Meet Our Team

Barry represented California for seven terms in the U.S. Congress, serving on the Public Works and Transportation Committee, the Joint Committee on Energy, and the Committee on Science and Technology. He retired from politics in 1983 and began an extremely successful career in business, and currently serves as a Director on several boards. Barry represents NTG clients in Washington, D.C., before the Congress and Executive Branch. He lives in Arizona and works in the Arizona and Washington, D.C. offices. To read more about Barry, visit www.barrygoldwaterjr.com.

Mr. Cardenas has been named one of Washington, DC’s top lobbyists by The Hill, is recognized in The Best Lawyers in America, and rated AV by Martindale-Hubbell. He also was named among the “100 Most Influential People in Florida Politics” by Influence, one of the “100 Most Influential Hispanics” by Hispanic Business, and one of the “Legal Impact Leaders” by the South Florida Business Leader.

Cardenas was selected by Ronald Reagan to serve on his transition team, and was appointed by President Reagan to chair the President’s Commission on Small and Minority Business Affairs. Mr. Cardenas formerly served as Chairman of the American Conservative Union. He previously served two terms as Chairman of the Republican Party of Florida and three consecutive terms as its Vice-Chairman. Al helped found the Institute for Politics at Florida State University and currently chairs its advisory board. He has served on the boards of Miami-Dade College and Florida A&M University. Al has also served on the boards of Fannie Mae, Capital Bank and is an investor and director at Coral Gables Trust.

Al is nationally recognized for his leadership in law, business and politics. He has served as an adviser to US Presidents, as counsel of record in a number of precedent setting and published court decisions, and as a commentator on nationally syndicated network news shows, and an opinion writer for a number of national publications.

Norman Taplin is CEO of NTG Consultants and President of Taplin & Associates and is an attorney who concentrates his practice in areas of regulatory insurance, administrative law, corporate and commercial law and all aspects of the Financial Services industry. He has 30 years’ experience as an insurance regulatory attorney. He is a member of the Florida Bar and licensed to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States. Norman is on the National Cabinet of Israel Bonds and served on boards of trustees, former board member of the National Alliance of Life Companies and served on the Georgia Hurricane Mitigation Board. Norman and his family reside in Florida.

Eric Serna is a lawyer specializing in insurance management and regulatory consulting. He is licensed in New Mexico and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court. He served as Secretary/Treasurer of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. He was a statewide elected official to the New Mexico Corporation Commission serving as Chairman for 14 out of 17 years. As such, he had regulatory oversight of utilities, telecommunications, transportation, corporations and insurance rates and tariffs in New Mexico. He served as New Mexico Superintendent of Insurance for 5 years. Eric's law office is located in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Derek Wooley has over 15 years experience working as a consultant and public affairs professional in the insurance industry. Derek's has deep roots in the industry, having worked at the Louisiana Department of Insurance, America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America. Derek is originally from Louisiana – where he served as Executive Director of the Louisiana Democratic Party – and he now resides and works in Florida.

Lou Pietroluongo served as executive member of the New York State Insurance Department for 10 years and as Acting Superintendent of Insurance for the State. He served on several Federal, State and Local emergency management committees including pandemic, business continuity planning and disaster planning and recovery. Lou resides and works in New York.

Wayne Goodwin is the former North Carolina Commissioner of Insurance and now CEO and President of his North Carolina-based company, Seaboard Strategic Consulting, LLC. His company provides insights & guidance on business, finance, government, insurance, politics, and regulatory matters anywhere in the United States.

Prior to joining the Board of Directors for Nelson Taplin Goldwater and creating his own private consulting firm, Goodwin served eight years as North Carolina’s 10th Insurance Commissioner. Elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2012, he also previously worked four years as the Assistant Insurance Commissioner and Assistant General Counsel to his predecessor. Overall Goodwin spent 12 years as an insurance regulator.

Before joining the Department of Insurance, he served eight years in the House of Representatives. Elected to four terms, he introduced or sponsored many proposals pertaining to the business of insurance - including items requested by the state’s Insurance Commissioner. Goodwin created and operated his own law practice for 13 years with a focus on workers’ compensation and insurance law.

