Laura Arp
Life & Policy Administrator: Nebraska Department of Insurance
Laura Arp has been at the Nebraska Department of Insurance since 2012, first as a staff attorney, then as counsel specializing in health policy and medical malpractice. She is also the administrator of the Life and Health division, overseeing rate and form review. Her work on NAIC activities in 2022 includes the Health Innovations Working Group (Co-Vice Chair), Accident and Sickness Minimum Standards Subgroup (Co-Chair), Pharmacy Benefit Managers Regulatory Issues Subgroup (Vice Chair), ERISA Working Group, and MHPAEA Working Group.

Prior to joining the Nebraska Department, Ms. Arp was a litigation associate at Cline Williams Law Firm. She has been an adjunct professor at the University of Nebraska College of Law since 2015, teaching legal research and writing.


Kermitt Brooks
Chair: NOLHGA Board of Directors
Executive Vice President, General Counsel: Guardian Life Insurance Company of America

Kermitt Brooks is Executive Vice President, General Counsel at The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America. In this role, he is responsible for managing Guardian’s enterprise-wide legal, compliance, corporate governance, and government affairs functions.

Prior to joining Guardian, Mr. Brooks worked at Equitable Life Insurance Company, most recently as Senior Executive Director and General Counsel and before that as Managing Director and Deputy General Counsel. He also previously served as First Deputy Superintendent and Acting Superintendent for the New York State Insurance Department and as Deputy Attorney General for Operations at the New York State Office of Attorney General.

Mr. Brooks began his career as a Commercial Litigation Associate at Nixon, Hargrave Devans & Doyle, LLP. He is currently the Incoming Chair of the National Organization of Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Associations and Secretary-Treasurer of the Life Insurance Counsel of New York, Inc. He is also a Board member of the Michigan State University Foundation, the Insurance Federation of New York, and the Red Cross Greater New York Region.

Mr. Brooks received his Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School, where he was a contributing editor of the Michigan Law Review, and a Bachelor of Arts in international relations from James Madison College at Michigan State University.


Christine Cappiello
Senior Director, Government Relations: Anthem, Inc.

Christine Cappiello has spent more than 30 years working in and with the Connecticut General Assembly. She began her career in the Connecticut Legislature in 1990 and went to work for Anthem in Public Affairs in 1998. In her current position, she is responsible for all relationships at the Connecticut General Assembly and Connecticut State Agencies, the Connecticut Exchange, and the Connecticut Congressional Delegation. Her duties are mainly supporting, defeating, or mitigating legislation that affects the company and serving as the liaison between the company and the company’s regulator, the Connecticut Insurance Department. She also works closely with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) for Anthem nationally.

Ms. Cappiello’s other responsibilities include supporting the State Plan President and his team on external relationships with key stakeholders, including the Governor, other Constitutional offices, and many municipal and labor leaders as existing and potential customers. She also works on internal projects and resolves regulatory inquiries such as rate submissions, working closely with the State Plan President, Legal, and other business units.

Most recently, Ms. Cappiello has been working closely on issues at the NAIC. She was the lead for Anthem in the passage of the update to the GA Model Act, which will save the company millions of dollars as long-term care companies such as Penn Treaty/ANIC enter receivership. The Model Act has passed in more than 32 states in a little over 3 years.

Ms. Cappiello serves on the Boards of NOLHGA, the Governor’s Partnership for Prevention, The Connection, and the Connecticut Association of Health Plans and also serves as an alternate Board member for the Connecticut Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association. She graduated from the University of New Haven with a bachelor’s degree in political science. She lives in Newtown with her husband David and two sons, Jack and Jude.


John Colpean
Administrator & General Counsel: Michigan Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association

John Colpean is the Administrator and General Counsel of the Michigan Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association and is also a former member of the NOLHGA Board of Directors. He is also the Principal of Colpean & Associates, P.C., a law firm based in Haslett, Michigan.

