2025 Conference Speakers
Industry Members
Jessica Ahrens
LexisNexis Risk Solutions
Jessica Ahrens | LexisNexis Risk Solutions
Jessica Ahrens is the Insurance Vertical Solutions Consultant for Fraud and Identity at LexisNexis Risk Solutions. As a VSC, Jessica consults on fraud and identity strategies during the sales process for all insurance markets. She provides thought leadership, business expertise, and guidance for account executives, clients, and prospects. Jessica also partners with Sales Management, Product Management, and Vertical Market Leadership to innovate, develop, or enhance product offerings based on market trends and feedback.
Jessica started with LexisNexis Risk Solutions in 2022 with an extensive 17 plus year career in the financial industry identifying, mitigating, and reporting fraud with several top financial institutions. Having held roles from the front line, managing operations of fraud departments, and developing fraud mitigation strategies, Jessica has seen the value of understanding how solutions work not only as a decision maker but also as a user. Jessica is a passionate about advocating for understanding the full value of solution to also understand how that solution can be tuned over time to change as the fraud changes.
Jessica earned her bachelor’s degree in operations management from Arizona State University, MBA from Grand Canyon University, and holds certifications from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (CFE) and The Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS).
Jennifer Aiello
Sydney Consulting Group
Jennifer Aiello | Sydney Consulting Group
Jennifer joined Sydney Consulting in 2020 after working close to 15 years in the compliance unit at Allstate Benefits. Jennifer’s extensive background in drafting insurance contracts, filing products, reviewing new laws and regulations, and responding to objection letters spans both life and health products. Jennifer holds an Associate of Arts from Brewton-Parker College. She has completed the requirements for the designations of AIRC, ACS, and FLMI through LOMA.
John Balbach, Jr
Milliman
John Balbach, Jr | Milliman
John consults on life insurance and annuity products. He has extensive experience across indexed, fixed, registered index-linked, and variable annuity product lines. He has worked with these products in the contexts of pricing and product development, product management, cash flow testing, valuation, asset-liability, and liquidity management. He has also been involved with Variable Universal Life with a focus on COLI and BOLI, indexed universal life, and traditional life products.
Kathleen Birrane
DLA Piper LLP
Kathleen Birrane | DLA Piper LLP
Kathleen Birrane, a partner in the Litigation practice, serves as the firm’s US Insurance Regulatory Practice leader. She represents clients who are engaged in, or support, the business of insurance with respect to regulated activities and related litigation. Kathleen returned to DLA Piper in July 2024 after four years of service as the Maryland Insurance Commissioner. During her tenure, Kathleen served on the Executive Committee of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, was the inaugural chair of the NAIC’s Innovation, Cybersecurity and Technology (H) Committee, and lead the solvency workstream of the NAIC’s Climate and Resiliency Task Force. Kathleen is broadly recognized as a thought leader on complex insurance regulatory issues, including the responsible and ethical use of AI Systems and complex predictive models in the business of insurance. She was the primary author of the NAIC’s Model Bulletin on the Use of Artificial Intelligence Systems by Insurers, which sets out regulatory guidance and expectations regarding the development and deployment of certain advanced analytical and computational technologies by insurers.
Holly Blanchard
Regulatory Insurance Advisors
Holly Blanchard | Regulatory Insurance Advisors
Holly Blanchard is the President of Regulatory Insurance Advisors, LLC (RIA), a consulting firm specializing in insurance regulatory matters and Enterprise Risk Management. Holly formed RIA in January 2016, along with her partner Pieter Williams. In her role, Holly provides services for state and federal regulators, and insurance carriers and oversees a team of dynamic individuals that provide exceptional regulatory guidance and consulting for our clients. Holly has over 20 years of insurance experience including extensive market conduct, Affordable Care Act (ACA), and overall regulatory expertise and experience.
Holly previously served as Life and Health Administrator for the Nebraska Department of Insurance (Department). In this capacity, Holly oversaw the Department’s product and rate operations for life and health insurance, including the Department’s implementation of the ACA. Holly also served as the Department’s Market Conduct Examiner in Charge where she managed Market Conduct Examinations for all lines of insurance.
Holly’s primary areas of consulting include: comprehensive market conduct examinations; specialty and targeted market conduct examinations; market conduct risk-assessments for insurers and regulators; creating examination best practices; ACA regulation; Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder parity regulation; product filing development and compliance; student health plan expertise; annuity suitability; market regulation training; sampling training; property and casualty; surplus lines; reinsurance and market regulation best practices for insurers and regulators.
Holly holds several industry designations, is a Past-President and Board of Director member for the Insurance Regulatory Examiner’s Society (IRES), and a past Board of Director member for the Association of Insurance Compliance Professionals (AICP). Holly also is actively involved in multiple committees and sub-committees of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). Additionally, she presents at National Trade Organization conferences frequently as a subject matter expert in varied insurance topics.
Jon Blomquist
Life Innovators
Jon Blomquist | Life Innovators
Jon is an Actuary that has been working in the product development space for nearly a decade. He joined Life Innovators as Senior Director of Product in 2024. Prior to Life Innovators, Jon worked for several years as a Senior Consulting Actuary at Securian Financial, focusing primarily on the design, pricing, implementation, and inforce management of annuity products.
During his time at Securian, Jon worked extensively with internal sales teams and external distribution partners to provide education on existing products and shape the strategy of future product initiatives. His experience collaborating with marketing, systems, legal, new business, and service teams has contributed to a deep and well-rounded understanding of the annuity product life cycle.
Jon is a Fellow in the Society of Actuaries and a Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst. He and his wife reside in their home state of Minnesota. Go Vikings!
Matt Brasch
Cumberland Mutual
Matt Brasch | Cumberland Mutual
Experienced in-house counsel in the insurance/financial services industry with a passion for Legal Operations and Digital Innovation. Skilled in Infrastructure building, Team building, Insurance Compliance, Corporate Compliance, Client Service, Legal Writing, Insurance Law, Anti-Fraud Prevention and Detection, and Market Conduct oversight.
Nicole Calhoun
ProAssurance
Nicole Calhoun | ProAssurance
Nancy Campbell
Regulatory Insurance Advisors
Nancy Campbell | Regulatory Insurance Advisors
Nancy Campbell is a Senior Examiner for RIA Consulting, LLC. She has been in the insurance industry for over 35 years. Her broad experience includes working for a brokerage, a general agency, the State of Washington Office of the Insurance Commissioner, an insurer, and managing general agency. Nancy’s expertise is in market regulation for life, health, and annuities.
Nancy is married to her husband Jim Sabado. They have two dogs, Mojo and Georgia. In her spare time, you can find Nancy cheering for the Seattle Seahawks and working with her favorite charity, Fanz 4 Good. In 2022, Nancy was inducted into Pro Football’s Ultimate Fan Association. Nancy and her husband Jim especially enjoy traveling, with visits to places across the US, Mexico, England, and the Dominican Republic.
Joseph Carollo
Milliman
Joseph Carollo | Milliman
Joe is a Senior Compliance Analyst with Milliman’s Tampa office. He primarily specializes in developing, drafting, and revising supplemental health products to comply with state and federal law. Joe also works with unique and innovative products, including life insurance combination products. Before Milliman, he obtained a juris doctor degree from Stetson University College of Law and worked for two plaintiff’s insurance law firms.
RJ Charlton
Sammons Financial Group
RJCharlton | Sammons Financial Group
RJ Charlton- Director, Compliance Investigations has 20 years of experience in the life and annuity industry. RJ has worked in Compliance since 2018; first as an individual contributor on the Compliant Investigations team where, in addition to handling operational compliance issues, he handled correspondence from customers, third party representatives, agents, Departments of Insurance, and other parties. RJ has been in a leadership position in Compliance since 2021 and currently oversees the Complaint Investigations Team as well as the Special Investigations Unit. He has spent time on the Market Conduct team and is currently assisting with building an Agent Monitoring Platform. RJ previously managed teams in Customer Service including correspondence, illustrations, and phone teams. RJ’s broad business unit experience, compliance background, and investigative experience has afforded him the opportunity to gain robust product and process knowledge as well as keep a pulse on fraud schemes, agent related issues, market conduct issues, and trending complaint topics.
Ben Conrad
Davies North America
Ben Conrad | Davies North America
Ben Conrad is a credentialed actuary with more than 15 years of experience as both a consultant and a regulator. His experience includes providing pricing and reserving services to insurance carriers, self-insured entities, captive insurers, and more. His time as a regulator allows him to help his clients develop products that will quickly be approved by state regulatory agencies.
Daniel Cotter
Dickinson Wright
Daniel Cotter | Dickinson Wright
Dan is an experienced attorney who has served in various legal roles, including as general counsel of a large life insurance company and has extensive experience in private practice. His mix of clients includes insurance companies and other financial institutions, IT and consulting companies, and nonprofits. Dan has worked on privacy and cybersecurity issues since 1996, including developing terms and conditions and disclaimers on Fortune 500 websites in the late 1990s. He has been the chief privacy officer of several companies and law firms and has extensive experience as in-house counsel. Dan is experienced in dealing with complex insurance regulatory issues and transactions and substantial reorganizations of holding company systems. Throughout his career, he has negotiated thousands of contracts, from simple to complex, including outsourcing. He also has substantial experience with internal investigations and employment-related issues.
Dan is recognized as a leader in his field by Illinois Super Lawyers. He is a member and has held various leadership positions in the American Bar Association, the Chicago Bar Association, the National Conference of Bar Presidents, the Chicago Bar Foundation, the American Law Institute, and the Association of Insurance Compliance Professionals. Dan received his B.A. from Monmouth College and his J.D. from The John Marshall Law School.
Tony Cotto
NAMIC
Tony Cotto | National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies
Tony Cotto is the Director of Auto and Underwriting Policy for the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC), where he advises member companies on all legislative and regulatory matters related to automobile insurance and risk-based pricing across property/casualty lines. He frequently represents NAMIC before federal and state policymakers at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), the National Council of Insurance Legislators, as well as individual state regulatory and legislative bodies. He also represents NAMIC at several insurance industry and road safety community organizations where he provides analysis, research, and testimony on priority issues for NAMIC members.
Before joining NAMIC in 2020, Tony served as an Executive Advisor in the administration of Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin, overseeing legislative and regulatory reform efforts across more than 35 agencies and licensing boards, including the Department of Insurance. Prior to that, Cotto advised insurers in private practice as a Managing Associate at the law firm of Frost Brown Todd, which followed a 5-year stint as Financial Policy and Legislative Counsel at the NAIC. During his decade and a half in Washington, DC, Cotto also served as Counsel to the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations advising the ranking member at the time, Dr. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), and as Associate General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Commerce in the George W. Bush administration. He began his legal career prosecuting whistleblower complaints at the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.
Cotto earned his J.D. from The George Washington University Law School and his bachelor’s degree in political science from Yale University. He lives in Louisville, Kentucky, with his wife and daughter.
Sean Cox
First Consulting
Sean Cox | First Consulting
Sean has been with First Consulting since 1995 and during that time has worked in many different roles within the firm, including product development, filings, advertising and licensing, and for all lines of L&H and P&C insurance. Sean has held numerous regional and national officer positions within the AICP, including as President and Regional Director for the Heartland Chapter, and he received the AICP’s national President’s Award and Lennon Award.
