Katharine L. Wade
President
Katharine L. Wade became President of the National Organization of Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Associations (NOLHGA) in August 2023. She is responsible for leading NOLHGA to fulfill its mission to support state guaranty associations in protecting policyholders in multi-state insolvencies and promoting the values and interests of the guaranty association system.
Wade is an insurance executive with more than 30 years of experience in insurance operations, compliance, public policy, and regulation. In her more than twenty-year career with Cigna, a Fortune 100 global insurer, she oversaw federal and state government affairs, public policy, and compliance for the health and group life and disability businesses.
After Cigna, she served nearly four years as Connecticut’s 32nd Insurance Commissioner, responsible for consumer protection and the regulation of an industry that generated $170 billion in written direct premium in one of the nation’s top insurance markets. As Commissioner, she chaired the Health and Managed Care (B) and International Insurance Relations (G) Committees and served on the Executive Committee of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). She represented the state insurance regulatory system in testimony before Congress. In addition, she served as a member of the Executive and Policy Development Committees of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) and on the US Treasury Federal Advisory Committee on Insurance.
Prior to joining NOLHGA, as a Principal at Dunraven Strategies, Wade worked with large global insurers and start-ups to navigate regulatory complexity and understand how insurance markets work. Her work included launching companies and products, managing the risk of various regulatory issues, and providing strategic counsel on emerging business or regulatory issues.
William P. O'Sullivan
Senior Vice President & General Counsel
William O'Sullivan serves as chief legal officer for NOLHGA and manages NOLHGA's Legal Department. As Senior Vice President and General Counsel, he is responsible for advising NOLHGA's Board of Directors, senior management, Members' Participation Council, and individual guaranty associations on legal issues and policy matters germane to the operations of the organization. He also serves as the staff contact for NOLHGA's Legal and Coverage/Claims Committees and as the staff contact/project manager for a number of insolvency task forces, including the Executive Life Insurance Company (California) Task Force.
O'Sullivan joined NOLHGA in 1995 as Vice President and Counsel and was named to his current position in 1998. Prior to joining NOLHGA, he was employed in the corporate law departments of Prudential Capital, a subsidiary of the Prudential Insurance Company of America, and KTI Energy.
O'Sullivan received his B.A. in economics from the University of Virginia and his J.D. from Boston College Law School.
Keith Sheridan
Vice President, Accounting & Finance
As NOLHGA’s Vice President of Accounting and Finance. Keith Sheridan is responsible for providing technical support to state guaranty associations, regulators, receivers, and insurance companies regarding insurance insolvencies and disposition activities, with specific emphasis on accounting issues. Additionally, he provides staff oversight and support to internal and external professional resources to ensure effectiveness and efficiencies in insolvency task force activities. Lastly, he supports NOLHGA’s internal accounting and audit, financial management, and external reporting functions.
Sheridan has more than 25 years of insurance accounting and reporting experience. In his last role at Assurant, he led a team of more than 20 professionals in the Shared Services accounting group, which provided technical support to multiple corporate and business areas. He also oversaw the reporting close, analysis process, and reconciliations for insurance, warranty, and services companies. Prior to that, he was the Vice President and Controller for Nationwide Financial in Columbus, Ohio.
After serving in staff and supervisory roles, Sheridan joined ING (Voya) in 1999 as an Accounting Manager. He moved to Richmond, Virginia, in 2003 to join Genworth Financial as the Senior Manager of Statutory Accounting and Reporting. In 2007, he joined Swiss Re in Armonk, New York, as the Senior Controller for Admin Re. He served as the finance officer, managing regulatory reporting and relationship management of Aurora National Life Assurance Company.
Sheridan attended Rutgers University School of Business, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting. He also received his MBA in Finance from Monmouth University. He has two children—a son who currently attends the University of Georgia and daughter who is a junior at The Ohio State University.
Jennifer M. Webb
Chief of Staff
Jennifer Webb joined NOLHGA as Chief of Staff in April 2024. In her role, Webb serves as a strategic partner to the President and supports the NOLHGA leadership team and staff in the development and implementation of organizational goals and priorities, operational policies and guidelines, and the development and execution of strategic planning. She also helps to manage the day-to-day affairs of the organization, working with the President.
Prior to joining NOLHGA, Webb served as Assistant General Counsel and Head of State Government Affairs for Pacific Life Insurance and its subsidiaries. Webb directed a comprehensive state government affairs program focused on developing and executing advocacy strategies around product development, product compliance, investment policy, enterprise risk management, and other financial and insurance issues, including managing the processes around Pacific Life’s 2023 designation as an Internationally Active Insurance Group. She also provided Pacific Life with legal advice related to state guaranty system issues and served on four guaranty association Boards (California, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Oregon) during her tenure with the company.
Before Pacific Life, Webb served in organizational, legal, policy, and advocacy roles for three different insurance trade associations: the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America (the Big “I”), the Professional Insurance Agents (PIA), and the National Council of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL).
Webb is a graduate of Tulane University and the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law. She currently resides in Washington, D.C., with her husband and son and their dog Herbert, who is a very good boy.
Lindsay Crawford
Assistant Vice President, Insolvency Management
Lindsay Crawford joined NOLHGA in October 2024 as Assistant Vice President, Insolvency Management. In her role, Crawford provides advice to NOLHGA task forces and member associations with respect to diverse financial issues involved with the insolvent company, policy owners, and with the requirements of guaranty associations. Her duties include active participation in the development of strategies to address payment of statutory benefits to policyholders of insolvent insurers and working to ensure the successful resolution of multi-state insurance insolvencies by providing financial and project management, including support to specific task forces. Additionally, she analyzes, develops, recommends, and executes strategic options in insolvencies including runoff scenarios, assumption reinsurance, captive solutions, and other creative options.
Crawford joined NOLHGA after 16 years at the Nebraska Department of Insurance with experience as a financial analyst and reinsurance specialist, with over 9 years leading and managing the Financial Regulation Division as Deputy Chief Examiner and, most recently, Chief Financial Regulator. In her roles as Deputy and Chief, she was responsible for financial analysis, financial examinations, holding company transactions, supervisory colleges, actuarial reviews, company licensing, and the collection of premium tax in one of the country’s largest domestic insurance markets.
In addition, Crawford had considerable experience in important financial regulation work at the NAIC, including Vice Chair of the Risk-Focused Surveillance Working Group, the Valuation of Securities Task Force, and Group Solvency Issues Working Group and a member of various other task forces and working groups, including the Financial Analysis Working Group (FAWG), Reinsurance Task Force, and Receivership and Insolvency Task Force.
Crawford holds a Bachelor of Science in Business–Accounting and Finance from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. In addition, she is a Certified Financial Examiner (CFE) and is the current President of the Society of Financial Examiners (SOFE).