Mr. Colpean served as legal counsel to the Michigan Legislature from 1978–1988. After entering private practice in 1988, he has concentrated his practice on matters pertaining to insurance regulation, transactions, and litigation, in addition to serving on the Boards of Directors of several insurance companies. He has served on the Insurance Law Committee of the State Bar of Michigan and has also served as counsel to the Deputy Receiver in numerous Michigan insurance company receiverships.

Mr. Colpean has served on numerous NOLHGA task forces, including serving as Chair of the Thunor Trust Task Force and as a member of the ELNY Task Force, among others. He also served as Chair of the Members’ Participation Council (2012–2015), Legal Committee (1997–2001), and Coverage/Claims Committee (2005 to the present).

Mr. Colpean received his Juris Doctor degree from Thomas M. Cooley Law School, where he graduated cum laude in 1978. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1975 from Michigan State University.


Evan G. Daniels
Director: Arizona Department of Insurance & Financial Institutions
Evan G. Daniels was appointed Director of the Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions on July 10, 2020. Before his appointment, he served as Chief Counsel of the Technology, Innovation and Privacy Unit at the Office of Arizona Attorney General.

Director Daniels has extensive experience in innovation policy, fintech, consumer protection, government affairs, and data privacy. At the Attorney General’s Office, he managed several teams engaged in litigation, investigations, and providing subject matter expertise, including oversight of Arizona’s first-in-the-nation regulatory “sandbox” for fintech, which since has been recognized as a national model that several other states have enacted.

Director Daniels’s previous experience also includes serving in the Arizona Attorney General’s Office as Chief Counsel of the Government Accountability Unit, Assistant Attorney General in the Government Accountability and Special Litigation Unit, and Assistant Attorney General in the Consumer Fraud Litigation Unit. Following law school, Director Daniels began his career as a judicial law clerk at the Arizona Court of Appeals.

Director Daniels earned a Bachelor of Arts in History, magna cum laude, from Arizona State University; a Master of Arts in Diplomacy from Norwich University; and a Juris Doctor from the University of Tennessee College of Law.


Nancy Davenport
Incoming Chair: NOLHGA Board of Directors
Vice President & Associate General Counsel: Brighthouse Financial
Nancy Davenport served as Head of Government Relations and Public Policy at Brighthouse Financial until becoming Special Counsel in October 2022. She led a team responsible for all state and federal regulatory and legislative matters, public policy, and the Office of Sustainability. She was a Vice President in MetLife’s Government Relations and Public Policy group from October 2011 until moving to Brighthouse in October 2016.

Ms. Davenport joined MetLife from New York Life, where she was a Vice President in the Office of Governmental Affairs; she had earlier been a Vice President in State Government Affairs at JPMorgan Chase and served as a Senior Counsel and Director of State Relations for the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI). Ms. Davenport also served as Director of the Assembly Minority Counsel’s Office in the New York State Legislature and as Executive Director and Counsel for the New York State Legislative Ethics Committee. Before working in the New York State Legislature, she was in private practice in North Carolina and New York and an adjunct lecturer at Vassar College.

Ms. Davenport is the Incoming Chair of NOLHGA, serves as Vice Chair of the Delaware Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association, and is a member of the West Virginia Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association Board of Directors. She previously served on the Boards of several state guaranty associations and the Guaranty Association Benefits Company (GABC). Ms. Davenport is a member of the Association of Life Insurance Counsel (ALIC) and is an active member of numerous national and state trade associations.

Ms. Davenport received a B.A. in Public Administration from Miami University (Ohio) and a J.D. from Wake Forest University. She holds a law license in New York and North Carolina.


Michael Fanning
Head of MassMutual U.S.: Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company
Mike Fanning is the Head of MassMutual’s domestic U.S. insurance and wealth management business, representing $861 billion of protection in force. Through MassMutual’s nationwide network of nearly 9,000 financial professionals, its comprehensive worksite products and solutions, and extensive online tools, the company is committed to providing a personalized experience that empowers people to secure their future and protect the ones they love.