In 1989, Mr. Goodwin graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with honors in Political Science - a recipient of the prestigious Morehead Scholarship and U.S. Senate/William Randolph Hearst Scholarship - and earned his Juris Doctor degree in 1992.

As Insurance Commissioner, he saved North Carolinians over $2.4 Billion, created the State’s highly-successful captive insurance industry, held insurance companies accountable, championed the fight against insurance fraud, and helped his State achieve the lowest average auto insurance premiums in the country and one of the most competitive, stable auto insurance markets in the country. As Insurance Commissioner for a coastal state highly prone to hurricanes, Goodwin negotiated new laws that stabilized the insurance market, promoted availability of coverage, and protected consumers. Further, Commissioner Goodwin has been a strong advocate both for state-based insurance regulation and for independent insurance agents, appointing over 100 insurance agents to advisory committees during his tenure.

He also served on the Executive Committee of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), chaired various committees and working groups, and was the elected Vice Chair of the NAIC Southeast Zone. His duties also included service as State Fire Marshal, making him the voice of 50,000 fire and rescue personnel in the Tar Heel state.

Commissioner Goodwin is married to Melanie Wade Goodwin, also a former legislator and now a Deputy Commissioner and hearing officer for workers’ compensation cases. They have two young children, Madison and Jackson, and reside in Raleigh.

Christa Rapoport has extensive regulatory experience at companies as diverse as Fortune 500 companies to startups. She started her career as a registered nurse in Philadelphia before attending law school and has even designed managed care networks. Ms. Rapoport has experience in U.S. and international legal matters and compliance at licensed insurers, insurance groups, MGA's, Associations, TPA’s, FMO's and agencies. She understands how to optimize corporate operations, create interdepartmental governance, product development, advertising and lead generation, financial exams, investigation and examination response and how to create 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.

*Not practicing law in the State of Florida*

Danny Saenz has been an Independent Consultant/Owner of J. D. Saenz & Associates, LLC- since September 2015. He performs consultative duties for various clients ranging from acquisitions and mergers, formation of a new insurance company and assisting in responding to insurance regulatory matters from various state insurance departments.

Prior to this he was the Deputy Commissioner of the Financial Regulation Division at the Texas Department of Insurance where he managed a staff of approximately 240 employees overseeing the financial condition of the insurance industry in Texas from the initial licensing of insurers through the ongoing financial analysis and examination. He worked with insurers experiencing hazardous financial conditions through various means to rehabilitate the insurer and if necessary place insurers in receivership.

Danny was also active on various NAIC Committees and Working Groups. Chaired working groups amending the insurance holding company system model law, as well as developing a new model law for Risk Management and Own Risk Solvency Assessment (ORSA) along with an ORSA Guidance Manual and led three pilot projects in collecting, reviewing and providing feedback on ORSA reports prior to the law becoming effective.

He also participated on various international insurance regulatory matters.

In 2011 he received the Robert Dineen Award in recognition of contributions to Insurance Regulation.

Commissioner Sevigny retired as NH Insurance Commissioner on 11 June 2018, a position he had held for fifteen (15) years. He was appointed and reappointed to consecutive five (5) year terms by both Republican and Democrat Governors. Prior to his appointment as Commissioner he had served as NH Assistant Commissioner for 1 ½ years.

Before entering State service, Commissioner Sevigny was employed by Travelers Insurance/Citigroup for well over thirty (30) years in a variety of technical and leadership positions.

While serving as the NH Insurance Commissioner he was elected to several officer positions at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) ultimately serving as the NAIC President in 2009. During his service as Commissioner he also served as the National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR) Board President from 2012 to 2018. He was also Chair of the Interstate Insurance Product Registry Compact (IIPRC) during this time, Commissioner Sevigny also served on the Consumer Advisory Committee of the IIPRC. In addition to this he was honored with the NAIC President’s award for Distinguished NAIC Leadership in 2017.