Tim Crawford
Sammons Financial Group
Tim Crawford | Sammons Financial Group
Tim Crawford currently serves as Vice President & Associate General Counsel in the Legal Department of Sammons Financial Group. Tim previously served in legal roles at Ameriprise Financial and Nationwide Life Insurance Company. Over the course of his career, Tim has represented organizations on legal and regulatory issues related to the sale, marketing, and distribution of life insurance and annuity products as well as matters concerning in-force business.
Karen Crooks
Karen Crooks | Consultant
Karen began her insurance career over 34 years ago in a local Met Life sales office outside Cincinnati, OH after graduating from the University of Cincinnati with a degree in Science Education. She also worked in a local Met Life sales office and the Regional Office while she lived in Nashville, TN. When she moved to Columbus, OH she worked for Midland National. After a move to the Indianapolis, IN area, she worked for CNO (Conseco) and then OneAmerica. She moved to Tampa, FL where she worked for New York Life.
During the last 27 years of her insurance career, Karen worked in various compliance roles on different product lines, such as annuities (fixed, variable and equity indexed for both individual and group), group term life and individual whole life, term life, and universal life, and benefit group products, such as group disability income insurance.
Karen is a past president of the AICP and a President’s award recipient. Karen served in various offices starting with the local Midwest Chapter and then to the National level and she has served on many committees throughout her tenure with the AICP. Karen has also authored the “Know Your Regulator” blog articles where she shares information about a regulator with the AICP members.
Karen is retired part time and fills her days refinishing and sprucing up old furniture for New Life Warehouse in Tampa, FL (newlifewarehouse.org). Karen and her husband, Mark, enjoy being outdoors and as a new retiree, Karen also has more time to play pickleball. Karen and Mark have four grown children and one grandson. Karen loves to travel especially to see her family in Indianapolis and Southern California.
Cailie Currin
Currin Compliance Services, Inc.
Cailie Currin | Currin Compliance Services, Inc.
Cailie has been President of Currin Compliance Services, Inc., an insurance compliance consulting firm for the last 17 years. In 2022, she acquired and began writing and publishing the weekly newsletter Insurance Compliance Insight. Prior to starting her business, she was a regulator at the then New York State Insurance Department and a partner at two law firms, one in New York City and one in Albany, NY, representing life insurers in various legal and compliance matters. Sandwiched in between the law firms, she was in-house counsel as a product attorney at a major life insurance company.
Cailie lives on a small hobby farm in upstate NY. Her passions include epic bike tours, training her Icelandic horse, donkeys, and dog, Gator.
Kellee da Roza
Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty
Kellee da Roza | Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty
Kellee da Roza, joined Allianz Commercial in 2014 and is currently the Lead, Senior Analyst, US State Affairs. Kellee ’s regulatory and compliance responsibilities encompass Commercial Property, Corporate Property, Inland Marine and Crime. Kellee is also responsible for the MidCorp Programs group that crosses over multiple lines of business. She has extensive experience managing filings and regulatory changes to effectively ensure our business partners and products remain compliant. Kellee resides in California; therefore, the California Insurance industry is a great concern, and she continues gain knowledge of the regulatory changes to understand how it affects her company and policyholders.
Prior to that, she worked at Employers Insurance Company within the Corporate Underwriting and Corporate Actuarial departments. Her paralegal studies were beneficial to enter the world of Insurance Regulatory and Compliance. Kellee also has years of experience in the Financial Industry. Kellee is the current Vice President of the Western Chapter has been volunteering on the National level participating on committees for the AICP Annual Conference for years.
Kellee enjoys spending time with family including her three Golden Retrievers, hiking and anything that involves being outside in nature.
Bri Dahl
NAMIC
Bri Dahl | NAMIC
Bri Dahl joined NAMIC in 2021, bringing with her more than two decades of experience in the mutual insurance industry. Her early years were spent in underwriting, initially in small commercial business then later working with commercial and farm lines before transitioning to a product development role. Bri’s experience with rate and product changes, as well as state expansion and policy processing system initiatives, has given her a broad perspective on compliance and its importance to every aspect of insurance. She is also actively involved with the Association of Insurance Compliance Professionals, where she previously served as president and currently serves as treasurer. Her involvement with AICP has provided her with a valuable network of regulatory and compliance professionals from whom to draw expertise.
Andrew Deutsch
Intact Insurance Specialty Solutions
Andrew Deutsch | Intact Insurance Specialty Solutions
Andrew Deutsch is Senior Product & Strategy Director at Intact Insurance Accident & Health where he focuses on product development, compliance, contracts, and privacy issues involving occupational accident and contingent liability for transportation and sharing economy businesses, as well as non-trucking liability and auto liability. He has been with Intact Accident & Health since 2021. Andrew’s previous experience includes insurance product development for technology and medical technology markets, global data privacy management for a manufacturing company, and risk management for a construction and development firm. Before that, Andrew was in private practice with a law firm in Minneapolis where he represented insurance companies in litigated insurance coverage disputes and provided coverage opinions.
Kathy Donovan
Wolters Kluwer
Kathy Donovan | Wolters Kluwer
Senior Regulatory Counsel with more than 30 years of insurance regulatory experience and expertise. Dedicated to understanding and providing solutions to the complexities insurers face and helping them improve compliance understanding and results.
Robert Eaton
Milliman, Inc.
Robert Eaton | Milliman, Inc.
I’m a consultant to the Long-Term Care and Life insurance markets. Recently I’ve been developing and modeling hybrid policies with living benefits for life and annuity products. I work most often with companies selling individual or voluntary products in the worksite.
I serve as an Expert Witness on cases relating to LTC insurance.
I also work with companies on LTC rate increases, and I enjoy discussing the much-needed innovation in the LTCI and LTSS space. I value blocks of annuity, life, and LTC business for mergers, acquisitions, and reinsurance transactions.
Finally, I am a manager of Milliman’s novel LTC Advanced Risk Analytics product, which you can learn more about at www.milliman.com/LARA
Alan Eife
Martin & Company
Alan Eife | Martin & Company
Alan Eife brings over 30 years of leadership and compliance expertise in the U.S. Property & Casualty (P&C) insurance industry. Throughout his career, Alan has held senior roles with notable organizations including Philadelphia Insurance Companies, The Hanover Insurance Group, New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance (NJM), Poseidon Insurance, and the School Districts’ Insurance Consortium, Pennsylvania’s largest self-insured fund. He has a demonstrated track record of successfully navigating regulatory complexities, shaping operational strategies, and driving initiatives critical to product and market expansion.
Sue Eckler-Kerns
Guardian Life
Sue Eckler-Kerns | Guardian Life
Susan Eckler-Kerns is a currently a Senior State Filing Consultant for the Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, working on a variety of LAH products and issues. Prior to her employment at Guardian, from 1986 – to 2014, she was employed by The Prudential insurance Company of America. In her most recent role there, she was Director, Regulatory Compliance Technology. Additional details regarding work history and accomplishments can be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanecklerkerns. Susan played a key role in the development and growth of the System for Electronic Rate and Form Filing (SERFF) and served on the SERFF Board of Directors from 1999 -2012, for many years serving as the Vice Chair. She has been extensively involved in the SERFF Product Steering Committee, serving a number of years as Co-Chair.
From 2014-2016, Susan served as the Vice President, President, then Past President of the Association of Insurance Compliance Professionals (www.aicp.net). She was awarded the AICP Lennon Award in 2012, the AICP’s most prestigious award for volunteerism, and has been very active leading a variety of AICP committees, as well as serving on AICP committees and Task Forces, and participating in Chapter activities.
Susan is a summa cum laude BA graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University (Madison campus) in Psychology, and she also earned her FLMI with distinction. She is a lifelong resident of New Jersey whose past and present hobbies and interests include quilting, organic vegetable gardening, skiing, hiking, kayaking, caving, horseback riding and scuba diving.
Kelly Eddy
CNO Financial Group
Kelly Eddy | CNO Financial Group
At CNO, Kelly serves as a day-to-day strategic business and legal advisor to marketing organizations and navigates leaders through complex regulatory and contractual matters. She always seeks out practical solutions that are compliance-orientated while still supporting business goals.
Freddy Fonseca
Faegre Drinker
Freddy Fonseca | Faegre Drinker
Freddy Fonseca partners with clients in the insurance industry to provide guidance as they navigate complex litigation, regulatory, compliance and transactional matters. His in-house experience, combined with experience as a litigator in Los Angeles and Chicago, brings a uniquely informed perspective to develop strategic solutions for your business needs.
Sam Garro
Sam Garro
Sam Garro is currently retired, having previously served as Executive Advisor and Senior Vice President of the Compliance Department at Philadelphia Insurance Companies. He received his BA degree with honors from Rutgers University and his law degree from Temple University’s (James E. Beasley) School of Law. He holds the CPCU and ACP designations. Sam has managed compliance and product development units in both Life and Health and Property and Casualty.
Sam has presented numerous continuing education seminars for the Insurance Society of Philadelphia (ISOP) and the Institute of Strategic Educational Partners. He has twice been awarded the Outstanding Educator Award by ISOP and was a recipient of ISOP’s Mariellen Whelan Excellence in Education Award. He has coordinated, moderated and spoken at various sessions at both the local and national AICP conferences.
Joel Glover
Faegre Drinker
Joel Glover | Faegre Drinker
Joel Glover 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.
Michael Goldman
Perr&Knight
Michael Goldman | Perr&Knight
Michael Goldman is a Principal & Consulting Actuary with Perr&Knight. Michael leads a team of actuaries that provides ratemaking and reserving analyses across all states and many lines of business with a focus on personal automobile and homeowners. Michael is the Appointed Actuary for several insurance companies. His experience includes pricing, filing, product development, regulatory rate compliance, profitability analyses and reporting, and reserve studies spanning personal and commercial lines.
Michael has provided property & casualty actuarial services since 2003. Prior to joining Perr&Knight’s Boca Raton, Florida office in 2015, Michael led a pricing team supporting personal automobile and homeowners at Liberty Mutual in Seattle, Washington. His other experience includes managing a pricing team supporting numerous niche insurance products at Assurant Specialty Property in Miami, Florida and providing actuarial analyst support at Key Risk Insurance Company, a workers’ compensation insurer in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Michael holds a Masters of Business Administration degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Florida, where he majored in Finance and minored in Actuarial Science. Michael became a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society in 2013 and is a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries.
Noel Grammer
Milliman
Noel Grammer | Milliman
Noel Valenti Grammer is a Senior Compliance Analyst with Milliman. Noel has over 10 years of experience in all aspects of stop loss filing, with an emphasis on product research and development of compliant policy forms and innovative endorsement coverages on a countrywide basis. In addition, Noel has over 30 years of experience in the insurance industry, working with marketing partners to create and manage regulatory compliance programs, and has an extensive background spanning a wide variety of products with a focus on group and individual supplemental insurance, credit-related insurance, and other niche coverages.