Prior to taking on his current leadership role, Mr. Fanning led MassMutual’s domestic insurance business, which saw substantial growth under his leadership, including industry-leading sales growth of individual and whole life insurance offerings; completion of the 2016 acquisition of the MetLife Premier Client Group; significantly expanding MassMutual’s distribution footprint; and the launch of several innovative approaches to reach more customers directly, including Haven Life.

Mr. Fanning joined MassMutual in 2006 as head of operations in the company’s insurance business, where he was responsible for new business, underwriting, in-force service and claims, as well as its broker-dealer MML Investor Services LLC.

Mr. Fanning is an industry authority on insurance and retirement and has served as a member of the Board of LIMRA and LOMA, collectively known as LL Global. In addition, he has been a contributor to A.M. Best publications, The Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, and other nationally recognized magazines and journals.

Mr. Fanning is a graduate of Brown University with degrees in Economics and Organizational Behavior and Management.


William Fisher
Executive Director: Massachusetts Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association
Bill Fisher is the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association. He assumed that position in 2017 after serving as Chair of the association’s Board since 1991. He has also served on the Boards of the California, Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, and New Mexico guaranty associations. He is a former Chair of the NOLHGA Board of Directors and has served on various NOLHGA committees.

Before becoming Executive Director of the Massachusetts association, Mr. Fisher was a consultant to Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, having retired from MassMutual as Corporate Vice President and Associate General Counsel after many years of service. While at MassMutual, he headed the State Government Relations area, and his responsibilities covered a broad range of insurance, legislative, and regulatory issues, including guaranty association work and regulatory modernization.


Joni Forsythe
Senior Counsel: NOLHGA
Joni Forsythe is Senior Counsel for NOLHGA. In this role, she provides a broad range of general corporate, compliance, and insolvency-related legal services for NOLHGA and its member life and health insurance guaranty associations, as well as legal and project management support for guaranty association task forces in connection with life and health insurance company insolvencies.

Prior to joining NOLHGA’s Legal Department in April 1997, Ms. Forsythe was engaged in private practice focusing primarily in the areas of commercial litigation and bankruptcy. She also served as outside counsel to the Resolution Trust Corporation and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation throughout the early to mid-1990s, when the savings and loan industry was facing a nationwide solvency crisis.

Ms. Forsythe earned her B.A. degree at Virginia Wesleyan College and her J.D. degree at the University of Virginia Law School. She is admitted to practice in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.


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

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

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

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

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


Caryn Glawe
Partner: Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath
As a passionate advocate for clients in the insurance industry, Caryn Glawe guides insurers, HMOs, and related entities nationwide on state and federal regulatory and transactional matters—and works with insurance departments across the country on their behalf. She leverages her deep and broad knowledge of insurance company insolvency and receivership proceedings to work with the guaranty system on complex multistate life, health, annuity, and long-term care insurance insolvencies. She loves working alongside her clients and her Faegre Drinker insurance team colleagues to craft and implement solutions around complex and challenging issues.

Ms. Glawe has a J.D. from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law and a B.A. from Butler University. She Chairs the Indiana Bar Foundation Board of Directors, serves on the Board of Directors of the Center for Leadership Development, is a member of the Federation of Regulatory Counsel, and is Co-Chair of Faegre Drinker’s National Hiring Committee.


Joel Glover
Partner: Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath
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, he has represented all types of insurance entities, life and health insurance guaranty associations, and receivers throughout the country.

Mr. Glover maintains strong relationships with guaranty associations, insurance industry regulators, and the insurance industry. He has served as task force counsel for NOLHGA on various multi-state insolvencies; represented several guaranty associations; and served as counsel to the Insurance Commissioners in Colorado, Hawaii, and Arizona in their capacities as liquidators of insolvent insurers.

