Jessica Altman
Commissioner, Pennsylvania Insurance Department

Jessica Altman was appointed as Pennsylvania’s Insurance Commissioner in 2017 after serving as the Department’s Chief of Staff for over two years.

Prior to her Commonwealth service, she held various positions with the Federal government working on national health policy and facilitating implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

Commissioner Altman holds a Master of Public Policy from Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government and a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University.


Gary D. Anderson
Commissioner, Massachusetts Division of Insurance

Gary D. Anderson joined the Massachusetts Division of Insurance as its First Deputy Commissioner in February of 2014. Anderson’s responsibilities included strategic planning and policy development for every aspect of the agency, while assisting in decision-making and policy development in matters involving all lines of insurance and developing and advocating legislative and policy priorities for the Administration. His insurance experience began in 1999 with a regional carrier in the northwestern United States.

Just prior to his role as the First Deputy, he served as a Policy Advisor and Senior Counsel in the Massachusetts State Senate President’s Office, where he was involved in a number of policy areas, from the state’s broad efforts to control health care costs to all matters affecting the financial services sector. Prior to his work in the Senate President’s Office, he worked as the General Counsel for the Financial Services Committee, where he handled legislation related to insurance and banking.

Anderson’s private sector work also includes experience at a pharmaceutical company, where he was responsible for negotiating the tiered status of pharmaceuticals in the hospital setting.

Anderson is a graduate of Idaho State University and Albany Law School at Union University.


Jim Armstrong
Deputy Commissioner - Supervision, Iowa Insurance Division

Jim Armstrong is the Deputy Commissioner for the Iowa Insurance Division. He is in charge of the Company Regulation Bureau. He oversees the financial and market conduct analysis and examinations of domestic and foreign insurance companies and other insurance related entities. Jim is a member of various financial working groups at the NAIC.

Jim is a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Financial Examiner. He is a former President of the Society of Financial Examiners.


Ed Barkel
Partner, Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP

Ed Barkel a partner in the firm’s Litigation practice group and is a member of the firm's Data Protection and Cybersecurity team. He regularly advises broker-dealers, investment advisors and insurance companies on privacy under Regulation S.P. Ed also consults with and advises clients about data protection and security matters. He guides clients through increasingly complex regulatory and statutory requirements for collecting, processing and protecting personal information. Ed also helps clients implement and enforce privacy policies and properly respond to data security incidents. Ed is also the lead partner in the firm’s Securities Litigation practice group. He defends broker-dealers and individual brokers in arbitrations, litigated matters and regulatory matters. Ed worked for eight years in the securities industry before joining Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie in 2002. Ed held several FINRA securities licenses including, FINRA Series 7, 24, 63 and 65 and he also held Life, Health and Variable Insurance licenses.


Birny Birnbaum
Director, Center for Economic Justice

Birny Birnbaum serves as Director of the Center for Economic Justice (www.cej-online.org), a Texas non-profit organization, whose mission is to advocate on behalf of low-income consumers on issues of availability, affordability, accessibility of basic goods and services, such as utilities, credit and insurance.

Birny is an economist and former insurance regulator whose work focuses on insurance regulatory issues. He has authored reports and testimony for numerous public agencies and consumer organizations covering most lines of insurance including auto, property, life, annuities, long term care, consumer credit, force-placed, title and travel insurance. Birny has served for many years as a designated Consumer Representative at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and is a member of the Federal Advisory Committee on Insurance.

Birny served for three years as Associate Commissioner for Policy and Research and the Chief Economist at the Texas Department of Insurance. At the Department, Birny provided technical and policy advice to the Commissioner of Insurance and performed policy research and analysis for the Department. Birny was also responsible for the development of data collection programs for market surveillance and the analysis of insurance market for competition as well as review and approval of policy forms and rates.

Birny also served as Chief Economist at the Office of Public Insurance Counsel (OPIC), working on a variety of insurance issue. OPIC is a Texas state agency whose mission is to advocate on behalf of insurance consumers. Birny was educated at Bowdoin College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He holds two Master’s Degrees from MIT in Management and in Urban Planning with concentrations in finance and applied economics.


