NAIC Announces 35 Consumer Representatives for 2017

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners NAIC) recently named 35 consumer liaison representatives for 2017. The 22 funded and 13 unfunded consumer representatives began their terms Jan. 1.

Eighteen of the funded consumer representatives participated in the program in 2017.

Established in 1992, the Consumer Liaison Program promotes consumer interaction with the NAIC’s members, the insurance industry and interested parties.

Ted Nickel, NAIC president and Wisconsin insurance commissioner, said the consumer representatives “provide regulators with important guidance on consumer interests across the nation and contribute to the NAIC’s mission.”

The NAIC voted to increase the number of funded consumer representatives from 20 to 22 this past fall.

The 2017 Funded Consumer Liaison Representatives
New funded representatives are noted with an asterisk.

Bailey Acevedo: Health Attorney, Community Service Society of New York*
Amy Bach: Executive Director, United Policyholders
Birny Birnbaum: Executive Director, Center for Economic Justice
Brendan M. Bridgeland: Director, Center for Insurance Research
Bonnie Burns: Training and Policy Specialist, California Health Advocates
Thomas M. Callahan: Executive Director, Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance*
Brenda J. Cude: Professor, Department of Housing and Consumer Economics, University of Georgia
India R. Hayes Larrier: Health Care Organizer, New Jersey Citizen Action
Timothy Stoltzfus Jost: Professor, Virginia Organizing Project
Debra K. Judy: Policy Director, Colorado Consumer Health Initiative
Katherine Katie) Keith: Steering Committee Member, Out2Enroll*
Karrol Kitt: Emeritis Associate Professor, The University of Texas at Austin School of Human Ecology Department of Human Development & Family Sciences
Peter R. Kochenburger: Executive Director of the Insurance Law LL.M. Program, Deputy Director of the Insurance Law Center, and Associate Clinical Professor of Law; University of Connecticut School of Law
Sonja L. Larkin-Thorne: Consumer Advocate Sarah Lueck: Senior Policy Analyst, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Annalise Mannix: Project Manager, Fair Insurance Rates in Monroe
Lincoln Nehring: Chief Executive Officer, Voices for Utah Children
Jesse Ellis O’Brien: Policy Director, Oregon State Public Interest Research Group
JoAnn Volk: Research Professor, Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms
Jackson Williams: Director of Government Relations, Dialysis Patient Citizens
Silvia Yee: Senior Staff Attorney, Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund*
Cindy Zeldin: Executive Director, Georgians for a Healthy Future

The 2017 Unfunded Consumer Representatives
New representatives noted with an asterisk.

Ashley Blackburn: Policy Analyst, Community Catalyst*
Lucy Culp: State Advocacy Consultant, American Heart Association, National Center*
Deborah Darcy: Director of Government Relations, American Kidney Fund
Howard Goldblatt: Director of Government Affairs, Coalition Against Insurance Fraud
Marguerite Herman: Owner, Healthy Wyoming Anna Howard: Policy Principal, Access to Care, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
Amy Killelea: Director, Health Systems Integration, National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors
Michelle Lilienfield: Senior Attorney, National Health Law Program*
Claire McAndrew: Director of Campaign Strategy, Families USA
Brendan Riley: Policy Analyst, Health Advocacy Project, North Carolina Justice Center*
Andrew Sperling: Director of Legislative Advocacy, National Alliance on Mental Illness
Harper Jean Tobin: Director of Policy, National Center for Transgender Equality*