Commissioner Sevigny has a Bachelor’s degree from St Anselm College and retired as a Colonel from the US Army serving thirty (30) years (active and reserve). He is still active with Veteran’s matters having been appointed in 2018 by NH Governor Sununu to the NH Veteran’s Council.

Ken Allen has over 30 years of experience in the insurance industry, both in the public sector, where Ken served as Director of Bureau of Licensing and Financial Analysis for the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance, Director of Legal Affairs for three health insurers as well as Executive Director for a publicly traded Managed Care company and General Counsel for a legal services company.

Ken is admitted to the Illinois and Pennsylvania Bar.

Ken also served in the US Army, Military Intelligence and JAG Corp.

He was Chair of the Insurance Law Committee from 2006-2007.

Ken is a graduate of UC – Berkeley where he receive his BA and Pennsylvania State University – Dickinson School of Law where he received is JD.

Robert “Bob” Birkmaier worked the majority of his career with Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, where he recently served Managing Counsel, AVP – Regional Counsel.  He began his career with INA now CIGNA. Bob was responsible for legislative and regulatory relations and ensuring compliance of business objectives to mitigate risk exposure for business operations.

Bob was responsible for developing state-specific legislative and regulatory action plans in collaboration with business clients, counsel and state industry and national trade groups. Additionally, Bob provided legal counsel and strategic advice on claims, underwriting, product and sales to ensure compliance and mitigate risk.

Bob received his BA in Political Science from North Carolina State University and earned his JD from the University of South Carolina School of Law. Bob is also a Certified Life Underwriter (CLU) and Certified Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), he is a former board member of the Arkansas Rural Risk Underwriters Association, Kentucky Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Associations, Mississippi and West Virginia Guaranty Associations and a State Affairs Board member of NAMIC.

Brian Camling, with 27 years insurance regulatory experience in various aspects of compliance, is president and owner of the compliance consulting firm Insurance Compliance Consultants, inc (ICC).  ICC has experience in all 50 states, DC, Puerto Rico, and the USVI for drafting and filing multiple lines of insurance products in the employer and voluntary markets, along with company licensing and UCAA filings. Clients include national and regional carriers and TPAs.

Previously Brian was the compliance/regulatory officer for PFSI and later Conseco Medical’s Health Division. Led operational areas of Compliance, Policy Approval, Consumer Internal Affairs, and Market Conduct, with a staff of 18 employees. He planned and managed to an annual budget in excess of $1 million.  In this role, he was responsible for the successful negotiation of Market Conduct Exams, government relations, and Department of Insurance inquiries, review and approval of advertising for submission to state departments. Brian was also a member of the PFSI Project Development Team for the design and implementation of new products and the administration of in-force business.

David G. Edwards serves as the Chief Executive Officer of American Insurance Holdings, LLC and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Perimeter Lane Insurance Brokers, LLC.

In 2011, Mr. Edwards formed Gaen Healthcare Advisors LLC (now Gaen Advisors LLC) to assist sponsors of new health insurance companies obtain loan awards under the federal CO-OP program. Gaen prepared the applications for the Connecticut, Illinois and Arizona CO-OPs which received loan awards aggregating $330 million, and assisted in the development of each of these health insurance carriers, principally in the areas of structuring, state insurance licensure, governance and contract negotiations. In 2016, Mr. Edwards committed to pursue Gaen’s employer health plan initiatives through American Insurance Holdings.

From 2001 until 2011, Mr. Edwards was a partner in the law firm of Barnes & Thornburg LLP (Chicago office) and, previously, worked for other law firms in Illinois and Pennsylvania, notably, Reed Smith. Throughout his legal career, Mr. Edwards practiced principally in the securities, M&A and general corporate areas.

Mr. Edwards received his B.A. degree from Duke University and his J.D. degree from Cornell University. He is admitted to the bars of Illinois (active) and Pennsylvania (inactive). In addition, Mr. Edwards is an insurance producer in life, health, property and casualty licensed in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with certifications for annuities, life settlement and long-term care.