Michael Hartman
Dearborn Life Insurance Company
Michael Hartman | Dearborn Life Insurance Company
As manager of the Regulatory Oversight & Compliance unit, Michael is responsible for managing the compliance unit for the Lombard, Illinois office for Dearborn Life Insurance Company. Responsible for the operations of the unit include budgeting, staffing, staff training and development; overseeing regulatory and legislative review; ensuring compliance with all state regulations and laws for group ancillary products (life, Disability, Accident, AD&D, Critical Illness, Hospital Indemnity, Vision); statutory/Regulatory compliance reporting; overseeing TPA licensure filings and ancillary product filings; all Consumer complaints / grievances; and assists the Divisional Privacy Officer as the Divisional Privacy Reviewer.
Michael joined Dearborn in 2006 from Protective Life Insurance Company, where he served as a Product Officer and worked in the Product Development unit. He has 34 years of experience in the life insurance industry with 32 of those in a compliance role.
Michael holds professional designations from:
• LOMA and the AICP
• FLMI, Fellow Life Management Institute;
• Professional, Customer Service (PCS);
• Associate, Insurance Regulatory Compliance (AIRC);
• Associate, Insurance Agency Administration (AIAA);
• Associate, Reinsurance Administration (ARA);
• Associate, Annuity Products and Administration (AAPA)
• Certified Compliance Professional (CCP)
Michael, a member of the Great Lakes chapter of the Association Insurance Compliance Professionals (“AICP”), was a conference planning committee member for the regional and national levels, and was the Great Lakes Chapter Regional Director and National Board of Directors member – 2018-2023, serving as the Chapter Outreach Committee chair for the 2022 and 2023 terms.
Laura Helvey
Milliman
Laura Helvey | Milliman
Laura has been with Milliman for ten years and has experience as both an underwriter and compliance consultant. She specializes in all aspects of insurance licensing. Laura is well-versed in navigating the complexities of state-specific regulatory requirements and ensuring compliance with all relevant laws. She also assists with underwriting guidelines and works extensively with group and individual life and annuity products. Additionally, Laura has a proven track record in designing speed-to-market initiatives, particularly during mergers and acquisitions, to ensure seamless transitions and rapid deployment of new products.
Terri Hitchcock
Thimble
Terri Hitchcock | Thimble
Terri Hitchcock’s insurance career has spanned the past 40 years, mostly on the insurance company side, in disciplines that include legal, compliance, underwriting, product design, company operations, reinsurance, and litigation management. She has been a member for AICP for 9 years and encourages those who have not yet joined to do so and take advantage of the incredible opportunities to develop professionally and to meet some incredibly talented industry professionals.
Bridget Hurd
BCBS of Michigan
Bridget Hurd | Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan
Bridget Hurd is the vice president of inclusion and diversity at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan where she is responsible for leading and executing the corporate inclusion and diversity strategy and shaping a BCBSM culture of inclusion. She also leads the Office of Health and Health Disparities, which focuses on achieving health equity in the delivery of and access to care. Serving BCBSM and its subsidiaries, Hurd facilitates the Diversity Leadership Councils and oversees diversity and cultural competency learning opportunities for employees and 15 employee resource networks. She currently represents Blue Cross on the Michigan Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Disparities, appointed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in April 2020. She is a recipient of the DentaQuest 2020 Health Equity Heroes award and was recently recognized as Executive of the Year by the BCBSM Chapter of the Leadership Development Association.
Prior to her current role, Hurd was the director of Community Responsibility at BCBSM. In this role, she developed and led strategic community partnerships to encourage healthy, active lifestyles at every age and advanced the Blues brand in local communities. She oversaw corporate giving, stakeholder relationships, the employee and executive volunteer programs, and corporate internal and special events
Brandon Katz
KatRisk
Brandon Katz | KatRisk
Brandon specializes in engineering natural catastrophe risk models for a wide range of clients including those from the insurance/financial industries and government. He is currently involved in developing and deploying probabilistic natural hazard models and risk maps with a focus on flood, hail, and wildfire perils.
Before KatRisk, Brandon worked for the reinsurance brokerage arm of Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT Re) and at RMS where he contributed to research efforts in flood related projects. He joined KatRisk in 2016.
Brandon holds a B.S. and M.S. in Meteorology and Climate studies from the Pennsylvania State University.
Brooke Kelley/b>
APCIA
Brooke Kelley | APCIA
Brooke Kelley, MPPA has a diverse work experience in the insurance industry and media. Brooke currently holds the position of Assistant Vice President, State Government Relations at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association. Prior to this, they worked at Allstate as a Communication Professional. Brooke also served as the Vice President of Communications at the National Insurance Crime Bureau, where they played a key role in implementing communication and marketing strategies. Brooke has also held various positions at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, including Assistant Vice President and Director of Public Affairs. Earlier in their career, Brooke worked as a Reporter at WTOC-TV and 7 & 4 News WPBN-WTOM, gaining valuable experience in journalism and media production.
Brooke Kelley, MPPA, pursued their education with a focus on public policy and communications journalism. From 2019 to 2022, they attended Northwestern University, where they successfully obtained a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree, specializing in Public Policy. Prior to that, from 1999 to 2002, they studied at Loyola University Chicago and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Communications Journalism.
Richard Koon
Koon Group, LLC
Richard Koon | Koon Group, LLC
Richard (Rich) C. Koon has over 30 years of regulatory experience serving in numerous capacities from highly specialized technical positions to senior manager in one of the largest insurance markets in the nation. Rich served as deputy insurance commissioner for the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation where he provided executive, regulatory, and policy leadership, as well as administrative direction and support for the business units regulating the property and casualty insurance industry. He has been appointed to numerous boards and committees to address property and casualty insurance issues, including positions with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC).
Currently, Rich provides governmental consulting services with a special focus on insurance regulation and compliance issues affecting insurers, brokers, and trade associations in the property, casualty, life, health, and warranty business as principal of Koon Group. He utilizes his years of experience in insurance transactions, filings, rate hearings, and administrative actions while representing a wide range of clients across many jurisdictions. He understands the challenges his clients face and effectively assists them in obtaining the outcomes they seek. These services include representation before legislative and executive entities, analyses of insurance rate and
form filings, development of legislation and rules, and strategic advice and regulatory guidance on matters related to insurance products and markets. Rich specializes in helping clients across the country overcome regulatory challenges using his years of experience at the state and national levels.
Stacy Koron
First Consulting
Stacy Koron | First Consulting
Stacy Koron has worked as an insurance compliance professional for over 20 years, both as a consultant and working in house at an insurtech. In her current role, Stacy assists clients with life, annuity, and health insurance product development, research, and general compliance consulting. She especially enjoys helping her clients bridge the gap between technology and regulation and find innovative solutions that move business forward.
Stacy is admitted to the bar in Kansas and Missouri.
Scott Kosnoff
Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
Scott Kosnoff | Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
Trusted by industry and regulators alike, Scott helps clients capitalize on opportunities and address regulatory and legal issues related to artificial intelligence, big data and algorithms. Scott helps clients stay on top of the emerging standards and regulations that will govern AI. There’s a lot going on, at every level. Scott helps clients implement a risk management framework and minimize their risk of regulatory, litigation and reputational exposure. Effective risk management calls for a holistic, multi-disciplinary approach throughout the AI life cycle. Working with the firm’s data consulting subsidiary, Scott uses his first-hand knowledge of evolving regulatory standards to help clients assess their algorithms for unintended discrimination. It’s important, cutting-edge work. At the request of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Scott has briefed the nation’s top insurance regulators regarding AI on multiple occasions, including in closed-door sessions. Most recently, he has briefed regulators on how insurers can employ AI risk management and governance to mitigate their regulatory, litigation and reputation risk.
Sachin Kulkarnin
Comply
Sachin Kulkarnin | Comply
Sachin is the CEO and Founder of Comply, an AI-driven platform transforming the way insurance companies manage compliance.
With more than two decades of experience building and scaling products across industries, Sachin has a proven track record of turning ideas into revenue-generating businesses. At global companies like Uber and Ethos Life, he built and launched products that generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, combining strategic vision with executional excellence.
At Comply, Sachin is channeling this expertise into solving one of the insurance industry’s most pressing challenges: compliance. The company’s mission is simple yet ambitious – to give every compliance professional back at least one hour every day by eliminating manual, repetitive work through intelligent automation.
Driven by this mission, Sachin and his team are building world-class solutions that bring speed, clarity, and efficiency to compliance workflows – ensuring that insurers can move faster, reduce risk, and stay ahead in an increasingly complex regulatory environment.
Christin Kuretich
Voya
Christin Kuretich | Voya
Christin Kuretich is the vice president of supplemental products at Voya Financial. Prior to joining Voya, she spent 2 and a half years with Milliman as a strategy consultant, helping supplemental carriers design and sell products. She is passionate about creating meaningful benefits and is a frequent industry speaker on the topic. Her background also includes nearly 13 years at Trustmark, in both field-facing and product development roles. She has also served on the National Association of Supplemental Benefit Insurance (NASBI) board for four years as VP, marketing and communications.
Erin McDonough
Insurance Alliance of Michigan
Erin McDonough | Insurance Alliance of Michigan
McDonough is currently Executive Director of the Insurance Alliance of Michigan (IAM), proudly serving Michigan’s property and casualty insurance carriers. She has over 15 years of experience serving as the chief executive of Michigan-based trade associations and has worked for over 20 years on Michigan policy. Prior to joining IAM she served as President & CEO of the Michigan Oil and Gas Association and as Executive Director of the Michigan United Conservation Clubs.
She is currently a member of the Board of Advisors of MSU’s Great Lakes Leadership Academy and a member of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.
McDonough has her Master’s Degree from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor’s Degree from Central Michigan University. She is a graduate of Michigan State University’s Great Lakes Leadership Academy.
Taylor McKinnon
Milliman
Taylor McKinnon | Milliman
Taylor provides comprehensive compliance support for insurance clients with an emphasis on supplemental insurance product development and design, including group, blanket, and individual accident, hospital indemnity, and critical illness products. As part of this process, Taylor drafts contracts, assists in market competitiveness analysis, manages project workflow, and provides state filing support, which involves communicating with state departments of insurance to facilitate product approvals. He also researches and summarizes state insurance statutes and regulations, as necessary, for product development and to support clients’ other compliance needs. Beyond product design, Taylor assists clients with a wide variety of accident and health insurance compliance issues, such as taxation of benefits, federal regulations, HSA compliance, and state legislative and regulatory changes.
Dave Milligan
Athene USA
Dave Milligan | Athene
Dave has been in the insurance industry for over thirty five years, over Thirty of those in the compliance field. Currently he holds the position of Director – Compliance at Athene. In this role he oversees the daily operation of the Compliance Suitability Team. In the past he has had responsibility for the oversight and management of Athene’s Consumer Resolution Team and Agent Behavior Review Team.