Outside of his legal practice, Mr. Glover enjoys coaching youth basketball, hiking, biking, and practicing yoga and baguazhang.


Peter Goldstein
CEO: LTCG
Peter Goldstein is CEO of LTCG, a leading provider of administrative and clinical services within the long-term care (LTC) insurance industry. His 22 years of decisive leadership have helped LTCG adapt to a changing industry environment and have transformed the organization into a premier partner for LTC insurers. LTCG serves all the top LTC carriers and is the largest third-party claims payer in this space.

Mr. Goldstein’s strategic vision for the company has transformed LTCG from a TPA focused on processing capabilities into an organization dedicated to proactive, holistic risk management for its customers. As part of this transformation, he has assembled a management team comprising some of the most respected leaders in LTC insurance while executing on strategic acquisitions to broaden the company’s capabilities. He has also directed significant investments in technology to build a state-of-the-art claims processing system and has brought new capabilities to market around provider contracting and management, wellness, and recovery solutions. By executing this strategy, he has played a significant role in growing LTCG from a start-up in the 1990s with 25 employees serving one customer to more than 1,200 employees who support more than 90 insurers today.

Mr. Goldstein is a recognized thought leader on topics ranging from next-generation claims management to the public policy changes needed to ensure a sustainable future for this industry. Thanks to his expertise on these topics, he has been featured in a variety of wide-reaching business publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Mergermarket, ThinkAdvisor, BusinessWeek, and many others. He has also contributed his insight within specialized forums including advisory committees, industry boards, and national events. These have included The Intercompany Long-Term Care Insurance Conference (ILTCI), NOLHGA, and Drinker Biddle’s Long Term Care Insurance Summits, among others. He also been actively involved in industry trade organizations, serving as the President and Board member for the Inter-Company Marketing Group and on the Board of Directors for LTC Financial Partners.


Charles Gullickson
Executive Director & General Counsel: South Dakota Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association
Charles Gullickson is a member of Davenport Evans’ Banking and Financial Services Practice Group, and a substantial portion of his practice consists of financial and insurance regulatory matters. He devotes a significant amount of time to such banking law matters as lending transactions, loan documentation, bank acquisitions, and branching, and he advises banking clients regularly on regulatory matters, oversight of third-party vendors and servicers, and credit card lending and securitizations. He also handles various insurance regulatory matters and serves as Executive Director and General Counsel for the South Dakota Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association. The latter position has also led to his service on various task forces concerning nationwide insurance insolvencies.

Mr. Gullickson has been selected as one of The Best Lawyers in America in the areas of Banking and Finance Law and Financial Services Regulation Law; has been ranked by Chambers and Partners in the areas of Corporate/Commercial Law; and ranked in the top 5% of practicing attorneys in South Dakota by Great Plains Super Lawyers in Banking.

Mr. Gullickson is among the many firm attorneys who have an avowed interest in the arts. This is reflected in his community activities, where he has served as Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Sciences; Chair of the Visual Arts Center; and a member of the Boards of Directors of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, the Wegner Arboretum Society, and the Friends of Levitt Sioux Falls, a nonprofit devoted to building community through music at an outdoor performing arts venue in downtown Sioux Falls. Mr. Gullickson currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Sioux Falls Parks Foundation.

Mr. Gullickson is a graduate of South Dakota State University (B.A., summa cum laude, 1977) and New York University (J.D., 1980).


Michael Heard
Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer: NOLHGA
Mike Heard is the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of NOLHGA. He supervises NOLHGA resources deployed to assist state guaranty associations in managing insolvencies, develops and implements the organization’s strategic initiatives, and oversees NOLHGA’s communications efforts. In addition, he is responsible for the efficiency and effectiveness of the internal operations of NOLHGA.