Rob Esson is an Oxford educated UK Chartered Accountant who spent 21 years at the NAIC, primarily on international issues. An IAIS “Distinguished Fellow”, he was responsible for supporting various international accounting and solvency work streams at the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). He was Vice Chair of IAIS Accounting & Auditing Working Group, and previously Chairman of the IAIS Insurance Contracts Subcommittee throughout the life of that committee (2005-11), advising the IASB on how insurance accounting standards should be promulgated. He was also active in the Insurance Groups Working Group, the Common Framework for the Supervision of Internationally Active Insurance Groups (or ComFrame), designing a future global solvency regime for insurers, and the basic capital requirement and global insurance capital standards, and was heavily involved in drafting of many Insurance Core Principles.

He was responsible for Joint Forum work (a grouping of Insurance, Banking and Securities regulators around the world). At the Joint Forum he chaired the work stream on mortgage insurance issues and was a key member of the work team that developed the Conglomerate Principles, a member of Longevity Risk Transfer work stream, the Point of Sale Disclosure work stream, and co-chaired the Asset Encumbrance work stream. He also co-chaired the evaluation of the Conglomerate principles, and worked on intra-group support, asset securitization reports, and credit risk management.

He was the IAIS representative on the IASB Insurance Working Group, the IASB Financial Instruments Working Group, the joint FASB/IASB Financial Crisis Advisory Group, Expert Panel on Financial Instrument Impairment and Financial Institutions Advisory Group, and developed strong relationships with the IASB and FASB members and staff.

John Franchini is the former New Mexico Superintendent of Insurance, where he oversaw the departments accreditation and grew total revenue from $242MM to $505MM in his 9 years with the department.

Prior to John joining the Department of Insurance, he was VP of Government and Industry Affairs for New Mexico Mutual Group, where he worked with regulators and legislators to strengthen the financial and public standing of the company.

John spent the early part of his career as and Agent and was awarded “Top Gun of New Mexico” in 2000 and “Top Gun of the Southwest” in 2001.

Doug Franzen serves as regulatory and legislative counsel to numerous insurers, providing assistance with enforcement, licensing, admission, and all matters of insurance policy. He is a member of the Federation of Regulatory Counsel and has published several articles on insurance law.

Doug is a past recipient of the British Government's Foreign and Commonwealth Office Award to pursue graduate studies in the United Kingdom. He serves as a St. Thomas Law School Mentor and is the former Chair of the Governmental Relations Committee of the Hennepin County Bar Association.

In addition to his ongoing legal/legislative practice, Doug serves as the Chancellor of The Episcopal Church in Minnesota, advising the Bishop and various church governing bodies and institutions on secular legal issues, litigation and compliance with Church Canons and ecclesiastical proceedings.

Education:
Yale Divinity School
United Theological Seminary - M. Div.
London School of Economics, Graduate Research Program
William Mitchell College of Law J.D.
University of Minnesota, B.A.

Admitted:
Minnesota, 1979; United States District Court, District of Minnesota, 1979

Rett Hatcher is the founding partner at Capitol Consulting Firm. Possessing more than a decade of experience in and around the state capitol, Rett has gained insight into the unique financial framework of state government. As Governor Asa Hutchinson’s initial Director of Legislative and Agency Affairs, Rett managed a staff of 15 policy analyst and agency liaisons. As a member of the senior staff, Rett met daily with the Governor to discuss his agenda and to brief the Governor on financial issues at the state level.

Rett is a licensed attorney and CPA in the state of Arkansas. He received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith and his Juris Doctor from the William H Bowen School of Law in Little Rock. As an appointee of Governor Asa Hutchinson to the State and Public School Life and Health Insurance Board, he worked to maintain an actuarially sound system while managing state OPEB liability. He has previously served in various roles in both the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System and the Secretary of State’s office.

Sue Howard brings extensive insurance experience to NTG Consultants, including product development, compliance and operations in the life and health lines. Sue has worked with large and small group health insurance plans as well as specialty lines such as travel accident, personal accident, Medicare supplement and LTC. Sue’s experience also includes extensive corporate compliance, experience in Certificate of Authority applications and reporting, SIU/Fraud, OFAC, AML including development of complaint and agent misconduct procedures.