Dave has previously held various compliance leadership roles at other insurance companies, including American Equity Investment Life Insurance Company, Aviva Life Insurance Company (formerly AmerUs Life Insurance Company), and American Life and Casualty In his role at these companies, he was responsible for developing, implementing, and monitoring compliance and market conduct policies, procedures and guidelines for the company, governing the marketing, sales, and administration practices of the companies products. He also teamed with various departments of the company to implement and integrate compliance programs into the day-to-day operations of the company. Dave has also worked extensively with state regulators on issues important to the industry, promoting cooperative relationships and understanding of the topics impacting companies, producers and consumers.
Monica Milner
LexisNexis
Monica Milner | LexisNexis
Monica Milner is product principle, insurance market education for LexisNexis Risk Solutions. She is a senior resource on the team that educates the insurance market on how LexisNexis solutions benefit consumers across the insurance spectrum. Monica also works with state Departments of Insurance across the country as a trusted resource. Monica has more than 20 years of regulatory compliance experience within Life, Accident & Health, and P&C, serving as Compliance Officer and leadership positions with QBE, Aflac and her own consulting business.
Jeff Nash
The Nash Group LLC
Jeff Nash | The Nash Group LLC
Jeff Nash is the Managing Principal of The Nash Group LLC, an insurance regulatory consulting firm founded in 2003 that has been dominant in the P&C insurance market drafting policies and forms, and re-engineering auto, home, property and other insurance products. The Nash Group provides legal services and 50-state insurance regulatory advice on insurance transactions and operations, regulatory compliance, regulatory negotiations, coverage issues, and the innovation of new and improved insurance product designs. Prior to the formation of The Nash Group, Mr. Nash was a Managing Attorney at Progressive Insurance. In addition to the legal and professional services listed above, Mr. Nash also provides fractional General Counsel services to insurance companies and managing general agents. Over the past 5 years this included advising 12 MGAs in various stages of operations and Mr. Nash served as General Counsel for Buckle Commercial Insurance, Gateway Insurance Company, American Service Insurance Company, and American Country Insurance Company. Jeff Nash is admitted to practice law in the states of Ohio and Georgia.
Josie Novak
AM Best
Josie Novak | AM Best
Josie Novak is a senior financial analyst in AM Best’s Property & Casualty (P&C) ratings division. She is responsible for the analysis and financial ratings of regional and local P&C insurance companies, with a particular focus on the Florida property and domestic commercial property markets. In addition to her company-specific analyses, Josie contributes to the development of analytical models and serves as a contributing author for various Best’s Special Reports.
Josie holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and mathematics from Moravian University. She has earned the Financial Risk Manager (FRM) certification, the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation, the Associate in Risk Management (ARM) certification, and the Associate in Reinsurance (ARe) certification, and is a Level II Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) candidate.
Roger Osgood
Chubb Insurance
Roger Osgood | Chubb Insurance
Roger is serving as Vice President and Compliance Officer for Chubb North America’s Major Accounts, Small Business, Westchester, and Surplus Lines businesses. He partners with the business units, compliance managers, and other members of the NA Legal and Compliance to monitor, test, and mitigate potential compliance deficiencies.
Roger is a national Past President and active member of the Association of Insurance Compliance Professionals (AICP). He served the National Board of Directors as President, Vice President, and Regional Director. Roger also served the local chapter as Vice President, President and Past President.
Roger is currently serving on the AICP National Board of Directors as Event Oversight Director coordinating the AICP event calendar. He is also this year’s Conference Chair.
Roger has his AINS designation from The Institutes and his ACP and CCP designations from the Association of Insurance Compliance Professionals. He received his MBA from Southern New Hampshire University and his Bachelor of Arts degree in Business from Saint Anselm College in Manchester, NH.
Laura Panesso
Insurance Services Office, Inc.
Laura Panesso | Insurance Services Office, Inc.
Laura Panesso has 25 years in the insurance industry, holding various positions of increasing responsibility in data management and analysis, analytic product management, and government relations with Insurance Services Office, Inc.. In her current position as Assistant Vice President – State Relations, Laura is responsible for all insurance department interactions including filings, education, outreach, and relationship management, provides leadership in the regulatory acceptance of Risk Analyzer, telematics, and other advanced analytics to facilitate customer adoption and use, and manages ISO’s statistical agent functions.
Ms. Panesso received her Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Mathematics from New Jersey Institute of Technology, a Master of Arts in History of Technology, Environment and Medicine from Rutgers University, obtained the CPCU designation in 2015, and the Associate in Insurance Data Analytics (AIDA) designation in 2017.
Cecil Pearce
Florida Insurance Council
Cecil Pearce | Florida Insurance Council
Before returning to FIC as President in September of 2010, Mr. Pearce served as V.P. of the American Insurance Association, overseeing eight southeastern states. He served as Director of a program to depopulate the FRJUA under Commissioner Bill Nelson; served as V.P. of Legislation for the Florida Association of Insurance Agents; Director of Government Affairs for Independent Insurance Agents of America in Washington DC; Director of Government Affairs for Independent Insurance Agents of Illinois; and Staff Analyst for the Illinois House of Representatives. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Associated Industries of Florida and the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes. Mr. Pearce received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Sangamon State University in Springfield, Illinois.
Lou Penn
Lou Penn & Associates
Lou Penn | Lou Penn & Associates, Inc.
After spending 20 years in state service with the New York, Florida, and Vermont insurance departments, Lou Penn CIE, MCM, CLTC started his own company and has been instrumental in setting up compliance departments at large national insurers, providing guidance and advice, and developing sophisticated market conduct software. Lou was the creator of a leading insurance market conduct compliance software product called Complianceware®, currently being sold today. Now he has created another market conduct compliance product called Market Conduct Auditor® that is more sophisticated, offers a better user experience, and has added search features. Also spent 20 years as insurance agent selling senior market product, i.e., Long Term Care, Medicare and AICP.
Kerri Picard
Equitable Financial
Kerri Picard | Equitable Financial
Kerri Picard is a seasoned product leader with over 25 years of experience in the industry with expertise in the group and individual life, disability, supplemental health, dental and vision insurance. Throughout her career at top insurance companies, she has played key roles in developing innovative products and digital industry solutions. She is focused on delivering seamless digital experiences with products that cater to consumer needs. In her free time, she enjoys reveling the chaos of her 3 dogs, Romeo, Bill Murray, Cannoli and her cat Monster.
Rona Platt
Hadron Holdings
Rona Platt | Hadron Holdings
Rona Platt’s legal career has spanned four decades. After focusing her practice on insurance coverage, Rona moved in-house in 2009, joining The Wright Insurance Group’s Office of General Counsel, where she first encountered compliance as a component of the insurance industry. After Wright, she held US Head of Compliance roles at Enstar, US, StarStone Insurance, and Accelerant, the latter two of which she also served as US General Counsel. Following her retirement from Accelerant in 2023, Rona has remained involved in the industry, sitting on several holding company boards. A member of AICP since 2011, she is completing her term as AICP’s National Secretary.
Karen Pollitt
AXIS Capital
Karen Pollitt | AXIS Capital
Karen is a seasoned insurance compliance and product contract professional. She is currently Director, Product Development at AXIS Insurance Company, in the Accident and Health division. Karen’s experience includes insurance regulatory affairs, managing state filings & statutory reporting, product development and contract drafting, advertising review, legislative/regulatory review and research. Her career began with the John Hancock Companies as a NASD Registered Representative, then with Combined International Insurance as a Group Contract Analyst. She was the Lead Contract/Compliance Analyst at Colonial Penn Life Insurance Company for 17 ½ years before joining Coulter & Associates, Inc. as a Senior Contract & Compliance Consultant for 5 years.
A Past National President of the Association of Insurance Compliance Professionals (AICP), she has been an active member of AICP for 20 years.
Karen has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management from Philadelphia University. She has earned the compliance designations of Associate, Insurance Regulatory Compliance, Associate Compliance Professional and Certified Compliance Professional
Mark Popilizio
Verisk
Mark Popilizio | Verisk
Christa Rapoport
Gonzales Taplin, PA
Christa Rapoport | Gonzales Taplin, PA
Christa is a law firm Partner who creates effective solutions related to Investigations, Market Conduct Examinations, Supervision, Excess and Surplus Lines, Insurer, RRG & Captive Formations, Financial Examination, Supervision, and Compliance Corrective Action Plans. Christa holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Rutgers University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law. She is a 2nd-degree ITF Tae Kwon-do Black Belt, ballroom dancer, and proud mom of two adult sons.
Susan Rider
NABIP
Susan Rider | NABIP
Susan Rider brings a unique blend of industry leadership, compliance expertise, and academic insight to the panel “New Administration, New Direction: Let’s Find Ways to Keep the Confusion at Bay.” She serves as the current President of NABIP, where she champions advocacy, innovation, and policy clarity for professionals across the benefits and insurance landscape.
In her role as Director of Human Resources & Compliance at Human Capital Concepts, Susan advises clients on practical solutions across the ever-changing employment law and HR compliance environment. She also shares her expertise with the next generation of HR leaders as an adjunct faculty member at Purdue University, teaching Employment Law.
Susan holds a Master of Science in Strategic Leadership & Design from the University of Indianapolis, a Bachelor of Science in General Studies with a concentration in Organizational Leadership from IUPUI, and is currently pursuing her Executive Juris Doctor (EJD) at Purdue Global.
Mark Robinson
Michelman & Robinson, LLP
Mark Robinson | Michelman & Robinson LLP
Mark B. Robinson is founding partner of Michelman & Robinson, LLP, a national law firm with offices in Los Angeles, Irvine (California), San Francisco, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, and New York. Mr. Robinson is an insurance industry specialist who primarily represents retail brokers and agents, managing general agent, general agents, wholesalers, and insurance companies in all aspects of their businesses. A recognized authority on regulatory issues, Mr. Robinson’s multi-state practice runs the gamut from complex mergers and acquisitions to compliance matters, and most everything in between.
Mattia Scharfstein
Everest Global
Mattia Scharfstein | Everest Global
I am an insurance regulatory professional with fifteen years of experience in property and casualty insurance. My professional experience encompasses all aspects of insurance regulation, including legislative and regulatory affairs, compliance, state filings, complaint handling, external data reporting and statistical data reporting and market conduct examinations. I have an expert level knowledge of data quality and data reporting, with specific expertise in statistical data reporting. I have held formal positions in and volunteered for numerous industry organizations including the Insurance Regulatory Examiners Society Foundation, the Workers Compensation Insurance Organization Electronic Data Interchange committee, the International Association of Industrial Accidents Boards and Commissions Proof of Coverage committee and the Association of Insurance Compliance Professionals Mid Atlantic Chapter and National organization (as both a board member and as a committee volunteer). I have also had the pleasure of serving on various working groups, committees and speaking in several panels throughout the industry, including the Maryland Insurance Administrations Homeowners Notice industry working group, the New Jersey Compensation Inspection Rating Bureau, the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, the American Conference Institutes Forum on Insurance Regulation, thanks e Association of Insurance Compliance Professionals National Conference and the Insurance Regulatory Examiners Society Foundation.
I hold both an Associate Insurance Data Manger (AIDM) designation and an Advanced Market Conduct Manager (AMCM) designation.
I am also an elected member of the Board of Education in my hometown. I am the current president of the Sussex County Association for the New Jersey School Board Association and attend both county and state school board meetings as a New Jersey School Board Associations delegate.
