Board Of Directors

Nicholas A. Secara

IFNY Director

Partner, Foley & Lardner LLP

Nicholas A. Secara is a partner in Foley & Lardner LLP’s Insurance Practice Group and Health Care & Life Sciences Sector, where he focuses on transactional, regulatory, and commercial matters within the (re)insurance industry. He advises investors, start-ups, (re)insurers, managing general agents, third-party administrators, and other industry participants, providing practical, business-oriented guidance on mergers and acquisitions, regulatory compliance, and the development of innovative insurance products and distribution models. Clients also rely on him for representation before state insurance regulators and for counsel in navigating the evolving insurance landscape.

Nick has experience across all lines of business, with a particular focus on life and health and specialty property and casualty, and frequently serves as outside general counsel to insurance-related organizations. Prior to joining Foley, he served as Deputy General Counsel for a global specialty risk assumption organization, where he played a key role in launching and scaling its North American platform. Earlier in his career, he practiced at leading international law firms, advising (re)insurance clients on complex transactional and regulatory matters, as well as high-value arbitrations and litigation. He has also worked on emerging FinTech and InsurTech initiatives involving blockchain and digital assets.

He has advised private equity firms on strategic investments and acquisitions in insurance distribution platforms and managing general agents, counseled specialty insurers on acquisitions in the medical stop-loss and managed care space, and represented major insurance brokers in large-scale transactions, including deals valued at approximately $1 billion. He also has significant experience handling regulatory matters such as licensure, financial examinations, and holding company filings, and negotiating complex commercial agreements across the insurance sector.

Nick is a co-founder and advisory council member of the Insurance Federation of New York, an Emerging Leaders member of the New York State Bar Association’s Insurance Law Committee, and an executive officer of the U.S. Reinsurance Under 40s Group. He earned his J.D. from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Cardozo Journal of International & Comparative Law, and his B.A. from Middlebury College. He is admitted to practice in New York and New Jersey, as well as in multiple federal district courts.

Foley & Larder LLP

90 Park Ave, 35th Floor, New York, NY 10016
📞 212.338.3434 | ✉️ nsecara@foley.com | LinkedIn

Thomas E. Workman

IFNY Director

Thomas Workman served for 7.5 years as the Independent Member with Insurance Expertise on the Financial Stability Oversight Council (2018-2025). He was nominated for that position by President Donald J. Trump in November of 2017 and was confirmed by the United States Senate by unanimous consent in early March of 2018. Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin swore Tom into this position on March 28, 2018. The three missions of FSOC are to identify risks to the financial stability of the United States that could arise from material distress or failure, or ongoing activities of large companies in the financial services marketplace, promote market discipline, and respond to emerging threats to the stability of the U.S. financial system.

Prior to his federal service, Tom served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of The Life Insurance Council of New York, Inc., for nearly seventeen years (1999-2016). LICONY is the trade organization that represented 53 life insurance companies domiciled in New York State, 21 life insurance companies domiciled outside New York State, and 22 professional firms (accounting, actuarial, consulting, and legal) that serviced the life insurance industry. LICONY is the “principal voice” representing the legislative, regulatory, and public interests of the life insurance industry in New York State. The companies represented write over 90% of the business written by life insurers in New York.

Tom practiced law as an associate (1973-1977) and later as a partner (1977-1999) at the Bricker & Eckler Law Firm based in Columbus, Ohio. He was hired by former Governor and former United States Senator John W. Bricker, and the Managing Partner of the Firm, John Eckler. During those twenty-six years, Tom represented the Association of Life Insurance Companies, a trade organization of the leading life insurance companies domiciled in Ohio and several major national life insurance companies domiciled outside of Ohio. Starting in these years, Tom served for 24 years on the Board of Directors of the Ohio Farmers Insurance Company, a highly regarded regional, multi-line, property casualty insurance company headquartered in Westfield Center, Ohio. From these many years of insurance practice, Tom developed the insurance practice group at Bricker & Eckler.

After undergraduate school (B.S. Finance) and law school (J.D.) at The Ohio State University, Tom clerked at Bricker & Eckler for several months and then reported for active duty as a Captain in The Judge Advocate General’s Corps of the United States Army. Following nearly four years of this military service (1970-1973), Tom returned to Bricker & Eckler to begin the practice of law.