Mr. Heard, who joined NOLHGA in September 2021, has over 25 years of life and health insurance experience, with particular expertise in long-term care (LTC) and other health products. He worked as a senior officer with GE Financial/Genworth and, more recently, with CNO Financial Group, a domestic life insurance company based in Carmel, Indiana.

In 2013, Mr. Heard joined CNO Financial Group in Carmel, Indiana, as Senior Vice President, where he was responsible for insurance operations for more than 3 million customers and over $2 billion in benefits transactions annually. In 2017, he was appointed President of Washington National, a leading provider of supplemental health and life insurance, serving 1 million policyholders and 25,000 employer groups through 2,000 independent agents. In 2020, he was appointed President of the Worksite Division of CNO, and he led the division through two acquisitions and the global pandemic.

Mr. Heard attended Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, where he earned both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Industrial Engineering. He currently serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council at the Krannert School of Management at Purdue and is a member of the Board of Beyond Monumental, the organizer of the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon. He also is a retired U.S. Air Force officer serving in both the active and reserve forces, including a tour at the Pentagon.


Joy Higa
Chief Compliance Officer & Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs: UnitedHealthcare
Joy Higa serves as Chief Compliance Officer and Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs for UnitedHealthcare. In this role, she oversees compliance programs for the company’s commercial, Medicare, and Medicaid businesses, as well as legislative and regulatory issues management, regulatory reporting, licensing, and exams. As part of her role, she represents UnitedHealthcare on the NOLHGA Board of Directors, where she is a member of the Finance Committee, and on five state guaranty association Boards.

Prior to UnitedHealthcare, Ms. Higa spent seven years in leadership roles in California state government. She served as Chief Deputy Cabinet Secretary to the Governor; Deputy Director of the California Department of Managed Health Care, the state’s HMO/health plan regulatory agency; and Deputy Chief of Staff to the State Controller.

Ms. Higa graduated from Cornell University with an A.B. in biology & society. She lives with her family in Manhattan Beach, California, and serves on the Boards of the Venice Family Clinic Foundation, Manhattan Beach Education Foundation, and Cornell University Council Administrative Board.


Harold Holzer
Presidential Historian
Harold Holzer is the Jonathan F. Fanton Director of The Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College in New York, a post he assumed in 2015 after 23 years as Senior Vice President for External Affairs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (He was the NYC Comptroller’s representative on the Met Board from 2015–2021.)

An award-winning historian, Mr. Holzer served for six years (2010–2016) as Chairman of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation; for the previous 10 he was Co-Chair of the U. S. Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, appointed by President Bill Clinton. In 2008, he was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President George W. Bush. In 2013 he wrote the Lincoln essay in the official program for the re-inauguration of President Barack Obama.

Mr. Holzer is the author, co-author, or editor of 55 books on Lincoln, the Civil War, and the history of the American media. His Lincoln and the Power of the Press won the 2015 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize, the Mark Lynton History Prize from the Columbia University School of Journalism, and the Goldsmith Prize from the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School. His latest book is The Presidents vs. the Press: The Endless Battle Between the White House and the Media, From the Founding Fathers to Fake News (2020).

Mr. Holzer’s 2012 Lincoln: How Abraham Lincoln Ended Slavery in America was the official young-adult companion book for the Steven Spielberg film Lincoln, for which Holzer served as official script consultant. He also served for three years as the Roger Hertog Fellow at the New-York Historical Society. He was awarded the NY State Archives & History Award in 2017, served that spring as Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Yeshiva University, and in 2020 taught at the Cardozo School of Law.

Mr. Holzer, a member of many history boards and advisory committees, serves as Chairman (and co-founder) of The Lincoln Forum, a national organization with 1,000 members. Before joining the Met Museum in 1992, Holzer spent his early career as a journalist (editor of the Manhattan Tribune); a Congressional and campaign press secretary for Rep. Bella S. Abzug; a public affairs specialist for New York Governor Mario M. Cuomo (with whom he co-authored two Lincoln books); and as spokesman for New York’s PBS station, WNET-TV. He and his wife Edith have two daughters and two grandsons.