Greg Scoblete
Verisk
Greg Scoblete | Verisk
Greg Scoblete is a writer and researcher with Verisk’s Emerging Issues team. Greg came to Verisk after a successful journalism career, writing about technology, photography, and consumer products. Today, Greg is responsible for research, analysis, and content development for the Emerging Issues team, helping insurers keep up with the evolving risks facing their business. Greg has earned the designation of a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU).
Hunter Sexton
Sydney Consulting Group
Hunter Sexton | Sydney Consulting Group
Hunter Sexton is a Senior Compliance Consultant with Sydney Consulting Group. He joined Sydney in 2020 after 10 years with major medical and government managed care carriers and has become a leader in Supplemental Health Benefits Compliance and “go to market” strategy. He leads Sydney’s best-in-class Compliance Team.
Hunter earned his Juris Doctor from Stetson University College of Law and his Master of Healthcare Administration from University of South Florida’s College of Public Health.
Cara St Martin
Ladder
Cara St Martin | Ladder Life
Cara St. Martin has had a long career in the financial services industry, both securities and insurance, with most of those years in the compliance arena. She is currently the Chief Compliance Officer of Ladder Financial – an insurtech that offers term life insurance online. At Ameriprise Financial she managed policies, procedures and also provided compliance support to the field force of 10,000 advisors. With Allianz Life Insurance Company she was a senior director and the chief compliance officer of the registered separate accounts. She had broad responsibilities that included everything from compliance policies and procedures to regulatory exams to testing and oversight. A graduate of the University of Minnesota, Cara has a Bachelor’s degree in Education with a Certificate in Training and Development and a Master’s degree in Education.
John Standish
Charlee.ai
John Standish | Charlee.ai
John Standish is a Co-Founder, Chief Innovation, and Compliance Officer for Charlee.ai, leading the insurance domain team in creating ontologies for artificial intelligence with natural language processing that predicts claim severity, litigation, the identification of suspected fraud, and trend analysis for reserving claims. Before joining Charlee.ai, John was a consultant and Alliance Partner to the SAS Institute in the State and Local Government, Security and Intelligence, and Financial and Insurance Practices.
John also provides consultation services to the insurance industry for fraud investigations and state-mandated compliance. In legal proceedings, John is qualified and has testified as an expert for insurance fraud, investigations, anti-fraud compliance programs, and insurance technology.
John is a 32-year veteran of California law enforcement, first serving in the California Highway Patrol and then in the California Department of Insurance, Fraud Division. John retired as the Chief of the Fraud Division and has over 25 years of experience investigating insurance fraud, supervising, and managing state and federal investigations in California.
John graduated from the University of San Francisco with a degree in Organizational Behavior and the California Peace Officer Standards Training Commission (POST) – Command College, Class 44.
June Stracener
Maynard Nexsen PC
June Stracener | Maynard Nexsen PC
June is a Regulatory & Compliance Specialist in Maynard Nexsen’s insurance practice group.
She has extensive experience in obtaining regulatory approvals for insurers of all types and in various areas, including initial formation and licensure, expansion, holding company transactions, and corporate amendments such as name changes, redomestications, mergers and acquisitions. She assists in the development of new and unique insurance products, including drafting policy forms, preparing and submitting form and rate filings, and obtaining regulatory approvals of the same. June is involved with multi-state licensing and registration of producers, managing general agencies (MGA), third-party administrators (TPA), risk purchasing groups (RPG), utilization review organizations (UR), and other non-risk bearing insurance-related entities.
June is highly skilled in preparing documents and drafting correspondence related to insurance regulatory transactions. She has significant knowledge of insurance regulatory processes, strong regulatory relationships and a breadth of experience in regulatory compliance matters across all lines of insurance.
June holds a B.S. in Biology, magna cum laude, from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Community & Professional
- Fellow, Life Office Management Association (LOMA), member
- Life and Health Compliance Association (LHCA), member, including serving as a former Executive Committee Chairperson
- Association of Insurance Compliance Professionals (AICP), member
- Securities & Insurance Licensing Association (SILA), member
Jason Sweeney
Sammons Financial Group
Jason Sweeney | Sammons Financial Group
I have been with Sammons Financial Group for 23 years, the last 9 years in Compliance. I have had a variety of roles, reporting is a big part of my role, I have also
worked with Complaint Handling, and spent most of my time with on the Market Conduct Team. I have recently also taken on the creation of an Agent Monitoring
Program.
Christy Thiems
APCIA
Christy Thiems |APCIA
Christy Thiems is a Senior Director with the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA). She is a staff expert on marijuana with countrywide legislative and regulatory responsibility. She is the staff liaison to APCIA’s Marijuana Policy Working Group. She is also a staff expert in workers’ compensation with primary legislative and regulatory responsibility over 19 states. She leads on several topics including independent contractor issues. She also serves as a staff liaison to APCIA’s Workers Compensation Committee.
Prior to joining APCIA in 2016, Christy was the Claims Manager of the Workers’ Compensation and Occupational Accident programs for the IAT Insurance Group. During her 11 years with IAT, she was responsible for all operations within the department including program and policy development, service management, and regulatory compliance. She began her career with Liberty Mutual Insurance as a workers’ compensation claims adjuster. During her seven years there, she progressed to the role of team manager, overseeing a claim service team handling national market accounts.
Christy is a graduate of the University of Illinois and has received several insurance designations including her CPCU.
Elizabeth Tosaris
Michelman & Robinson LLP
Elizabeth Tosaris | Michelman & Robinson LLP
Elizabeth Tosaris is a partner in the San Francisco office of Michelman & Robinson LLP where she is a member of the firm’s Regulatory & Administrative Law Practice Group. With nearly 35 years of experience in the insurance space, she is uniquely positioned to counsel insurance-related clients regarding their filings, examinations, reporting and other interactions nationwide with Departments of Insurance (DOI). She advises insurers, HMOs, insurance producers, and other entities regulated by departments of insurance from general compliance issues and the development of business practices, procedures and products to regulatory approvals connected with many core functions and business strategies.
Stephanie Turgeon
MetLife
Stephanie Turgeon | MetLife
Stephanie started her career in the supplemental health space over 20 years ago with Continental American Insurance Company (CAIC) in Columbia, SC. She worked in many roles, including customer service, pre-sale and implementation, marketing and sales training. CAIC was purchased by Aflac in 2010 products and Stephanie moved into a role in product development.
Stephanie joined MetLife in 2019 as Director of Product Development for the supplemental health products. She is now the National Product Director for Supplemental Health, Pet, Whole Life and Health Savings and Spending Accounts, supporting the sales team. Stephanie has a strong working knowledge of the competitive landscape and has served on industry boards including LIMRA and the National Association of Supplemental Benefit Insurance (NASBI).
Kris Virgin
Careington International Corporation
Kris Virgin | Careington International Corporation
Kris Virgin currently serves as Vice President of Compliance for Careington International Corporation and affiliate companies DialCare, Careington Benefit Solutions and Munroe Sutton. During his career at the Careington family of companies, Kris accumulated more than two decades of experience in dental provider network operations and regulatory compliance on a national level. As Vice President of Compliance, Kris oversees compliance of Careington companies’ wide array of business lines, all of which are regulated at the state level including Discount Plan Organization (DPO), Preferred Provider Organization, Third Party Administration (TPA) and Insurance Agency. As Careington expanded into the operations of telehealth products through affiliate company DialCare, Kris played a critical role in company formation and registration and finalizing policies, procedures and licensure that span the telehealth compliance spectrum, including networks of physicians, mental wellness professionals, dentists and veterinary professionals.
Brandi Waldner
Sydney Consulting Group
Brandi Waldner | Sydney Consulting Group
Brandi is a Senior Compliance Analyst for Sydney Consulting Group where she oversees the review of policy forms presented for initial filing in all jurisdictions. With almost 10 years in compliance, her supplemental product experience includes work with both group and individual Dental, Life, Accident, Cancer, Critical Illness, Hospital Indemnity, and Disability product filings. Brandi’s efforts have proved invaluable to the success of Sydney’s clients.
Brandi resides in Columbia, SC with her husband and three spoiled dogs. In her spare time outside of work, she enjoys running, traveling, watching her nephew play baseball, and spending time with family and friends.
Nicole Wample
Martin & Company
Nicole Wample | Martin & Company
Nicole has held a variety of State Filings and Compliance positions since the start of her insurance career in 2007. She handles filing and compliance projects for various commercial property and casualty lines of business including, but not limited to, Commercial Automobile, Professional Liability, Commercial Umbrella and Excess, Commercial General Liability, and Commercial Property, for both proprietary and rating service organization products. Nicole joined Martin & Company in 2020, and shortly after completed her CPCU designation. She also holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Wilmington University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education from the University of Delaware.
Scott Whitaker
Perr&Knight
Scott Whitaker | Perr&Knight
Scott Whitaker is the Director of Product Design practice group with Perr&Knight. In this position, he is responsible for practice area strategy, management and oversight of consulting engagements including Product Design consulting for Property & Casualty, Accident/Health and Life products as well as Compliance & Operational Assessment/Training (“COAT”) services.
Under Scott’s leadership, Perr&Knight’s Product Design consultants provide a wide range of services including competitor forms
comparisons, form content reviews, product development, forms regulatory compliance reviews, form filings, objection response support and regulatory research. Leveraging his extensive experience, Scott personally serves as project lead for Perr&Knight’s COAT engagements including market conduct and financial exam readiness, exam management, mock exams, operational compliance testing and gap analysis.
Scott joined Perr&Knight in 2020 with over 30 years of experience in the insurance industry, including over 25 years at Nationwide Insurance. Just prior to joining Perr&Knight, he was the Regulatory Compliance Manager and Assistant Secretary at EMC Insurance Companies. He also worked at Marsh/Mercer as an Operations Manager for Life and Health Employee Benefits. Scott’s experience spans agency,
claims, compliance, fiduciary, licensing, operations, and underwriting.
Jeffery Williams
Microsoft
Jeffery Williams | Microsoft
Jeffery is a Director, Insurance Industry Advisor and Digital Insurance Leader at Microsoft. As an Industry Advisor, he helps insurers deploy Microsoft’s expansive cloud and business application portfolio to build next generation capabilities that differentiate their business, elevate digital experience, and expand margins. As Digital Insurance Leader, to promote Microsoft’s value proposition in the insurance industry, Jeffery supports the development of Microsoft’s insurance thought leadership and speaks regularly at conferences (e.g., Insurtech Connect, Insurtech Insights USA, and others).
Pieter Williams
Regulatory Insurance Advisors, LLC
Pieter Williams | Regulatory Insurance Advisors, LLC
Pieter is the General Counsel & Chief Operating Officer for Regulatory Insurance Advisors, LLC (“RIA”). In this capacity, Pieter provides regulatory services for state and federal regulators, regulatory and compliance consulting for insurers, and oversees operations of RIA. RIA’s primary goals are to enhance existing capabilities of insurance regulators, promote balanced regulation of the industry, and to facilitate insurer’s compliance and regulatory objectives. Pieter’s prior experience includes serving as senior regulatory counsel for Unum Group and being a litigation attorney in private practice. Pieter’s has broad experience within the insurance regulatory industry with significant focus on HIPAA Excepted Benefits, risk management, compliance best practices, insurer oversight, and conflict resolution.
