company

Dr. Dave Rengachary is Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Director for U.S. Mortality Markets at RGA Reinsurance Company. Prior to joining RGA in 2013, he was a general neurologist in practice at Missouri Baptist Medical Center, where he also served as medical director for the Primary Stroke Center.

Dr. Rengachary is the primary author and editor of the Washington University Neurology Survival Guide. He serves on the Board of Directors of Memory Home Care Solutions and the ABC Brigade, dedicated to Alzheimer’s and stroke support, respectively.

Dr. Rengachary is Past-President of the Midwestern Medical Directors Association, Deputy Director of the Longer Life Foundation, Medical Consultant for the Academy of Life Underwriting, and a member of the Educational Committee of the American Academy of Insurance Medicine.


Andrew Rothseid
Principal & Owner: RunOff Re.Solve LLC.

Andrew Rothseid is the principal and owner of RunOff Re.Solve LLC, which provides specialist turnaround, restructuring, and advisory services to the global insurance and reinsurance industry, particularly in regard to discontinued or “run off” liabilities. RunOff Re.Solve also works with institutional investors to perform diligence and acquire insurance assets.

Mr. Rothseid has professional experience within the insurance industry as a: private practice lawyer (licensed in Pennsylvania and New York); general counsel and executive and non-director of American and Bermudian property and casualty run-off insurers, reinsurers, and managing general agents; managing director of a London Market run-off insurer and reinsurer; partner with a global professional services firm; and as a certified ARIAS arbitrator.


Stephen A. Serfass
Partner: Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Stephen Serfass is a partner with Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, where he is Leader of the Insurance Litigation Practice Group. He also is the founder and co-leader of the firm’s Long Term Care Insurance Team. He serves long-term-care (LTC) insurers on a wide range of issues including class actions, individual litigation, and regulatory compliance (concerning information privacy and security issues and an array of other compliance issues), acting as counsel overseeing claims audits, reviewing proposed claim denials and related claims issues, policy drafting, fraud prevention, rate increase counseling, reinsurance and other transactions, and other matters. He also currently serves as acting/general counsel for three LTC insurance community members.

Beyond his work in LTC, Mr. Serfass has a depth of experience representing insurers on life insurance issues as well as environmental insurance matters. Before joining Drinker Biddle, he worked in-house for nearly three years for an environmental insurer. He graduated from Penn State University with a B.S. and received his juris doctor from Rutgers University School of Law, where he was a member of the Rutgers Law Review. He lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and five children.


Kevin G. Smith
Chief Legal Officer, Life Insurance & Operations, U.S. Life Insurance: Genworth Financial

Kevin Smith is currently the Chief Legal Officer for Genworth’s Life Insurance Business and Operations for U.S. Life Insurance (USLI). Kevin joined Genworth in 2000 as an associate general counsel, took his current role in 2006 and has served the company in various capacities, including Interim President of Life Insurance for USLI in 2014.

Prior to joining Genworth, he worked as an attorney for Prudential’s individual life insurance business. Before Prudential, Kevin worked as an attorney at a New Jersey law firm, Riker Danzig, specializing primarily in Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.

Kevin currently serves as a director of the Guaranty Associations of Delaware, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. He also serves as president of the Lynchburg City Schools Education Foundation and is a director of the Lynchburg Beacon of Hope, an organization dedicated to providing scholarship resources for the Lynchburg City School graduates. Kevin received his B.A. from Colgate University and his J.D. from Columbia Law School.


W. Mark Smith
Partner: Eversheds Sutherland

Mark Smith, a partner at Eversheds Sutherland, is a nationally leading ERISA lawyer. Since 1981, banks, broker-dealers, insurance companies, investment advisers, mutual funds, retirement platform providers, and plan sponsors have engaged him for a broad range of consulting, transactional, regulatory, and litigation matters. Clients say he has ‘extensive experience’ and provides solutions that are ‘concise, easy-to-understand’ and ‘invaluable; he is very adept at assisting clients with navigating the regulatory waters.’ He has been heavily involved in advocacy related to the Department of Labor fiduciary proposal and has worked with many retirement product and service providers on evaluating the impact of and the strategic and compliance response to the final rule.

Mr. Smith is a fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel; has been recognized in Best Lawyers in America and Legal 500 USA; and has variously served as partner-in-charge of the Eversheds Sutherland Washington, D.C., office; its U.S. Executive Partner; and practice leader of its U.S. tax and employee benefits practice.