Tom received the Buist M. Anderson Award for Distinguished Service from the Association of Life Insurance Council and the Lifetime Achievement Award from The Insurance Round Table of New York. He was a Member of the Board of the Association of Life Insurance Council and its Delegate to the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association. He served as Chair of the ABA Life Insurance Law Committee, Member of the Board of the Federation of Regulatory Council, Member of the Insurance Law Committee of the New York City Bar, and Trustee of The Griffith Foundation on Insurance Education.

Tom is admitted to practice law in Ohio, New York, and the District of Columbia. Tom and his wife Pam live in New York City. Their son and daughter and their families live in New York City and Sarasota, Florida, respectively.

✉️ tom@teworkman.com | LinkedIn

Marsha A. Cohen

IFNY Director

CEO, Klinecone Consulting

Prior to her retirement in February 2025, Ms. Cohen served as Senior Vice President and Director of Education at the Reinsurance Association of America (RAA). She developed and headed the operation of the RAA’s Reinsurance Education Institute. To date, 22,000 attendees have participated in the Institute’s education programs. Before assuming this position, Ms. Cohen was Senior Vice President and Director of State Relations at the RAA. Before joining the RAA, she held corporate positions at Royal Reinsurance American Holdings and its subsidiaries. Ms. Cohen began her career at First State Insurance Company and New England Reinsurance Corporation.

Ms. Cohen is active in industry and professional affairs. She has been honored by the Association of Professional Insurance Women (APIW) as an “Insurance Woman of the Year” and was named by Business Insurance as one of the “Women to Watch.” She has also been honored as one of Business Insurance’s Leading 100 Women and was presented with the Association of Professional Insurance Women’s (APIW) “Women of the Future Award.” She is a board member of the Insurance Federation of New York (IFNY), a member of the board of advisors of the Multicultural (Re) Insurance Association (MRIA), and a member of the Reinsurance and Surplus Lines Interest Group of the CPCU Society. Ms. Cohen served as Treasurer of the D.C. Insurance Federation; a board member and Chair of the Insurance Education Council (IEC) to the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL); President of The International Alliance of Women (TIAW); President of the Association of Professional Insurance Women (APIW); board member of the New York Chapter of CPCU; and as a member of Boston University’s Metropolitan College Advisory Board. In addition, she was an Adjunct Professor of Management at Baruch College, City University of New York.

Ms. Cohen has been a speaker for many industry related organizations including: the RAA, the Katie School of Insurance and Risk Management, Illinois State University, Drake University, the Insurance Regulatory Examiners Society (IRES), the CPCU Society, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), the Intermediaries & Reinsurance Underwriters Association (IRU, Inc); the Contracts Wording Discussion Group, the Association of Professional Insurance Women (APIW): the National Association of Mutual Insurance Commissioners (NAMIC) and The International Alliance (TIAW).

Ms. Cohen received a Master’s degree from Boston University and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the State University of New York at Albany. She has attained the designations of Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and Associate in Reinsurance (ARe).

📞 202-285-4035 | ✉️ marshaacohen@gmail.com | LinkedIn

Teresa Chan

IFNY Director

Director, Master of Professional Studies in Insurance Management, Columbia School of Professional Studies

With over 27 years of experience in the insurance industry, Teresa Chan is a recognized leader and innovator in the areas of renewable and alternative energy, niche market development, and policy drafting. Throughout her career, she has tackled emerging issues by building and leading multi-disciplinary teams and delivering client-focused solutions.

Most recently, Chan served as Business Manager for an InsureTech business incubator supported by Willis Towers Watson. Three businesses were launched, leveraging emerging tech capabilities to underwrite specialized markets such as renewable energy and management/cyber liability.

Previously, Chan spent 22 years at AIG, where she served as both Senior Vice President of AIG Energy Warranty and Director of Corporate Product Development. She led the creation of over 100 white papers for new property, casualty, personal, life, accident, and health coverage. She also launched first-in-market personal and corporate theft products.