Nicole Zayac
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
Nicole Zayac | Willkie Farr & Gallagher
Nicole Zayac is counsel in Willkie’s Corporate & Financial Services Department and a member of the Insurance Transactional and Regulatory Group. She has broad insurance regulatory experience and regularly advises insurance industry participants on regulatory and compliance issues.
Nicole represents insurance clients from all segments of the industry, including insurers, reinsurers, MGAs, producers, TPAs, adjusters, and investors. She advises clients on compliance matters as they relate to business operations, new products, and transactions involving regulated entities and assists clients with responses to regulatory investigations and compliance actions by state insurance regulators. She provides compliance advice on issues such as surplus lines and other forms of non-admitted insurance, as well as credit for reinsurance, product reviews, licensing requirements, platform integration, advertising, and general business practices. She also works with insurtech clients to address regulatory and licensing issues at all stages of development.
Nicole also advises on the regulatory aspects of complex transactions, including internal reorganizations of holding companies, acquisitions, domestications of branches of alien insurers, and redomestication of insurance companies. She represents investors, including private equity funds, with regulatory aspects of investments in, or acquisitions of, regulated insurance entities. In addition, Nicole advises clients in forming both insurance companies and producer entities, providing regulatory counsel and securing needed approvals from formation through licensing. She drafts and obtains required regulatory approval for services, agency, broker, and cost sharing contracts for insurance companies.
Regulators
Maria Ailor
Arizona Department of Insurance
Maria Ailor | Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions
Maria Ailor has over 28 years of experience with the Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions (DIFI), and currently serves as the Assistant Director over the Department’s Market Regulation and Consumer Services Division includes Market Conduct Examinations/Analysis, Health Care Appeals, Surprise Out-of-Network Billing, and Consumer Services for both insurance and financial institution matters. She shares her knowledge and expertise with others and participates as a member in a variety of NAIC working groups. Maria is an Executive Board member of IRES, and obtained her Accredited Insurance Examiner (AIE) and Advanced Market Conduct Management (AMCM) designations in 2015.
Latif Almanzan
Texas Department of Insurance
Latif Almanzan | Texas Department of Insurance
Latif Almanzan has over twenty years of experience in the insurance industry. His experience includes life, health, property & casualty, and workers’ compensation insurance lines where Latif worked in network development, claims, consumer protection, and compliance. Latif’s current position is Director of the Life & Health Lines Office at the Texas Department of Insurance.
Elsie Andy
Virginia Bureau of Insurance
Elsie Andy | Virginia Bureau of Insurance
Elsie Andy is the Manager of the Life and Health Forms and Rates section of the Virginia Bureau of Insurance. She has more than 40 years of experience in accident and sickness insurance in both the private and public sectors; the last 23 years have been in regulatory compliance specializing in all categories of individual health insurance. She holds the following professional designations: Health Insurance Associate (HIA), Disability Healthcare Professional (DHP), Disability Income Associate (DIA), and Long-Term Care Professional (LTCP). Elsie attended Virginia Commonwealth University.
Chris Arth
Michigan Department of Insurance
Christopher Arth | Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services
9+ years of working in the Property and Casualty Insurance Industry. Skilled in Property & Casualty Insurance Business Operations, Analytical Skills, Underwriting, Premium Audit, Strategic Negotiations, and Customer Satisfaction. Strong analytical professional with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) focused in Management from Western Michigan University – Haworth College of Business.
I love trying to find solutions to problems by using process methodologies and asking an annoying amount of questions to determine the root cause of the issue. I have found myself always trying to see things from different angles and quickly realized that there is not always one correct answer to a problem.
Originally from Cape Cod, MA, I have found my way out to Grand Rapids Michigan after spending time working for a Minor League baseball team in Lansing. Continuing education is very important to me and I hope to obtain Property and Casualty specific designations over the next few years.
Marianne Baker
Texas Department of Insurance
Marianne Baker | Texas Department of Insurance
Marianne M. Baker
Director, Property and Casualty Lines Office
Texas Department of Insurance
Marianne Baker has served as the director of the Property and Casualty Lines Office since 2016. Part of the Property and Casualty Division, she oversees review of property and casualty form filings, rule drafting, legislative implementation, and other projects. Previously, she was an attorney in TDI’s Office of Policy Development Counsel.
Before joining TDI, Marianne was a partner in the firm of Baker & Bolduc, and was a Senior Attorney at the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission (now the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality).
She is a graduate of Trinity University in San Antonio and the University of Texas School of Law.
Alexis Bakofsky
Florida Office of Insurance Regulation
Alexis Bakofsky | Florida Office of Insurance Regulation
Alexis Bakofsky is a devoted public servant with a strong commitment to the policyholders of Florida. Ms. Bakofsky was appointed to serve as Chief of Staff at the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) in February 2022. In this position, she serves as a policy advisor to the Commissioner, and manages agency fiscal matters and administrative operations of OIR. In this role, she also oversees the offices of the Government Affairs, Communications/Press, Market Research and Technology, and Budget, Personnel and Contracts.
Prior to her appointment as Chief of Staff, Ms. Bakofsky served as OIR’s Deputy Chief of Staff and Communications Director, where she was responsible for providing management oversight of strategic priorities and leading internal and external messaging related to a variety of insurance issues central to Floridians.
Prior to OIR, she served in a number public service roles, including Deputy Communications Director for the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, leading outreach and education initiatives to improve safety across Florida’s highways.
Bakofsky has a Bachelor of Health Sciences from the University of Florida and a Master of Arts in Communication and Leadership from Gonzaga University. She is also an AmeriCorps VISTA alumna.
Lauren Bandle
NAIC
Lauren Bandle | NAIC
Lauren Bandle is a Product Owner with the Information Technology Group at the NAIC. Lauren has been with the NAIC for five years and is responsible for leading internal and external requirements discovery sessions, collaborating with UI/UX designers, and communicating business requirements to the development team. She is currently a Product Owner for the 3-year SERFF Modernization project.
Brittany Barnhart
Florida Office of Insurance Regulation
Brittany Barnhart | Florida Office of Insurance Regulation
Brittany Barnhart is a skilled insurance regulator with diverse experience in life insurance and annuity products, property and casualty products, employee management and training, Florida Statutes and Administrative Code, and regulatory processes. Ms. Barnhart was appointed to serve as the Deputy Director of Forms in the Property and Casualty Product Review unit at the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) in November 2023. In this role, she supervises the property and casualty form filings team and oversees the property and casualty filing process. As Deputy Director of Forms, she serves as the main point of contact for regulators and industry stakeholders to discuss compliance requirements, develop form and filing standards, and address filing concerns.
Prior to her appointment as Deputy Director of Forms, Ms. Barnhart served as Senior Management Analyst and as a Government Analyst for OIR’s Life and Health Product Review unit. Her primary responsibilities in these roles included supervising the life and annuity filing team, representing OIR at national conferences and meetings, and evaluating compliance on contracts and applications for life insurance and annuity products.
Previously, Ms. Barnhart has also held roles in OIR’s Chief of Staff Office and OIR’s Communications Office. In these positions, she assisted with new employee briefings, provided administrative support to OIR’s executive team, planned OIR’s 2019 Insurance Summit, and managed social media for the agency.
Nour Benchaaboun
Maryland Insurance Administration
Nour Benchaaboun | Maryland Insurance Administration
Nour Benchaaboun (he/his/him) Director – Life, Annuity & Credit Reviews with 28 years’ experience at Maryland Insurance Administration. Before being named Director in the Life and Health unit in early 2018, I served as the Market Analysis Chief (“MAC”) in the Market Conduct’ Compliance and Enforcement. I served at the MAC for over 5 years working with NAIC staff on a number of “Market Regulation and Consumer Affairs (D) Committee” Working Groups and Task Forces including MAPWG, MCAS, MISTF, Speed to Market WG, and participated annually in the National Market Analysis project.
I hold an AIRC designation (Associate, Insurance Regulatory Compliance) as well as an MCM (Market Conduct Manager). I am active in numerous NAIC working groups including the Annuity Suitability working group, SERFF Modernization, Market Regulation, Consumer Affairs (D) Committee, Life Insurance, and Annuities (A) Committee including LATF, Life Actuarial Task Force.
I earned my Bachelor’s Degree from Towson University in Actuarial Science and minored in Business Administration in 1996. In early 2003, I earned my Masters of Science Degree in Finance from University of Baltimore.
Ryan Blakeney
Mississippi Insurance Department
Ryan Blakeney | Mississippi Insurance Department
Ryan Blakeney was named Director of the Consumer Services Division in March of 2024. He previously served as Deputy Director of Consumer Services and the Life and Health Specialist for the Consumer Services Division. He serves MID staff, private industry professionals, and consumers in understanding complex insurance issues and resolving conflicts regarding life/health, property and casualty topics.
Ryan earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Mississippi followed by a Master of Health Sciences from the University of Mississippi Medical Center. He and his wife, Amy, live in Brandon with their daughter, Avery.
Joe Bonfitto
IIPRC
Joe Bonfitto | IIPRC
Joe Bonfitto joined the Interstate Insurance Product Regulation Commission (“IIPRC”) as a Product Reviewer on September 13, 2021. The Product Reviewer’s primary responsibility is the review of all products filed with the IIPRC including review for compliance with the IIPRC Uniform Standards and all applicable IIPRC Operating Procedures.
Prior to joining the IIPRC, Joe was employed by Amica Life Insurance as Senior Life Product Filing Manager. Prior to that he worked 14 years with Phoenix Life Insurance Company and held several different positions relating to state filing and compliance. In his role at those companies.
Joe is a graduate of Western New England College with a Bachelor of Arts in Government with a minor in History. Joe earned his Juris Doctor from Western New England School of Law and is licensed to practice law in the commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Mindy Bradford
IIPRC
Mindy Bradford | IIPRC
Mindy Bradford joined the Interstate Insurance Product Regulation Commission (“Insurance Compact”) as a Product Reviewer on May 18, 2015. The Product Reviewer’s primary responsibility is the review of all products filed with the Insurance Compact including review for compliance with the Insurance Compact Uniform Standards and all applicable Insurance Compact Operating Procedures.
Prior to joining the Insurance Compact, Mindy was employed by Auto-Owners Insurance Company for eleven years and held several different positions during that time. She started her career at Auto Owners in May 2004 as an Associate Actuarial Technician where she reviewed and implemented rates for several lines of property and casualty insurance and was involved in reserving for life products.
In December 2005, Mindy transferred to the newly formed Life Compliance Department within AutoOwners Life Insurance Company as a Compliance Specialist. While there, she was responsible for framing the responsibilities of Life Compliance Department associates and revising each of the life products in conjunction with the implementation of the 2001 CSO Mortality Table. Mindy’s primary responsibilities included new product development and current product revisions; drafting policy language according to state regulations and Insurance Compact standards; filing completed products; and keeping forms and processes compliant for life, annuities, disability income, and long term care.