Mike Maher joined NTG Consultants in 2019 as an Associate. Mr. Maher serves as a consultant to various clients in the Mid-West and the U.S. in the areas of Producer Regulatory, Workers Comp Fraud and Pension.

Mr. Maher was the former Deputy Director of Enforcement and Investigations for the Illinois Department of Insurance, where he managed a staff of employees in both Chicago and Springfield. In his time at the Department of Insurance, Mr. Maher was part of the leadership team of two Directors and two Acting Directors.

Mr. Maher served on the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) Illinois State Advisory Committee and the Illinois Health Care Fraud Elimination Task Force.

Mr. Maher holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Management from DePaul University.

Jeffrey Sanow is a Senior Special Investigator responsible for overseeing investigations, Risk Management Consulting and Executive Protection for NTG.

Prior to joining NTG, Jeff's 35-year career working on complex global security operations included working for the US Government, the United States Military, and private security and consulting industry.  Most notably, he had a distinguished career with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) retiring as a Senior Intelligence Officer (SIS-1).  Jeff served as Chief of Station, supervising operations against weapons of mass destruction.  He also deployed to Pakistan to direct training, security and intelligence efforts for the construction of the billion dollar US Embassy compound in Islamabad.  As a defense contractor, he served as an advisor to active duty US Army intelligence units during their pre-combat deployment readiness training.  He also worked closely with US Special Operations Forces (SOF) as an instructor, teaching tradecraft to active duty SOF units deploying to combat theatres of operation in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Jeff also has extensive experience as an independent global security operations consultants, to include serving as general manager of the third largest security company in Uganda.  Stateside, he established his own private investigations company with an emphasis on insurance claims, risk consulting and executive protection.  Jeff works in partnership with investigators that excel on internet investigations, finding money, people and assets globally.

Doug has experience in most facets of the insurance industry and has done insurance regulatory work with Norm Taplin for over 16 years. He started an independent Insurance agency and grew it into a multimillion business, licensed and doing business in many states. Doug became president of a multi-state casualty insurance company and was a board member of Captive Insurance Companies both domestic and off shore.

Doug served as Commissioner of Insurance for the State of Tennessee for five years and still resides in Tennessee.

Paul Zuckerman was Assistant Deputy Superintendent and Counsel in the Office of General Counsel at the New York State Insurance Department and, following the Insurance Department’s merger with the New York Banking Department, its successor, the New York State Department of Financial Services. Previously, he held several other attorney positions during a long career at the Department.

Mr. Zuckerman headed the Department’s opinions and research section, ensuring that the Department’s opinions were consistent and in conformance with the Insurance Law and regulations and public policy. In addition to overseeing a staff of attorneys, Mr. Zuckerman wrote numerous opinions on all aspects of the Insurance Law and related laws, which helped establish and define Department policy, including with respect to such issues as the doing of an insurance business, who needs to be licensed and rebating and anti-inducement laws.

Mr. Zuckerman was also responsible for drafting, reviewing and commenting on bills, regulations and Department Circular Letters. In this capacity, Mr. Zuckerman often worked closely with the Governor’s office and legislators. Some of the laws that Mr. Zuckerman played an instrumental role include laws regulating life settlements and life insurance; prejudicial standard in liability policies; licensing of title insurance agents; regulation of insurance for transportation network companies (ridesharing); identity theft insurance; health insurance, and group property/casualty insurance.
Mr. Zuckerman also represented the Department at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, on matters involving federal and national issues including the Liability Risk Retention Act, the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers (NARAB), the Nonadmitted and Reinsurance Reform Act (NRRA).

Mr. Zuckerman at various times at the Department also was a prosecuting attorney, hearing officer and adjudication counsel at Department adjudicatory hearings, and otherwise participated in enforcement matters.

Mr. Zuckerman was recognized for his 39 years of service to New York State and its people in a New York State Senate proclamation on May 15, 2019 upon his retirement from state service.