Chan also led successful efforts to insure and finance new energy technologies, including solar, wind, waste-to-energy, and biofuel projects that reduce carbon emissions, promote green communities, and generate employment. Her work in the energy sector continued after AIG as an Advisor to New Energy Risk.

At AIG Chan was also charged with managing a business development initiative that partnered with Native American tribal governments, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Department of Energy, and the Department of the Interior to facilitate the expansion of tribal businesses.

She began her career at AIG as an insurance regulatory attorney providing counsel to domestic and international profit centers, as well as overseeing insurance holding company compliance requirements.

Chan earned her J.D. from Fordham University and her B.S. in Operations Research from the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Columbia University. She has been recognized by publications including “25 Women to Watch” in Business Insurance and “Top Insurance Women” in ReActions Magazine.

Chan actively serves as a mentor to many professionals in the insurance industry. Teresa also serves on the Advisory Boards of Business Insurance DEI Institute, NAAIA New York, Asian American Insurance Network, and is a member of the Triple-I non-resident scholar team.

Columbia University School of Professional Studies

2970 Broadway, 214H Lewisohn Hall, New York, NY 10027
tel: (212) 853-1510 | email: twc24@columbia.edu

Patrick L. Linehan

IFNY Director

Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications, Travelers

Patrick Linehan is Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at Travelers and is a member of the company’s Operating Committee. For more than a decade, he has overseen the company’s media relations, social media and employee and executive communications efforts with a lens toward creating high-impact programs that drive business results, employee engagement and corporate culture.

Patrick previously served as a Senior Vice President at JPMorgan Chase, where he led communications for the company’s Consumer Banking, Business Banking and Commercial Banking businesses. Prior to that, he held senior positions at two highly regarded strategic communications firms – Robinson Lerer & Montgomery and The Abernathy MacGregor Group – where he worked closely with management teams of companies across a number of industries, with a particular focus on the financial services sector. He was responsible for developing and implementing comprehensive communications plans through periods of significant change, crisis, mergers and acquisitions, litigation matters and corporate positioning.

Patrick is a member of the Page Society and was named to the 2024 Financial Narrative 50. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona and lives in Rye, New York, with his wife and two daughters.

The Travelers Companies, Inc.

485 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10017
tel: 917-778-6267

Hank Watkins

IFNY Director

Executive Director, Greenberg School of Risk Management, St. John’s University and Associate Dean, Peter J. Tobin College of Business

Hank joined St. John’s University on November 1, 2024 as Executive Director of the Greenberg School of Risk Management, Insurance and Actuarial Science and Associate Dean of Peter J. Tobin College of Business. From the St. John’s campus at Astor Place in Manhattan, the Greenberg School continues the legacy of the Insurance Society of New York, founded in 1901, and its successor, The College of Insurance, which merged with the University in 2001.

Ranked among the top ten academic institutions serving the global insurance industry, the Greenberg School offers a variety of undergraduate and graduate degrees, internship opportunities and international study programs, executive education courses and, in the Davis Library, the world’s largest collection of risk and insurance literature, policies and related documents.
Hank has more than 40 years of experience in the insurance industry and has held a range of underwriting, client management and leadership positions in the United States and Europe at Chubb, Johnson & Higgins, Marsh, Hilb Rogal and Hobbs and Lloyd’s, where he was Regional Director & President of the Americas region.

Hank graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and has completed an executive leadership program at The Wharton School. He’s a member of the Board of Overseers at the Greenberg School and is on the boards of the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation and the Insurance Federation of New York.

St. John’s University, Manhattan Campus

101 Astor Place | New York, NY 10013
email: watkinsh@stjohns.edu

James J. Wrynn, Esq.

IFNY DIRECTOR

Senior Managing Director Global Insurance Services, FTI Consulting

Former Superintendent, New York State Insurance Department, James J. Wrynn, Esq. brings more than 35 years of professional experience as an attorney, regulator, executive, strategic advisor, hearing officer and expert witness on a variety of insurance and regulatory matters.

the 40th and last Superintendent of the New York State Insurance Department (now the Department of Financial Services which he was involved in creating), Mr. Wrynn managed and streamlined the operations of both the New York State Insurance Department (NYSID) and the New York Liquidation Bureau (NYLB). He served as the first Deputy Superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services, the Executive Director of the New York State Insurance Fund, and played an integral role within both the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), and the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS). Additionally, he has an international presence having served as a registered foreign lawyer in the U.K., and as a member of Insurance Boards in the United States, European Union and Bermuda.