Mindy is a graduate of Central Michigan University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and a Master of Business Administration. She has also earned the Fellow, Life Management Institute (FLMI) designation.
Rachelle Carter
Louisiana Department of Insurance
Rachelle Carter | Louisiana Department of Insurance
Rachelle Carter, Insurance Manager, Policy Forms Division, Office of Property and Casualty, LDI
Rachelle Carter serves as the Insurance Manager of Policy Forms, Office of Property & Casualty at the Louisiana Department of Insurance. In this capacity, she oversees the division responsible for performing detailed analyses and reviews of all property and casualty, as well as specialty insurer form filings. She also assists other areas of the Department with complaints, market conduct, licensing, rates and rules related to property and casualty policy forms.
Carter has been employed with the Department of Insurance since 1997 with most of the years being spent in the Property and Casualty Policy Forms Division. She has also worked in other areas of the Department such as Administration, Consumer Services, and Insurance Rating.
Carter is an active member of the Louisiana Chapter of the Insurance Regulatory Examiners Society (IRES), and the Association of Insurance Compliance Professionals (AICP), previously serving as Secretary of the South Central Chapter for 3 years.
Carter is a native of Zachary, Louisiana and an alumnus of Zachary High School. She received a bachelor’s degree from Southeastern Louisiana University in education. She is a proud mother of a 25-year-old son.
Thomas Carswell
Georgia’s Office of Commissioner of Insurance
Tom Carswell | Georgia's Office of Commissioner of Insurance
Thomas F. Carswell (Tom) is Assistant Director, Product Review in the Georgia Office of Commissioner of Insurance. He is originally from Jacksonville, Florida. He earned a BSBA at University of Florida in Finance and Insurance. He worked for The Independent Life and Accident Insurance Company for five years before taking a position with the Georgia Insurance Department in Regulatory Services. He has worked with AICP as a State Regulator member since 2005.
Andy Case
Mississippi Insurance Department
Andy Case | Mississippi Insurance Department
Andy Case is the Director of Property Casualty Rating Division for the Mississippi Insurance Department as well as Director of Strengthen Mississippi Homes. Prior to that, he was Director of Consumer Affairs, appointed to this position on January 1, 2010 by the Honorable Mike Chaney, Commissioner of Insurance. Prior to joining the Mississippi Insurance Department, he worked for 23 years in various claim leadership capacities with Allstate Insurance Company. He was Frontline Process Leader in Louisiana from 1987-1995 and subsequently worked as Frontline Process Expert and Retained Counsel Manager in Louisiana from 1995-2001.
In 2002, Andy assumed the Frontline Process Expert leadership position as well as Compliance Manager and Retained Counsel Manager position for Allstate for the states of Mississippi and Arkansas. He also worked in a similar support role for the states of Tennessee, Kentucky and Louisiana. Andy served as Mississippi 30-b6 Expert Corporate Witness on behalf of Allstate Insurance for claim litigation matters in Mississippi.
Born in Natchez, Ms,, Andy now makes his home in Madison, Ms.
Maribel Castillo
Texas Department of Insurance
Maribel Castillo | Texas Department of Insurance
My name is Maribel Castillo. I have been with the Texas Department of Insurance for four years. I have been the Manager for the Life, Annuity and Credit program area for three years. I have 20+ years of experience working with self-funded, Health and PPO plans and working with third party administrators. I manage a staff of ten and have a great team! I’m looking forward to new experiences with the Life & Health Division and growth opportunities with the industry. I’m excited to attend the AICP conference this year.
Virginia Christy
Florida Office of Insurance Regulation
Virginia Christy | Florida Office of Insurance Regulation
Virginia Christy is a skilled regulator with more than a decade of experience in insurance regulation. Ms. Christy was appointed to serve as Deputy Commissioner of Property and Casualty at the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) in June 2023. In this role, she oversees the Property and Casualty Financial Oversight and Product Review units.
As Deputy Commissioner of Property and Casualty, Ms. Christy serves as OIR’s representative member on the Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (Citizens) Market Accountability Advisory Committee. The Citizens Market Accountability Advisory Committee assists the Citizens Board in developing awareness of its rates and its customer and agent service levels in relationship to the voluntary market insurers writing similar coverage.
Prior to her appointment as Deputy Commissioner of Property and Casualty, Ms. Christy served as OIR’s Director of Property and Casualty Financial Oversight since 2017. Her primary responsibilities as Director included the overall supervision and operation of the Property and Casualty Financial Oversight business unit. This unit is responsible for the licensure and regulation of all Property and Casualty insurers.
Prior to becoming the Director of Property & Casualty Financial Oversight, Ms. Christy served as OIR’s Chief Assistant General Counsel. In this role, she managed the Legal Division’s Regulatory Actions Section which provides legal counsel to the Commissioner and staff of OIR, regarding all matters related to the regulation of insurers, including the review and analysis of the legal sufficiency of admissions applications and other company documents.
Before joining OIR, Ms. Christy served as an Assistant Public Defender with the 2nd Judicial Circuit.
Ms. Christy received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Accounting from Missouri Southern State College in Joplin, Missouri and her Juris Doctor from Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville, Florida. She has been a member of the Florida Bar since 2007.
Zach Crandall
Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance
Zach Crandall | Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance
I’m an Actuarial and Compliance Officer for the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance. I manage the Property and Casualty unit of our Policy Analysis section. We review form/rate/rule submissions from insurance companies for compliance with state statutes and regulations. I’ve previously worked as a regulator for the Department in the Life, Accident, and Health unit for a number of years as well. I have a background as an attorney and have brought these skills into the arena of regulatory compliance.
Stephanie Fagnani
Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance
Stephanie Fagnani | Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance
Stephanie Fagnani is the Director of Policy Analysis for the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance. Stephanie is responsible for overseeing the team that completes form, rate, and rule review for all lines of business, including Property and Casualty Insurance as well as Life, Accident and Health.
While a Boston area native, Stephanie’s collegiate studies took her to Washington, D.C., where she subsequently lived while working for the United States Congress. Following her time on the Hill, Stephanie worked for the Insurance Services Office (ISO) in the Government Relations Department. Stephanie is an avid runner and is a two-time Boston Marathon Qualifier—she plans to run Boston in April 2025!
Stephanie Francis
Michigan Department of Insurance
Stephanie Francis | Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services
Stephanie Francis is the Manager of the Life and Health section in the Office of Insurance Rates and Forms for the Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS) at the State of Michigan. Stephanie has been employed at DIFS for 13 years. Prior to her career at the State of Michigan, Stephanie worked in the industry for 14 years, as a P&C Underwriter and Claims adjuster. Stephanie has a bachelor’s in finance and in Insurance, a master’s degree in business management and several Insurance designations. Her spare time is spent with family, preferably, her 2-year-old grandson and watching 70’s television shows.
Jason Furlong
Louisianna Department of Insurance
Jason Furlong | Louisianna Department of Insurance
Kevin Gaffney
Vermont Department of Financial Regulation
Kevin Gaffney | Vermont Department of Financial Regulation
Kevin Gaffney currently serves as the Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation (DFR), a department charged with protecting consumers while ensuring industry partners in the areas of banking, insurance, securities, and captive insurance operate responsibly, and can access information and guidance to do so in Vermont.
Commissioner Gaffney was appointed Commissioner of DFR by Governor Phil Scott effective July 8, 2022, and serves on the Governor’s cabinet. He was appointed Deputy Commissioner of Insurance in March of 2019, serving in various roles within the Division since January 2007.
Prior to DFR, he served in various roles within the insurance industry for 23 years including, producer, then in company underwriting, marketing, compliance, as well as state and regional management positions within New England.
At the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), he serves as vice-chair of the NE Zone and a member of the NAIC Executive Committee, as well as chair of the Cybersecurity, Technology, and Innovation (H) Committee, vice-chair of the Big Data AI (H) Working Group (BDAIWG), co-chair (with Commissioner Kipper) on the Special Committee on Race and Insurance (P/C) Workstream. He is actively engaged in the AI/ML survey work under BDAIWG which has completed surveys of the Auto, Home, Life insurance markets, with plans to complete a Health survey in 2024.
A graduate of John Jay College and lifelong New Englander, Kevin is a native of CT and has lived in VT since 1994. He and his wife Veronica have three children and five grandchildren.
Dan Gates
Alabama Department of Insurance
Dan Gates | Alabama Department of Insurance
Dan has worked in the insurance industry for over 18 years, earning his CPCU designation in 2024 and his Associate Professional in Insurance Regulation (APIR) through the NAIC in 2025. Dan currently works as a P&C Insurance Rate Analyst for the ALDOI.
Russ Galbraith
Arkansas Insurance Department
Russ Galbraith | Arkansas Insurance Department
Russ Galbraith has worked in the insurance industry since 1997. Since joining the Arkansas Insurance Department in 2015 as Chief Deputy Commissioner, he has authored the Department’s efficiency report, led the effort to streamline agent pre-license education, compiled the Department’s Annual Report and served as hearing officer for hundreds of agent, company, and consumer issues.
Russ is a fierce advocate for state-based insurance regulation and represents Arkansas as an active member of several NAIC committees. He strongly believes that Arkansas is a great place to live and do business, and his foremost concentration is protecting consumers while bringing new insurers to the state- including re-domestications and captives.
Prior to joining the Department, Russ served as the Senior Government and Industry Affairs Manager for Farmers Insurance for 17 years, acting as the primary legislative and regulatory liaison for Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. He previously served as President of the Arkansas Adjusters Association and sat on numerous industry boards, including the Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana Automobile Insurance Plans, the Governor’s Earthquake Taskforce, the Arkansas State Disaster Coalition, the Arkansas Rural Risk Underwriting Association, and the Arkansas Insurance Industry Coalition.
Russ earned a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Lyon College.
Karen Givens
IIPRC
Karen Givens | IIPRC
Karen Givens is the Assistant Director of Product Review Operations for the Interstate Insurance Product Regulation Commission (“Insurance Compact”). Karen joined the Insurance Compact as a Product Reviewer in March 2011. Karen’s primary responsibilities as Assistant Director of Product Review Operations are to work closely with the life and annuity form reviewers to ensure thorough and responsive reviews are completed on behalf of Compacting States as well as managing the Expedited Review program. Karen also participates in Outreach events on behalf of the Insurance Compact.
Prior to joining the Insurance Compact, Karen was a Senior Compliance Analyst with Pacific Life Insurance Company from January 2008 to March 2011. While at Pacific Life, she had primary responsibility for the drafting and filing of all individual, fixed, and variable annuity products. Prior to joining Pacific Life, Karen served as the Director of Compliance for the Retirement Plans Division at Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company. Karen was with Mutual of Omaha from August 2002 until January 2008. As the Director of Compliance, Karen was responsible for managing the compliance functions of the Division that supported group fixed and variable annuities, accumulation products and institutional investments. Karen has extensive experience in annuity administration, product development, forms compliance and state filing functions. Prior to joining the insurance industry, Karen was employed as an attorney in private practice.