Vince Bodnar
Partner and LTCi Actuarial Practice Leader, Oliver Wyman

Vince Bodnar is a Partner and leads the Long-Term Care practice of Oliver Wyman. He is recognized as one of the leading long-term care insurance experts in the country, having worked with such products since the 1980s. Vince was recently named one of the “20 Most Creative People in Insurance” by ThinkAdvisor. Prior to joining Oliver Wyman, Vince was Senior Vice President of Product Management at Genworth. Through is career, he has been a highly visible actuarial consultant with a focus on solutions for in-force blocks of long-term care insurance policies and new product innovation. Vince is a very active contributor to the long-term care industry. He has twice chaired the Society of Actuaries Long-Term Care Insurance Section, its Long-Term Care Think Tank and the ILTCI Conference.


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

Co-founder and Managing Partner of the Austin, Texas, boutique firm Cantilo & Bennett, L.L.P., Patrick 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 U.S. 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 also very involved in a number of activities of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. He is rated AV®
Preeminent^TM by Martindale Hubbell®, continues to be listed in The Best Lawyers in America® for Insurance law and Marquis Who’s Who®.


Eric A. Cioppa
Maine Superintendent of Insurance

Eric A. Cioppa has been Superintendent of the Maine Bureau of Insurance since 2011. He joined the Bureau in 1988 as a Statistician then served as Supervisor of the Workers’ Compensation Section prior to becoming Deputy Superintendent in 1998. He was elected to President of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) for 2019 and is serving a two-year term as the state insurance commissioner representative on the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC). He is also Chair of the NAIC’s Executive, Government Relations, and State Government Liaison committees, and is a member of the Maine State Employee Health Commission. Eric holds a B.A. from Potsdam State University and an M.B.A. from Clarkson University.


Michael Conway
Commissioner, Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, Division of Insurance

Michael Conway was appointed as Colorado Insurance Commissioner by Governor Jared Polis on December 21, 2018, and was confirmed to this position by the Colorado State Senate on January 22, 2019. Prior to this, Conway served as interim Commissioner, a position he was appointed to by Governor Hickenlooper in January 2018. As Commissioner, Conway serves as the chief executive of the Division of Insurance and oversees the regulation of the insurance industry in Colorado. His role brings together consumers, the insurance industry and other stakeholders to create an inclusive, firm and fair regulatory approach to all lines of insurance such as auto, health, homeowner, life, property and casualty, title and workers’ compensation.

Prior to his appointment as interim Commissioner, Conway served as the Division of Insurance Deputy Commissioner for Consumer and Compliance Services since March 2016. In this time, he was instrumental in developing and guiding the Division’s strategies regarding health insurance during what was a tumultuous time for that industry in Colorado and the nation. He advised the previous Commissioner and the Governor’s staff regarding the possible implications of federal changes to the regulation of health insurance here in Colorado.

Before joining the Division, Conway was an assistant Attorney General for the Colorado State Attorney General’s Office from 2010 to 2016, where he represented the Division of Insurance in all facets of the regulation of the insurance industry including mergers and acquisitions of insurance companies, insurer rehabilitation/liquidation, and producer and company licensure litigation. He served three Commissioners of Insurance during that time. While in the Attorney General’s Office, he worked with the Colorado Attorney General Pro Bono Family Law Clinic, advising clients on matters of divorce and child custody.


Ralph Donato
Senior Consulting Actuary, Long Term Care Group, Inc

Mr. Donato has 21 years of experience in mergers and acquisitions, pricing, financial analysis, reserve valuations, and projection models. Mr. Donato has concentrated on both stand-alone and combination long-term care products and is a leading expert in the areas of long-term care projection modeling, experience analysis, and claim reserve methods. Ralph joined LTCG in 2015. Prior to LTCG, he spent time at Towers Watson, DaVinci Consulting Group LLC. AF&L Insurance Company and Milliman.


Elizabeth Kelleher Dwyer
Superintendent, Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation

Beth Dwyer was appointed Superintendent of Insurance on January 11, 2016. Prior to this appointment she had been employed by the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation for fifteen years, first as General Counsel to the Insurance Division and later as Associate Director. Prior to government service, Ms. Dwyer was engaged in private law practice in California and Rhode Island specializing in litigation and insurance regulation.

Ms. Dwyer is a member of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and currently serves as Chair of the Property and Casualty Insurance (C) Committee, Chair of the Restructuring Mechanisms (E) Working Group; Chair of the Northeast Zone; Vice Chair of the Interstate Product Regulation Compact (IIPRC); Vice Chair of the Big Data (EX) Working Group; Secretary/Treasurer of the National Insurance Producers Registry (NIPR) Board of Directors and a member NAIC Executive Committee. Ms. Dwyer is a past president of the Rhode Island Women’s Bar Association and served on the Rhode Island Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Gender in the Courts. She was awarded the 2010 Rhode Island Attorney General’s Justice Award for Consumer Protection. She completed the Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program at Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government Executive Education.