David M. Spector
Partner: Schiff Hardin LLP

David Spector is co-leader of Schiff Hardin’s Insurance and Reinsurance Group. He has successfully litigated across the entire spectrum of the insurance and reinsurance industries, working in every arena, at every level, across the world. These matters have included contested company takeovers and insurer insolvencies, as well as trials and appeals of reinsurance and claim disputes before state and federal courts as well as domestic and international arbitration panels.

In addition to his comprehensive background in reinsurance litigation, Mr. Spector has broad experience in virtually every area of property and casualty insurance, disability benefits, and life insurance. Clients frequently seek his expertise, turning to him for advice on mergers and acquisitions, regulatory matters, products issues, and other business matters. He has lectured widely on insurance issues at professional conferences and academic meetings and has also written or been the principal editor of several primary resource texts on insurer insolvency.


Margaret M. Sperry
Executive Director: Rhode Island Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association

Margaret Sperry is Executive Director of the Rhode Island Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association (RILHIGA), a position she has held since 2011. She also serves on several NOLHGA committees and working groups, including the Penn Treaty/ANIC PACA Working Group, the MPC Executive Committee, the Administrators Education Steering Committee, and the Coverage/Claims Committee.

Prior to joining RILHIGA, Ms. Sperry was Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer for MassMutual Financial Group (MMFG) and oversaw ethics and compliance programs in MMFG’s domestic and foreign operations, including insurance, broker-dealer, investment adviser, investment management, mutual fund, trust, and employee benefits management companies. She has extensive knowledge of a broad range of legal and regulatory requirements impacting these businesses in the United States and abroad. She represented MMFG companies in dealings with numerous federal, state, and international regulators.

Over the years, Ms. Sperry served on the Boards of Directors of 16 MMFG insurance and non-insurance subsidiaries and affiliates and represented MMFG on the Boards of several unrelated entities, including the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation and the Mass Capital Resource Company (Chair of Executive and Audit Committees).

Prior to being named CCO, Ms. Sperry served in several roles including head of the Corporate Tax Department, which included tax legal, tax accounting and reporting, tax strategy, and tax audit and tax litigation responsibilities. Following the merger of Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company and Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, Ms. Sperry oversaw the integration of the financial operations of the merging entities including the Treasurer’s, Comptroller’s, Financial Reporting, Financial Analysis, and Corporate Tax functions.

Ms. Sperry graduated from Smith College and the University of Connecticut School of Law with honors. Her memberships have included the Advisory Board for the RAND Center for Corporate Ethics, Law and Governance; American and Massachusetts Bar Associations; the Ethics Officers Association; the Ethics Resource Center Fellows Program; and the International Association of Privacy Professionals.


Susan E. Voss
Vice President & General Counsel: American Enterprise Group

Susan Voss grew up in Fairfield, Iowa. A lifelong Iowan, she graduated from Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, with a B.A. in History. She attended Gonzaga University School of Law in Spokane, Washington, receiving her J.D. in 1981. She worked for 31 years in Iowa state government, with the last 20 at the Iowa Insurance Division.

During her time as an insurance regulator, Ms. Voss was instrumental in creating a system of mediation services for homeowners during the floods in 1993 and 2008 that devastated thousands of homes in Iowa. She was a member of several healthcare reform committees in the mid-1990s, culminating in small and individual health insurance reform statutes in Iowa that were the basis of model legislation at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). She served as First Deputy Insurance Commissioner from 1999 to 2004.

In 2005, Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack appointed her Iowa Insurance Commissioner. She served as Commissioner for three Governors—two Democrats and one Republican. She was elected by her peers as an officer of the NAIC in 2007 and served as its President in 2011. She was the Chair of the Market Conduct and Regulation Committee as well as the Principles-Based Reserving Working Group. She also served on the Life and Annuities Committee, the Financial Condition Committee, and the Financial Regulation Standards and Accreditation Committee.

Ms. Voss was a member of the International Insurance Committee at the NAIC and chaired the committee in 2012. During her tenure on the committee, she represented state insurance regulatory interests at the OECD, ASSAL, EIOPA, CIRC, and IAIS. She was the insurance representative at several Strategic and Economic Summits between China and the United States.

Ms. Voss worked closely on legislation included in the Dodd-Frank Act to exempt certain annuities from SEC oversight. Throughout her tenure as Commissioner and particularly during the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, she met regularly with Treasury officials to affect better regulatory cooperation and understanding of financial issues. She testified before Congress on several occasions regarding state-based insurance regulation.