Karen earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Political Science from Creighton University. She earned her Juris Doctor from Creighton University School of Law and is licensed to practice law in the state of Nebraska. Karen has also held securities licenses and has served as a Registered Principal with Mutual of Omaha and Pacific Life.
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Maryana Grodnova-Ware
Nebraska Department of Insurance
Maryana Grodnova-Ware | Nebraska Department of Insurance
Nebraska Department of Insurance regulator – L&H actuarial assistant
Sharon Holston
Virginia Bureau of Insurance
Sharon Holston | Virginia Bureau of Insurance
Sharon Holston is the Manager of the Plan Management and ACA Forms Section in the Life and Health Division of the Virginia Bureau of Insurance. She has 35 years of experience in accident and sickness insurance in both the private and public sectors. The last 22 years have been in regulatory compliance specializing in all categories of group health insurance and in plan management for ACA plans. Sharon holds the following professional designations: Health Insurance Associate (HIA), and Managed Health Care Professional (MHP). She graduated from Virginia Tech.
Michael Humphreys
Pennsylvania Insurance Department
Michael Humphreys | Pennsylvania Insurance Department
Michael Humphreys was named Insurance Commissioner on February 28, 2022, and confirmed unanimously on June 27, 2023. As commissioner, Humphreys is charged with the responsibility of regulating the Commonwealth’s insurance marketplace, overseeing licensed agents and insurance professionals, monitoring the financial landscape of companies doing business in Pennsylvania, educating consumers, and ensuring residents are treated fairly.
Prior to being appointed, Humphreys served as the Chief of Staff for the Insurance Department since September 2019, and before joining the PID, Humphreys served as Assistant Commissioner for Insurance at the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance (TDCI). In Tennessee, he oversaw the Insurance Division as it was reaccredited by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
Humphreys has a Master’s in Public Administration from Bowling Green State University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University at Buffalo.
Teresa Kroll
Missouri Department of Commerce & Insurance
Teresa Kroll | Missouri Department of Commerce & Insurance
I have 28+ years of experience in the insurance industry, 24 of those have been with the Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance where I currently hold the position of Chief Examiner for Market Conduct for the Department. I began my career with the Department in the Consumer Services section where I took calls from consumers for both property and casualty and life and health. I moved to the Property and Casualty Product Filings section where I reviewed forms, rates and rules for automobile, homeowners, commercial lines and workers compensation. Finally, I landed in the Market Conduct section initially as an examiner on a property and casualty team and moved through supervisory positions to Chief Examiner.
I really enjoy what I do. When all the information is gathered and the dust settles, we are able to collaborate with insurers to bring about changes that help them be in compliance with the law and benefit Missouri consumers.
Karen Lam
Maryland Insurance Administration
Karen Lam | Maryland Insurance Administration
Karen Lam has been with the Maryland Insurance Administration for five years serving as its Chief of Health Insurance and Managed Care. She comes from over 30 years in the industry managing product development and compliance of life, annuity and health insurance. Karen’s last position was as Manager and Consultant for McHugh Consulting where she had the honor of working with numerous health and life insurance carriers, assisting them in getting their products approved through the IIPRC and in each US jurisdiction. Karen has worked with all types of health insurance including major medical/ACA products, senior products such as long term care and Medicare Supplement, and supplemental products such as GAP, accident only, specified disease and indemnity products, as well as excess stop loss.
Aimee Lawson
IIPRC
Aimee Lawson | IIPRC
Aimee Lawson is a Product Reviewer at the Interstate Insurance Product Regulation Commission (“Insurance Compact”). Aimee joined the Insurance Compact team in August 2011. The Product Reviewer’s primary responsibility is the review of all products filed with the IIPRC including review for compliance with the IIPRC Uniform Standards and all applicable IIPRC Operating Procedures.
Greg Lee
Virginia Bureau of Insurance
Greg Lee | Virginia Bureau of Insurance
Principal Insurance Market Examiner Life & Health, ACA Forms and Excepted Benefits. 27 years as a regulator in Forms and Market Conduct.
Jessica Luff
Delaware Department of Insurance
Jessica Luff | Delaware Department of Insurance
Jessica has been in the insurance industry since 1995 with the last 19 years spent at the Delaware Department of Insurance. She currently serves as the Deputy Director, Consumer Services and Investigations overseeing both the Property & Casualty and Life & Health Consumer Units as well as the Rates & Forms Analysts. Prior to joining the DE DOI, Jessica worked in the private insurance industry and did provider medical billing.
Kevin McClain
Virginia Bureau of Insurance
Kevin McClain | Virginia Bureau of Insurance
Principal Insurance Market Examiner Life & Health, ACA Forms and Excepted Benefits. 27 years as a regulator in Forms and Market Conduct.
Tolanda McNeal
Arizona Department of Insurance
Tolanda McNeal | Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions
Tolanda McNeal (Coker) has worked for the Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions for 8 years. Tolanda began work for the Department in 2014 reviewing Life and Health form filings and eventually moved to become Market Conduct Manager in 2022 within the Department’s Market Regulation and Consumer Services Division. This Division includes Market Conduct Examinations/Analysis, Health Care Appeals, Surprise Out-of-Network Billing, and Consumer Services for both insurance and financial institution matters. She finds the consumer advocacy and entity oversight work that Market Conduct does to be challenging and rewarding. Tolanda has 8 years of experience on the industry side having worked for two Insurance Carriers in a wide range of support roles. She holds a Bachelor Degree in Health Studies and a Masters of Public Administration with a focus in Government & Policy.
Lori Munn
Arizona Department of Insurance
Lori Munn | Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions
Lori Dreaver Munn joined the Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions in May 2024 as the Assistant Director of Insurance. Before joining DIFI, she was the Director of Compliance and Government Relations at an advisory organization for the insurance industry. Her focus was on product compliance, government relations, insurance education, technology and modernization of insurance. Lori brings over 20 years of insurance knowledge to DIFI, with previous experience at several different insurance companies as well as having managed her own insurance compliance consulting firm.
Lori completed a Bachelor of Science degree from Arizona State University and has been active with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and the Association of Insurance Compliance Professionals (AICP).
Philip Offutt
Virginia Bureau of Insurance
Philip Offutt | Virginia Bureau of Insurance
Bryan Peters
Florida Office of Insurance Regulation
Bryan Peters | Florida Office of Insurance Regulation
I began insurance regulation with the State of Florida back in 2015 as an entry level Health Insurance Forms Analyst. I have navigated my way through the ranks and am currently the Deputy Director for Life & Health Product Review, Forms.
Lee Ann Robertson
Virginia Bureau of Insurance
Lee Ann Robertson | Virginia Bureau of Insurance
Lee Ann Robertson manages the Commercial Casualty Rules, Rates and Forms Review section in the Property & Casualty Division of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s State Corporation Commissions Bureau of Insurance. She has been with the Bureau since 2004. Prior to joining the Bureau, she spent more than 25 years in both the agency and company sides of the insurance industry. She holds the professional designation of Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC).
Cara Shackelford
North Carolina Department of Insurance
Cara Shackelford - North Carolina Department of Insurance
Cara Shackelford
Senior Policy and Rate Analyst
Life and Health Division
North Carolina Department of Insurance
Jenny Sieben
IIPRC
Jenny Sieben | IIPRC
Jenny Sieben joined the Interstate Insurance Product Regulation Commission (“Insurance Compact”) as a Product Reviewer on July 29, 2024. The Product Reviewer’s primary responsibility is the review of all products filed with the Insurance Compact including review for compliance with the Insurance Compact Uniform Standards and all applicable Insurance Compact Operating Procedures.
Prior to joining the Insurance Compact, Jenny was employed by Securian Financial for 23 years and held several different positions during that time. In October 2014, she joined the Product and Advertising Compliance Team within Securian Financial. Jenny’s primary responsibilities included the drafting and filing of individual life and long-term care policy forms with the Insurance Compact and the states.
Jenny is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History with a minor in Political Science. She has also earned the FLMI, AIRC, and ACS designations from the Life Management Institute and the ASRI designation from the Secure Retirement Institute.
Thomas Travis
Louisiana Department of Insurance
Travis Thomas - Louisiana Department of Insurance
Tom Travis is deputy commissioner for policy, innovation, and research for the Louisiana Department of Insurance. He previously served as director of the La. Property and Casualty Insurance Commission and as the commissioner’s NAIC liaison. The office of policy, innovation, and research leads the development of public policy and proposes legislation and regulations on insurance issues with a recent emphasis on the availability and affordability of property and casualty insurance. He participates in several NAIC working groups related to reinsurance, surplus lines, and receivership. He is also charged with oversight of the Louisiana Fortify Homes Program, a grant program to encourage resilient construction.
He graduated from Georgetown University in 1985. After active military service, he graduated from the LSU Law Center in 1992. He holds LL. M. degrees from the University of the Pacific and Southern Methodist University and an MBA from Southeastern Louisiana University. He has been with the Department of Insurance since 2008, and, prior to that, he worked as an attorney at the Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Corporation.
Eric Vieweg
Connecticut Insurance Department
Eric Vieweg | Connecticut Insurance Department
A veteran of 18 years with the CT Insurance Department Eric is a true jack of all trades as he is involved in regulating a vast array of products. Having started in the Life & Annuity realm he now is the primary reviewer of nearly any product outside of Major Medical and Student Health. Nearly all supplemental health products as well as Long term Care, Medical Supplements and any product that is not P&C will cross his desk.
Eric is definitely not someone who likes to stay still and doesn’t believe in taking life too seriously. If you have ever attended one of his sessions you know he believes in balance between getting the message across and enjoying the session.
Jan Vitus
Oregon Department of Financial Regulation/p>
Jan Vitus | Oregon Division of Financial Regulation
Jan Vitus has been active in the business of insurance since January 1976, including underwriting, marketing, product development, industry/agent/staff training, and compliance. Since September 1996 she has been an insurance regulator for the state of Oregon. Ms. Vitus’s product expertise includes commercial and personal Property & Casualty, Group Stop Loss, Provider Excess, Mortgage, Surety, Title Insurance, Service Contracts, Worker’s Compensation, Travel, Pet, and “wrap-ups”. Jan is the primary analyst for Rating Organization (ISO, AAIS, OTIRO, and SFAA) or Advisory Organization (ACORD) form submissions. In addition to contract work, Jan participates in product standards checklist development and updating, Oregon Administrative Rule proposals, legislative concepts; and participates in various internal policy teams. Ms. Vitus is an active regulator member of the Association of Insurance Compliance Professionals (AICP).
Flora Worthington
Virginia SCC
Flora Worthington | Virginia Bureau of Insurance
Insurance Examiner (RRF) from Virginia. AIPR, AINS. Graduate of W&L, Economics and History 2023.
Erick Wright
Alabama Department of Insurance
Erick Wright | Alabama Department of Insurance
Erick is a Demopolis, Alabama native. He is currently a 6-year Rate & Form Analyst II with the Alabama Department of Insurance. Erick has 21 years of experience in the insurance industry. A RMI graduate from Troy University and has a master’s in public administration from Texas Southern. He is also a 6-time Author, a farmer, a father, and a husband.