Ms. Dwyer holds the designations of Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) from The American College and Senior Professional in Insurance Regulation (SPIR) from the NAIC. She was admitted to practice law in California, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, the Federal District Courts of California and Rhode Island and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. She received a JD from Pepperdine University and a BA in Political Science and Public Administration from Providence College.


Mark H. Femal, CPA, CPCU
Director, Strohm Ballweg, LLP

Mark began work as Projects Manager/Director of Strohm Ballweg, LLP, on December 1, 2006. He assisted on closing the American Star Insurance Company, in liquidation, estate, and also was an expert in a premium dispute on a property and casualty policy. Representing the National Organization of Life and Health Guaranty Associations (NOLHGA) he is currently working on 6 health and life rehabilitations and liquidations. Typically Mark works on the financial and claims portions of the liquidations, and he additionally serves as project manager on two of the liquidations. Mark has also performed operational audits on other NOLHGA related projects. The firm of Strohm Ballweg has also worked on the NOLHGA Data Survey Project, of which Mark has been a part.

Prior to joining Strohm Ballweg, Mark was the Executive Director of the Wisconsin Insurance Security Fund. He assumed this position on January 1, 1993. Prior to 1993 Mark was a partner in the CPA firm of Houghton, Taplick & Co., Madison, Wisconsin. Mark obtained his BBA in Finance (1972) and his MS in Accounting (1976) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

During his years at Houghton, Taplick & Co., Mark spent the majority of his efforts in the insurance industry. His work focused mainly on audits of insurance company clients, as a staff and senior accountant and continued after becoming a partner in the firm in 1984. His clients included insurers in the property & casualty, health and life areas, mainly WI domestics.

Because the Wisconsin Insurance Security Fund (WISF) handles both property & casualty and life/health liquidations, Mark served on various National Conference of Insurance Guaranty Fund (NCIGF) committees including Accounting Issues Committee, Audit Committee, Mission, Legion and Reliance Coordinating Committees and other operational committees. He acted as liaison for all Guaranty Funds at the Reliance Liquidation offices in New York City in 2001/2002.

Also, while at WISF, on behalf of NOLHGA, Mark had served as Chair of the Monarch Life Insurance Company, in rehabilitation, and the Centennial Life Insurance Company Task Forces. He also served on the New Jersey Life and American Chambers Life Task Forces. Mark represented the guaranty funds on the MPC Executive Committee, Education and Accounting Committees.

In 1999, Mark was elected to the board of the International Association of Insurance Receivers (IAIR) and was appointed Treasurer in 2000. He served until 2002.


Peter Gallanis
President, NOLHGA

Peter Gallanis became President of the National Organization of Life & 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.

Before 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. Prior to 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 abroad. In addition, he has testified on insurance matters before a number of courts, state legislatures, the Congress, the NAIC, the IAIS, and FSB.

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 Glover
Partner, Faegre Baker Daniels LLP

Joel partners with clients to solve problems in the insurance industry — including all related regulatory, transactional litigation and insolvency/receivership issues. Having worked in the insurance regulatory and insolvency field since he began practicing law in 1991, Joel has represented all types of insurance entities, life and health insurance guaranty associations, and receivers throughout the country.

Joel maintains strong relationships with guaranty associations and insurance industry regulators, the insurance industry and guaranty associations. He has served as task force counsel for the National Organization of Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Associations (NOLHGA) on various multi-state insolvencies, represented several guaranty associations and served as counsel to the Insurance Commissioners in Colorado, Hawaii and Arizona in their capacities as liquidators of insolvent insurers.

Outside of his legal practice, Joel enjoys coaching youth basketball, hiking, biking, yoga and ba gua chang.


William D. Goddard
Partner, Day Pitney LLP; Instructor, University of Connecticut School of Law

William "Bill" Goddard concentrates on insurance, reinsurance and insurance insolvency matters. His practice includes representing creditors, regulators and insurance companies in solving complex problems of financial distress; statutory interpretation; and coverage. Bill is also experienced in insurance mergers and acquisitions.