Pat Hughes
Partner: Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath
Pat Hughes is a strategic advisor, public policy advocate, and regulatory attorney for insurance industry clients across all product lines and services. Clients turn to him when important regulatory, legislative, and policy matters in various arenas—state and federal agencies, the NAIC, legislatures, and international regulatory bodies—create challenges or opportunities for their businesses. He leverages a dynamic, multijurisdictional Faegre Drinker team that is able to deploy proactive national and local regulatory and public policy strategies where clients’ needs are most complex and significant.


Frank Knighton Jr., WCCLA, CWCP
Executive Director: Georgia Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association
Frank Knighton Jr. is Executive Director of the Georgia Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association (GLHIGA) and the Georgia Insurers Insolvency Pool (GIIP). He started his tenure as Unit Manager with GIIP in 2002. Prior to his current position, he served as the Claims Manager for the Marchman Steele Agency (MSA), GIIP, and GLHIGA. His tenure with MSA has also involved working with the Special Deputy Liquidator in the capacity of Claims Manager in the administration of five receiverships for the Georgia Department of Insurance, including reinsurance contract interpretation, reinsurance billing, and negotiation of reinsurance commutations. Administration of two of the receiverships concluded with the successful resolution of all claims with reduction of initial liabilities to a level supported fully by estate assets. He has also assisted with reserve sufficiency review on a per-claim basis as a component of state regulatory examinations of five workers’ compensation insurers as well as coverage review and adjudication of proofs of claim.

Mr. Knighton started his claims career with Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and worked many years in a managerial capacity for the Home Insurance Company and CNA Insurance Company. Prior to joining MSA, GIIP, and GLHIGA, he was also the Operations Manager for a startup workers’ compensation TPA and manager of the Georgia Independent Medical Examinations Division for Concentra Health Care.

Mr. Knighton earned his B.S. Degree in Business from Clark College in Atlanta (now known as Clark Atlanta University), and his B.S. in Information Technology from DeVry University, summa cum laude. He also holds the designation of Workers’ Compensation Claims Law Associate from the American Insurance Institute (WCCLA), Workers’ Compensation Certified Professional from the Risk Management Institute (CWCP), State of Georgia Adjuster’s License, Certified Auto Appraiser (Vale Tech), and Certified Insurance Resolution Director (International Association of Insurance Receivers). He is also the developer of Benefit Buddy, a workers’ compensation computer software program that is used on a daily basis by MSA/GIIP, the Georgia Subsequent Injury Trust Fund, and other TPAs and law firms in Georgia in the determination of claims exposures, reserving, settlement evaluations, and payments.

Mr. Knighton serves on the NOLHGA Communications Committee and MPC Executive Committee. He is Co-Chair of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Focus Group and is a member of the Penn Treaty/ANIC and North Carolina Mutual Task Forces, among others. He also serves on the International Association of Insurance Receivers (IAIR) Board of Directors and is Co-Chair of the IAIR Membership Committee.


Germaine Marks
Vice President, Government Affairs: Prudential Financial, Inc.
Gerrie Marks joined Prudential Financial, Inc., in September 2015 as Vice President, Government Affairs, overseeing 10 Western states. Ms. Marks is a member of six state guaranty association Boards and serves on the NOLHGA Board of Directors. She is also a member of the Association of Life Insurance Counsel, serves on ACLI task forces and work groups, and represents Prudential on the Board of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

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

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


Miranda Motter
Senior Vice President of State Affairs & Policy: AHIP
In April 2020, Miranda Motter joined AHIP as Senior Vice President of State Affairs and Policy. AHIP is the national association whose members provide healthcare coverage, services, and solutions to hundreds of millions of Americans every day. In her role, Ms. Motter is responsible for AHIP’s state policy and advocacy agenda, as well as AHIP’s political engagement strategy with state officials, regulatory agencies, and key policymakers.