Ms. Voss has received several recognitions over the years, including Des Moines Business Record Woman of Influence, Simpson College Hall of Fame, Fairfield High School Hall of Fame, and her recent induction into the Iowa Insurance Hall of Fame in 2013. After providing insurance consulting services for about a year, she joined American Enterprise Group, Inc., as Vice President and General Counsel.

Ms. Voss serves on the Board of Directors of the United Fire Group, Inc., a property-casualty insurance company. She is also a member of the Board of the National Organization of Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Associations (NOLHGA).


J.P. Wieske
Deputy Commissioner: Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance

Commissioner Nickel appointed J.P. Wieske as Deputy Commissioner of Insurance for the State of Wisconsin in June 2016. Deputy Commissioner Wieske, subject to the general direction of the Commissioner, supervises the regulatory, public information, and administrative functions of the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance. As Deputy, he also exercises and performs the functions of the Commissioner in the Commissioner's absence. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Wieske served as the OCI Legislative Liaison/Public Information Officer (PIO) for 5 years.

Mr. Wieske brings more than 20 years of experience working in the insurance industry. He is Chair of the NAIC’s Regulatory Framework Task Force and has served as Chair of the NAIC's Network Adequacy Subgroup. As PIO, Mr. Wieske directed OCI's communication strategy, including responding to press inquiries, supervising OCI's website, and editing OCI publications. As Legislative Liaison, he shepherded OCI's legislative agenda through the legislative process, including bills relating to insurance company solvency requirements and bills impacting all lines of insurance.

Prior to his appointment as Legislative Liaison/PIO, Mr. Wieske served as the Executive Director of the Council of Affordable Health Insurance. In that capacity, he authored and co-authored numerous publications related to timely health insurance issues and testified on insurance issues in state legislatures across the country. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and Political Science from Carroll College.


Thomas E. Workman
Independent Member: Financial Stability Oversight Council

Thomas Workman is the Independent Member with Insurance Expertise on the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC). He was nominated by President Donald J. Trump on November 29, 2017, and was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 21, 2018. Secretary Steven Mnuchin administered the oath of office on March 29, 2018. Previously, he served as President & CEO of the Life Insurance Council of New York, Inc. (LICONY) for 17 years. Before that, Mr. Workman practiced law at Bricker & Eckler LLP in Ohio for 26 years. There he served as Legislative Counsel to the Association of Ohio Life Insurance Companies from 1973 to 1999. He served for 24 years as a member of the Board of Directors of the Ohio Farmers Insurance Company. He also served for approximately 30 years on the Board of Trustees and the Leadership Council of the Griffith Foundation on Insurance Education. He served as a Captain in the United States Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps from 1970 to 1973.

Mr. Workman received the Buist M. Anderson Award for Distinguished Service from the Association of Life Insurance Counsel (ALIC), and he received the Round Table of New York Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a past member of the Board of Governors of ALIC, and he served as the ALIC Delegate in the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Insurance Federation of New York, a Past Chair of the Life Insurance Law Committee of the American Bar Association, a Past Chair of the Board of Directors of the Federation of Regulatory Counsel, a former member of the Insurance Law Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and a member of the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation.

Mr. Workman received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration and his Juris Doctor degree from The Ohio State University. He is admitted to the bars of the State of New York; the State of Ohio; the District of Columbia; the Supreme Court of the United States; the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces; and the United States District Court, Southern District of Ohio, Eastern Division.


Thomas M. Zurek
Executive Vice President, Senior Chief Legal Counsel & Secretary: OneAmerica Financial Partners, Inc.

Thomas Zurek is a member of OneAmerica’s Executive Council, an ex officio member of the Board of Directors, and Secretary for all Board and corporate functions. The legal demands of the enterprise currently focus on merger and acquisition activity; corporate governance; class action defense; significant ERISA litigation; general commercial conflict resolution, including all Human Resource issues; extensive domestic and international reinsurance arbitration matters; regulatory compliance (state and federal); and general corporate legal management.

Immediately prior to joining OneAmerica, Mr. Zurek served as partner in a private law practice at the Nyemaster Goode law firm in Des Moines, Iowa. Prior to this, he was Executive Vice President and General Counsel for the American General Life companies. Mr. Zurek is on the Board of the Indiana Life & Health Guaranty Association, where he serves as Chairman.