Prior to attending law school, Bill was an investment banker at JP Morgan & Co. and at Marsh & McLennan Securities Corporation, focusing on mergers and acquisitions within the insurance industry. He also provided financial advice to companies experiencing financial distress. His representative transactions included the conservation of a national workers' compensation carrier, the sale of a specialty casualty insurance company in runoff, the restructuring of a specialty workers' compensation carrier and the purchase of a minority interest in an Internet employee benefits platform. Bill also co-founded, developed and sold a broadcasting company consisting of 19 radio stations located in New York and New England.

Bill is the author of several law journal articles on insurance regulation and insolvency. He co-teaches courses in Insurance Litigation and Insurance Solvency Regulation each year at the University of Connecticut School of Law.

Prior to entering practice, Bill served as a law clerk to the Hon. Jon O. Newman, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.


Patrick D. Hughes
Partner, Faegre Baker Daniels LLP

Pat serves the insurance industry as a leading public policy advocate, strategic advisor and regulatory attorney. He previously served ten 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. Pat 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.


Ann Kappler
Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Head of External Affairs, Prudential Financial

Ann Kappler is Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Head of External Affairs at Prudential Financial. Ms. Kappler oversees all corporate legal functions including Regulatory, Employment and Benefits, and Financial Management Law, Litigation, IP and M&A. She also manages the company’s federal, state and international government affairs activities. She oversees the department’s operations functions. Prior to joining Prudential, Ms. Kappler was a partner in the Financial Institutions, Litigation, and Public Policies and Strategies practice groups at WilmerHale in Washington, D.C. Her practice focused on representing financial institution clients on issues at the intersection of regulation, legislation and litigation. Previously, Ms. Kappler served as General Counsel at Fannie Mae and was a litigation partner at Jenner & Block. Ms. Kappler graduated from Dartmouth College, received her law degree from New York University School of Law, and was a law clerk to U.S. D.C. Circuit Judge Abner Mikva and U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Harry Blackmun.


James Kennedy
Attorney, Texas Department of Insurance

James Kennedy is a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law. He has handled insurance insolvencies since 1989 at the Texas Department of Insurance and in private practice. He has also been involved in drafting insurance legislation, including the Insurer Receivership Act and amendments to the Texas Insurance Code.

James has represented Texas on numerous NAIC task forces and working groups since 1999. He is chair of the NAIC Receivership and Insolvency Task Force and the Receivership Model Law Working Group. He also serves as the NAIC representative on the International Association of Insurance Supervisors Resolution Working Group.

James 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 Conference of Insurance Guaranty Funds, National Organization of Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Associations, State Bar of Texas, University of Connecticut School of Law and the University of Texas School of Law.


Scott Kosnoff
Partner, Faegre Baker Daniels LLP

Scott Kosnoff loves his job. He’s a top-notch regulatory, transactional and public policy lawyer who has been making the world a safer place for clients for more than 30 years.
Scott advises insurance companies, regulators and others nationwide on:

• Artificial intelligence, Big Data and algorithms (advising clients on fast-developing regulatory and ethical standards, helping them participate in the development of those standards and protecting them from regulatory, litigation and reputational harm).
• Mergers, acquisitions and multistate regulatory approvals (Form A filings, Form E filings, public hearings, the whole nine yards).
• Reinsurance transactions and Insurance Business Transfers.
• International insurance regulation — including standard setting by the Financial Stability Board, the International Association of Insurance Supervisors and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development — and what it means for U.S.-based companies.
• State-based insurance regulation, including action at the NAIC.
• Federal legislative, regulatory and policy developments involving Congress, Treasury, the Federal Insurance Office, the FDIC and the Fed.
• Holding company and corporate governance issues, including board duties and disclosure requirements.
• Risk transfer arrangements between health insurers/HMOs and providers/health care intermediaries.
• Troubled company and insolvency matters.
• Suitability, the best interest standard, sales practices and compliance assessments/gap analysis.
• Market conduct and regulatory matters of all shapes and sizes.


Matthew MacMillen
Vice President, Corporate Tax, Lincoln Financial Group

Matt joined Lincoln Financial Group in 2015 and currently serves as Vice President, Corporate Tax. Since joining Lincoln Matt has served as the Head of Tax and has also led the Corporate FP&A and Investment Finance teams for Lincoln. Immediately prior to joining Lincoln Financial Group, Matt was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Sun Life Financial U.S. in Wellesley, MA.

Matt began his financial services career at KeyCorp, a regional bank holding company headquartered in both Albany, NY and Cleveland, OH, working his way through various tax positions that eventually led to his 1998 appointment as Senior Vice President & Corporate Tax Director. In 2003, he accepted a position as a Director in the Financial Services Tax Practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in New York. In 2008, Matt joined Sun Life Financial in Wellesley as Vice President, U.S. Taxation and Global Tax Operations; moved on to Vice President, Investment Finance, and eventually to the role of Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for the U.S. operations.