Prior to joining AHIP, Ms. Motter served as the President and CEO of the Ohio Association of Health Plans (OAHP) for more than 8 years. Under her leadership, OAHP became a recognized influential opinion leader, strategic thinker, and problem solver with policymakers and healthcare stakeholders.

Prior to her work at OAHP, Ms. Motter practiced law for over 10 years at Bricker & Eckler LLP in Columbus, Ohio, where she represented insurance companies and trade association clients on various legal, regulatory, and legislative matters before the Ohio General Assembly and the executive branch of State government. She served on former Governor George Voinovich’s personal staff and worked as a legal research assistant from 1996–1998. In the summer of 1995, she interned for then U.S. Senator Mike DeWine in Washington, D.C.

Ms. Motter holds a Bachelor of Art in Political Science and History, cum laude, from Anderson University and a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from Capital University Law School.


Pamela Epp Olsen, Esq.
Executive Director: Minnesota Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association
General Counsel & Administrator: Nebraska Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association
Pamela Olsen is General Counsel and Administrator for the Nebraska Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association, having served in these capacities since 2003, and has served as the Executive Director of the Minnesota Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association since 2019. She is also the Managing Partner of Pamela Epp Olsen Law, PC, LLO, where her practice focuses on insurance, estate and business transition planning, and elder law–related and long-term care benefits matters.

Ms. Olsen’s work with NOLHGA includes current service as Chair of the Senior Health Insurance Company of Pennsylvania (SHIP) Task Force; Chair of the CoOportunity Health Task Force; observer on the GABC Board; Chair of the MPC Executive Committee Best Practices Subgroup; and membership on the AF&L/SAIC Task Force, the NOLHGA Legal Committee, and the MPC Health CO-OP Task Force. She is a past Members’ Participation Counsel Chair (2015–2017), past Chair of the Medical Savings Task Force, and past member of the MPC Executive Committee.

Ms. Olsen received her Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, graduating with highest distinction in 1993; earned her Juris Doctor degree magna cum laude from Creighton University School of Law in 1996; and served as judicial clerk for both the Chief Justice of the Nebraska Supreme Court (1996–1997) as well as for the Honorable George Fagg of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (1998–2000). She practiced as an associate and then partner with the law firm of Cline Williams Wright Johnson & Oldfather, LLP, for 22 years before opening her own firm in 2021.


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

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

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

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

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


Dotty Still
Executive Director: Alabama Life & Disability Insurance Guaranty Association
Dotty Still is the Executive Director of the Alabama Life & Disability Insurance Guaranty Association. She has served the association in this capacity since 1993. She has been involved with NOLHGA task forces and committees for more than 30 years and has served on numerous task forces, including (but not limited to) Alabama Life, American Educators, Consolidated National, Universal Life Insurance Company, and Booker T. Washington Insurance Company. She is currently Chair of the North Carolina Mutual Task Force and a member of the Global Bankers Task Force.

Ms. Still earned her B.S. degree from Auburn University; an M.Ed. at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (UAB); and a J.D. from the Birmingham School of Law.


Jacob Stuckey
Chief Executive Officer & Special Deputy Receiver: Illinois Office of the Special Deputy Receiver
Jacob Stuckey is the Special Deputy Receiver, assisting the Director of the Illinois Department of Insurance in her statuary role as conservator, rehabilitator, and liquidator of financially impaired and insolvent insurance companies. He is currently appointed to manage the administration of 17 estates covering many different types of insurers. He is also the Co-Chair of the NAIC’s Receivership Financial Analysis Working Group.

Prior to the OSD, Mr. Stuckey served in various senior positions within and adjacent to the Illinois state government, including senior roles with the Department of Central Management Services, Office of Management and Budget, the Office of the State Treasurer, and the Illinois Finance Authority. He is also a veteran of the United States Army with combat tours with the 82nd Airborne Division in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Mr. Stuckey received his Bachelor’s Degree in Politics and Government from Illinois State University and his MBA from the University of Illinois at Chicago.