Matt serves on various internal Lincoln committees, and also is currently the vice chair of the American Council of Life Insurers Company Tax Committee. He is a graduate of Siena College in New York, and received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting degree.


Sara Martin
Editor in Chief of the Adams Papers Editorial Project, Massachusetts Historical Society

Sara Martin is the editor in chief of the Adams Papers editorial project at the Massachusetts Historical Society, where she oversees the letterpress and digital publication of the papers of John and Abigail Adams and three generations of their Quincy, Massachusetts, descendants. Martin holds a doctorate in history from the University of Melbourne, where her research focused on community identity and goldfields settlement. She is a graduate of the public history program at Arizona State University, where she earned a master’s degree in history and a graduate certificate in scholarly publishing and documentary editing. Previous to her work at the Massachusetts Historical Society, Martin worked as a contract historian on numerous cultural heritage projects in Victoria, Australia. In addition to nine volumes of the Adams Papers, she has also published, “Staking a Claim: Using Oral and Material Sources in Goldfields History,” in Gold Tailings: Forgotten Histories of Family and Community on the Central Victorian Goldfields, ed. by Alan Mayne and Charles Fahey, Melbourne, Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2010. Martin is a California native, who lives in Brookline, Massachusetts, with her husband and young son. You can follow her on Twitter, @SMartin_MHS.


Gregory S. Martino
Vice President of State Government Affairs, Aetna

Gregg joined Aetna in 1999 as the Assistant Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, in the Law and Regulatory Affairs division at Aetna. Prior to joining Aetna, Gregg was worked for 15 years with the PA Department of Insurance in various capacities, including Deputy Commissioner for Consumer Services, Deputy Commissioner for Rates and forms and served as Acting Commissioner for a brief period of time.

Since joining Aetna Gregg has overseen the policy form filing area and various compliance responsibilities. His current duties and responsibilities include facilitating the relationships with state regulators, serves as the legislative and regulatory contact for Pennsylvania, Aetna’s NAIC representative and lead coordinator, regulatory compliance, participates in regulatory transactions, and participates in various corporate regulatory projects. He is the regulatory lead for mergers and acquisitions, participating in the Coventry in 2013, Humana in 2016, and CVS Health in 2018 acquisitions. He serves on various corporate boards including the Board of Directors for Aetna’s HMOs across the country. Gregg also serves on a number state Guaranty Associations Boards, including PA (Vice Chair), CA, FL, IL, OH, MI, VA, WA, WV and WY.

He attended the University of Scranton and obtained his BS in Public Administration. He received his Masters of Public Administration and graduated with distinguished honors from Pennsylvania State University.

Gregg lives in Hershey Pennsylvania with his wife, Kathleen.


James Mills
Vice President, Legal Counsel, EnstarGroup Ltd.

James Mills is Vice President, Legal Counsel for Enstar, having joined the company in 2019. James is responsible for providing expertise on US state regulatory and guaranty fund systems, and advising on legislative and business development initiatives. Prior to joining Enstar, James served as the Chief Deputy Insurance Commissioner for the State of Oklahoma, where over eight years he helped set the regulatory landscape for numerous new and innovative areas of regulation, including health insurance, workers’ compensation, captive insurance, insurance business transfers, and receivership law. James is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma College of Law and is admitted to practice before the Oklahoma Supreme Court. James also holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Oklahoma Price College of Business. James holds the designation of Accredited Insurance Receiver by the International Association of Insurance Receivers and was designated a Professional in Insurance Regulation by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. A native Oklahoman, James resides in Tulsa, Oklahoma with his family.


Susan Neely
President and Chief Executive Officer, American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI)

Susan K. Neely is the president and CEO of the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI), the nation's leading trade association dedicated to providing products and services that contribute to Americans' financial and retirement security. As president and CEO, Neely drives public policy and advocacy on behalf of ACLI’s member companies that represent 95 percent of industry assets and serve 90 million families.

Neely has long been recognized as a leading voice in public policy and advocacy in Washington, D.C. She served as special assistant to President George W. Bush and helped create the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and later became the first DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs. Neely was a senior executive at the Association of American Medical Colleges and the Health Insurance Association of America(HIAA), where she designed award-winning national advocacy programs and initiatives, like HIAA’s ground-breaking Harry & Louise campaign.

Most recently, she led the American Beverage Association (ABA) for 13 years as president and CEO. Under her leadership, ABA instituted first-of-their-kind initiatives with President Clinton’s Global Initiative and First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign. These partnerships decreased calories from beverages sold in schools by 90 percent, put transparent calorie labels on millions of beverage containers, and reduced sugar consumed from beverages in the American diet.

Neely has been named Trade Association CEO of the year by two different national organizations. She is a past chair of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Association Committee of 100 of the largest trade associations and the American Society of Association Executives.

A native of Iowa, Neely holds an undergraduate degree in journalism and French civilization from the University of Iowa and a master’s degree in public administration from Drake University. She is the mother of two children, Eve and Ben.


Robert (Rob) Negron
Senior Director/Associate General Counsel, AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company

Rob Negron is a Lead Director and Associate General Counsel with AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company, where his responsibilities include acting as the primary privacy and cybersecurity counsel for the company, as well as managing the state insurance legal team and the state government relations team. Prior to being at AXA Equitable, he was a commercial litigator before working for two other insurers where his areas of focus included HIPAA privacy as well as regulatory compliance issues related to both accident and health insurance and property and casualty insurance. Rob is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School.


Christy M. Neighbors
Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Ameritas

Christine Neighbors joined Ameritas and Ameritas of New York life insurance companies in Lincoln, Nebraska in October 2017 as the senior vice present and general counsel leading the Legal department. Prior to joining Ameritas, she was the deputy director and general counsel for the Nebraska Department of Insurance. During her time at the department, Christine was active at the NAIC and the IAIS chairing various working groups and served as the lead insurance regulator for the U.S. Financial Solvency Assessment Program (FSAP). She is a 2015 recipient of the Robert Dineen award for outstanding contributions to the state regulation of insurance.


Frank O'Loughlin
Partner, Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP

Mr. O'Loughlin practices in the area of commercial litigation with an emphasis on insurance litigation, regulation, and transactions.

He serves as general counsel to various states' life and health insurance guaranty associations and practices on a national level in that area. He also serves as counsel to the insurance industry in regulatory and compliance matters throughout the Rocky Mountain region. Mr. O'Loughlin's transactional practice includes the sale of insurance companies and the assumption and reinsurance of blocks of insurance business.

Additionally, he provides legal advice in the area of property and casualty insurance, including coverage disputes, defense of claims relating to bad-faith breach of insurance contract, and defense of liability cases.

Mr. O'Loughlin represents insurance receivers and acts as receiver in insurance-related supervisions.


Keith Passwater
Managing Director, KTPassCo

Keith is Managing Director of KTPassCo, a healthcare strategy, finance and actuarial consultancy. Previously, Keith was Senior Vice President of Corporate Finance & Chief Actuary at Anthem, Inc. In this role, Keith led cost of care quantification, enterprise financial planning, and actuarial. Keith also built the Finance shop for a new division of Anthem, the Diversified Business Group. Prior to this role, Keith was focused on Anthem’s commercial and individual ACA pricing strategies, working closely with the business operators in Anthem’s fourteen Blue states to achieve profitable, growing performance within the new regulatory framework.

Keith holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Actuarial Science from Ball State University. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries. Also, Keith is privileged to serve on the board of the National Organization of Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Associations (NOLHGA) where his lack of affection for long term care insurance has not improved.


Helene Rayder
Vice President, Director of Federal Relations, Lincoln Financial Group

Helene Rayder is Vice President, Director of Federal Relations for Lincoln Financial Group. In this role, she provides senior leadership, advice and strategy development on federal legislative and regulatory issues to advance the short and long-term business objectives of Lincoln Financial Group. On a day to day basis, Helene is actively engaged on policy issues impacting retirement security, company and product tax, and insurance company regulation.

Helene has extensive private sector experience, bringing almost 30 years of legislative, public policy and legal know-how to the job. Prior to joining Lincoln in 2011, she held officer level government relations positions at two large insurance companies,and was the first Deputy Director of Government Relations at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. Helene began her career in Washington as an aide on the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee.

Helene graduated from the University of Arkansas with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and the Georgetown University Law Center where she received a JD. She is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and the Tax Coalition, where she served as an officer of the Board from 2012-2016 (Co-Chair in 2015).