Todd Thakar
Executive Director: California Life & Health Insurance Guarantee Association and Nevada Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association
Todd Thakar serves as Executive Director of both the California Life & Health Insurance Guarantee Association and the Nevada Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association. His involvement with the guaranty system began in 1995 and includes more than a dozen years as Chair of the California and Alaska Boards and as a member of the Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii associations. His insolvency experience includes serving on the Penn Treaty Task Force and its PACA and Escalated Matters Committees. He also serves as Chair of the Northwestern National Insurance Company Task Force, and he is a member of the SHIP Task Force, among others.

Mt. Thakar has become a leader in leveraging technology to transform the California and Nevada guaranty associations into virtual offices and facilitating fully electronic assessment notices, collections, and reconciliation. His efforts to bring the Northwestern National Insurance Company claims processing in-house reduced administrative costs by more than 80%, and the electronic collection of $295 million for the Penn Treaty assessment generated $350,000 in additional interest for the California association.

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

With a heart for others, Mr. Thakar serves on the Board of Directors for Faith Alive USA, a nonprofit helping to provide free medical care to 300+ patients daily at the Faith Alive HIV/AIDS Hospital in Jos, Nigeria. He has taken more than 24 short-term international mission trips, including visiting Nigeria 14 times to volunteer at Faith Alive as well as trips to Nicaragua, Colombia, and Uganda. In addition to being dad to his four grown daughters, he mentors college-age interns at his church and has had 40 students live with him since 2012. He and his wife, Angie, mentor young couples and are working to bring fresh water to Nicaragua neighborhoods lacking access to clean water.

Tom Travis
Deputy Commissioner, Office of Policy, Innovation & Research: Louisiana Department of Insurance
Tom Travis is the Deputy Commissioner for the newly created Office of Policy, Innovation, and Research at the Louisiana Department of Insurance. In his new role, he is responsible for coordinating the work of the boards and commissions housed within the department to develop policy proposals for recommendation to the commissioner of insurance and the legislature. He previously served for several years as director of the Louisiana Property and Casualty Insurance Commission. He is also responsible for maintaining liaison with the legislature and the NAIC.

Mr. Travis has been a participant in several NAIC working groups, including the Surplus Lines Model Law Drafting Group, which he chairs, and the Receivership Law Working Group, among several others. He has also drafted for the last several years most of the non-health legislation for the commissioner, including those bills relating to guaranty funds. He has worked on all guaranty fund legislation since 2009.

Mr. Travis graduated from Georgetown University in 1985. After serving in the U.S. Army, 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 in healthcare management from Southeastern Louisiana University. He has been with the Department of Insurance since 2008; prior to that, he worked as an attorney at the Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Corporation. He served in Iraq in 2003 and 2004 and in Haiti in 2010.


J.P. Wieske
Vice President of State Affairs: Horizon Government Affairs
J.P. Wieske is the Vice President of State Affairs at Horizon Government Affairs. He previously served as a Deputy Insurance Commissioner and has over 25 years in the insurance industry. He leads the company’s continued expansion into state policy, enhancing clients’ access to state regulators, legislators, and executives. He has continued to leverage his experience to drive smarter state policy reforms in the industry.

Mr. Wieske served as the Deputy Insurance Commissioner for the State of Wisconsin. There, he supervised the regulatory, public information, and administrative functions for the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance. He also participated as a member of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s Opioid Task Force. As Deputy Commissioner, he served as an active member of the NAIC, where he chaired various subgroups including the Regulatory Framework Task Force and the Pharmacy Benefit Manager Subgroup. His extensive knowledge of the regulatory process gives him a unique ability to provide exceptional advice to his clients.