Marie Roche
Assistant Vice President of Government Relations, John Hancock Life Insurance Company

Marie Roche is Assistant Vice President of Government Relations at John Hancock. Previously she led the Contracts and Legislative Services area which was responsible for the contractual product development and filing of John Hancock's Life and Long-Term Care Insurance portfolios, compliance and state relations. Marie has more than 38 years of insurance product development and compliance experience at John Hancock, the last 25-years focused on individual/group long-term care insurance.

She is the current Chairperson of AHIP's Long-Term Care Committee/Regulatory Work Group, a past Chairperson of the American Council of Life Insurers Long-Term Care Committee, a past member of the Interstate Compact's Industry Advisory Board as well as a member of numerous industry committees. Marie is widely recognized within the industry and by regulators as an expert on insurance, long-term care, regulatory / compliance / state filing and long-term care Partnership matters.

Marie received both a B.A. in Political Science and M.B.A. from Boston College and a J.D. from New England School of Law. Marie is also a member of the Massachusetts Bar.


Stephen Serfass
Partner, Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Stephen Serfass is a partner and the leader of Drinker Biddle & Reath’s 55-lawyer Insurance Litigation practice group. Steve also is the founder and has been the leader of the firm’s Long Term Care Insurance Team since 2003. Steve represents long term care insurers on a wide range of issues including class actions and individual litigation, regulatory compliance – concerning information privacy and security issues and beyond, acting as counsel overseeing claims audits, reviewing proposed claim denials, and related claims issues, policy drafting, fraud prevention, rate increase counseling, and other matters. Steve has served as Acting General Counsel for multiple LTCi community members. Beyond his work in LTCi, Steve also has a depth of experience representing insurers on life insurance issues as well as environmental insurance issues. Before joining Drinker Biddle Steve worked in-house for nearly three years with a leading 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.


Craig Singer
Partner, Williams & Connolly LLP

Craig Singer concentrates his practice in three broad areas: professional liability, false claims and criminal defense, and appellate work. Craig has represented numerous lawyers and law firms, including some of the nation’s largest firms, in federal and state courts, government investigations, and arbitration proceedings in many jurisdictions around the country. In October and November 2018, Craig was lead defense counsel in a jury trial for an Am Law 100 law firm sued by a large multinational corporation. A Chicago jury returned a complete defense verdict in favor of W&C’s client.

Craig has particular experience in defending professionals and firms in matters arising from Ponzi schemes and other frauds. He is the author of a book on that subject, Professionals, Firms, and Fraud: Defending Professionals Against Liability For Client Fraud, which was published by the ABA in 2015. As of 2017, Craig is also a member of the TriBar Opinion Committee, which prepares influential reports on legal opinion practice.

In the False Claims Act area, Craig has represented large companies in the pharmaceutical, banking and defense contracting industries in defending against claims by the government and by qui tam relators. In his criminal defense practice, Craig has also represented individuals and entities in criminal cases or investigations relating to various alleged offenses including mail and wire fraud, RICO, antitrust, environmental crimes and securities fraud. In his appellate practice, Craig has handled appeals for clients in significant civil and criminal matters in state and federal courts nationwide.


Margaret Sperry
Executive Director, Rhode Island Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association

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


Thomas Sullivan
Associate Director, Division of Supervision and Regulation, Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System

Thomas Sullivan is an Associate Director of the Federal Reserve, Board of Governors. Mr. Sullivan, an insurance industry regulatory veteran, leads the Federal Reserve on regulatory matters presented by insurance firms within the responsibility of the Fed.

Among his core responsibilities, Mr. Sullivan leads the insurance policy development activities of the Fed. Mr. Sullivan also represents the Fed at the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) and leads the Federal Reserve’s participation in IAIS
committees, working groups and projects. He is the Fed’s point of contact with senior officials from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), state insurance commissioners, the Federal Insurance Office, and foreign insurance supervisory authorities. He briefs the Chair and other members of the Board, and senior officials on matters of relevance in insurance regulation. Mr. Sullivan has testified before Congress and is the Fed’s key spokesperson on insurance industry matters having appeared in broadcast and print media, as well as, at numerous industry events and forums.

Previously, Mr. Sullivan was a Partner in the financial services regulatory consulting practice at one of the world’s largest professional services firms.

Most notably, Mr. Sullivan served nearly four years as Connecticut’s 30th Insurance Commissioner beginning in 2007. As Commissioner, Sullivan, successfully guided his agency through the depths and challenges of the most recent financial crisis, a time of significant stress for some regulated financial institutions within his dominion. Commissioner Sullivan was also an active member of the NAIC, leading and serving on a number of committees including the Executive Committee, Government Relations Leadership Counsel, Life and Annuities Committee, Property Casualty Committees, and the Climate Change Task Force. He was instrumental in leading the NAIC’s post crisis introspection and further strengthening the regulatory regime.

Mr. Sullivan has more than 30 years of experience in the insurance industry. He began his career at The Hartford, advancing through various positions of responsibility in management, leadership, and finally as an executive in the firm.


Cass R. Sunstein
Professor, Harvard Law School

Cass R. Sunstein is currently the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard. From 2009 to 2012, he was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. He is the founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School. Mr. Sunstein has testified before congressional committees on many subjects, and he has been involved in constitution-making and law reform activities in a number of nations.

Mr. Sunstein has authored many articles and books including Republic.com (2001), Risk and Reason (2002), Why Societies Need Dissent (2003), The Second Bill of Rights (2004), Laws of Fear: Beyond the Precautionary Principle (2005), Worst-Case Scenarios (2001), Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness (with Richard H. Thaler, 2008), Simpler: The Future of Government (2013) and most recently Why Nudge? (2014) and Conspiracy Theories and Other Dangerous Ideas (2014). He is now working on group decision-making and various projects on the idea of liberty.


Todd R. Thakar
Executive Director, California Life & Health Insurance Guarantee Association

Todd Thakar serves as Executive Director of the California Life and Health Insurance Guarantee Association. In this capacity Todd partners with member companies and the Department of Insurance to protect California policyholders when their insurer becomes insolvent. Todd has served in the Guaranty System since 1995 including service as Chair of the California and Alaska Boards for more than a dozen years.

During his tenure as Vice President Government Affairs with Prudential Financial, Todd served as the face of Prudential to regulators and legislators in nine western states. Before joining Prudential, Todd practiced redevelopment and municipal finance law, worked in Washington, D.C. as Director (and Assistant Director) of Intergovernmental Affairs for U.S. Senator Pete Wilson (R-CA), served as a Schedule C appointee with the Reagan Administration at HUD, and worked as the Marketing Director for a Computer Seminar Company. Todd holds a law degree from the University of San Diego, a Masters of Public Administration from USC and a BA in Political Science from UCLA.

With a heart for others, Todd serves on the Board of Directors for Faith Alive USA, a non-profit helping to provide free medical care to 300+ patients daily at the Faith Alive HIV/AIDS Foundation in Jos, Nigeria. Todd has a passion for short-term missions having travelled to Nigeria 14 times to volunteer at Faith Alive as well as trips to Nicaragua, Colombia and Uganda. In addition to being dad to his four grown daughters, Todd mentors college age interns at his church and opens his home to 3-4 students each year.


Susan E. Voss
Vice President of Government Relations, American Enterprise Group, Inc., and Chair of NOLHGA Board of Directors

Susan Voss grew up in Fairfield, Iowa. A lifelong Iowan, she graduated from Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, with a BA in History. She attended Gonzaga University School of Law in Spokane, Washington, receiving her JD 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 health-care 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 the 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).


Hilary Wells, CIPP/US
Partner, Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP

Hilary Wells is a partner in Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie’s Litigation practice group and serves as the chair for the Data Protection and Cybersecurity team. She has represented a wide-range of businesses including banks, financial advisors, private equity companies, insurance companies and health care providers. Hilary has tried cases in federal and state court as well as in arbitration. Hilary regularly consults with and advises clients about data protection and security matters. She guides clients through increasingly complex regulatory and statutory requirements for collecting, processing and protecting personal information. She helps clients implement and enforce privacy policies and properly respond to data security incidents.


Scott A. White
Commissioner, Virginia State Corporate Commission, Bureau of Insurance

Mr. White joined the Bureau of Insurance in 1998 as a Research Analyst in the Bureau of Insurance’s Property & Casualty Division. In 1999, he moved to the Commission’s Office of General Counsel, where he provided legal advice and representation to the Bureau, primarily on property and casualty and agent enforcement/licensing matters. His responsibilities later expanded to include representing the Bureau on life and health and financial regulation matters. In 2011, Mr. White became Deputy General Counsel for Financial Services in the Office of General Counsel. In this position, he managed a group of attorneys who provide legal advice and representation to those divisions within the Commission that regulate insurance, securities, and financial institutions. Mr. White was appointed Commissioner of Insurance in January 2018.

Mr. White received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Virginia and a law degree from the University of Missouri.