Before joining FTI, Mr. Wrynn was the Chief Commercial Officer and Hearing Officer at NAM (National Arbitration and Mediation). Prior to joining NAM, he served once before in his current role as Senior Managing Director at FTI Consulting;; as Managing Director and Vice-Chair in the U.S. for Guy Carpenter’s Global Strategic Advisory Group; and as Senior Partner at the law offices of Goldberg Segalla, LLP.

Mr. Wrynn currently serves as a member on the Boards of several professional and educational organizations, including the Maurice R. Greenberg School of Risk Management, Insurance and Actuarial Science; the American Society of Workers Compensation Professionals (AmCOMP); the St. John’s University Tobin College of Business; and IFNY. He is also a member of the Economic Club of New York; the Federation of Regulatory Counsel (FORC), and is a Certified Arbitrator with ARIAS-US.

Mr. Wrynn is admitted to practice law in the federal and state courts of New York and New Jersey, and the U.S. Supreme Court, and has earned Associate in Claims (AIC), Associate in Risk Management (ARM), Associate in Captive Insurance (ACI), and Workers’ Compensation Professional (WCP) designations. He lives in Douglaston, N.Y., with his wife Maura. They have three grown children Katie, James and Kevin, and a grandson, James IV.

FTI Consulting

1166 Avenue of the Americas | New York, NY 10036
tel: (923) 317-0635 | email: Jim.Wrynn@FTIConsulting.com

Francine L. Semaya

IFNY Director

Legal and Insurance Regulatory Consultant

Francine L. Semaya is an attorney admitted in the State of New York and is currently a legal consultant in insurance regulation, reinsurance, insurance insolvency, and transactional matters. She was previously the chair of the insurance regulatory and transactional group of two international law firms, where she handled corporate and regulatory filings, and counseled clients with respect to compliance with insurance regulatory requirements, as well as reinsurance and insolvency matters. She concentrates her practice in reinsurance, insolvency, and national and global insurance regulatory matters in the areas of property, casualty, life, annuity, surety, and financial guaranty. In addition to handling insurance regulatory, insolvency, and transactional matters, she performs legal and compliance audits and serves as an expert witness. Ms. Semaya was named a “2009 Woman to Watch” by Business Insurance magazine.

Active in several professional organizations, Ms. Semaya is a past President of the International Association of Insurance Receivers, having previously served as a member of its Board of Directors. She is a longtime member of the American Bar Association’s Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section (TIPS), where she has assumed various leadership roles, including six years as the section’s Delegate to the House of Delegates and three years on TIPS Council. She served as the founding Chair and then Chaired the TIPS Task Force on Federal Involvement in Insurance Regulation Modernization and Health Care Reform from its inception in 2004 through August 2014; a member of the Excess Surplus Lines and Reinsurance Committee, and a member and past Chair of TIPS Insurance Regulation Committee. Ms. Semaya is on the Board of Directors of the Insurance Federation of New York. She is also a member of the New York City Bar’s Insurance Law Committee.

Ms. Semaya is a frequent lecturer and has authored numerous articles in both legal and insurance trade publications, including National Underwriter Property & Casualty, Best’s Review, American Bar Association, Practising Law Institute and others on topics pertaining to insurance regulatory, reinsurance, and insolvency law. She is often called upon to organize and chair seminars and programs of significance to the insurance industry. Ms. Semaya is Co-Author of Insurance Law for Common Interest Communities: Condominiums, Cooperatives and Homeowner Associations, published by Sunshine Gardens Legal Publishers, LLC, 2018, and The Law of Flood Insurance – North Carolina Edition, Sunshine Gardens Legal Publishers, LLC, 2018.

Francine L. Semaya, Esq.

Admitted to Practice in New York

📞 (732) 241-8090 | F (732) 706-5515 | ✉️ flsemaya@gmail.com | LinkedIn

Christina Lee

IFNY Director

Senior Vice President, Head of Legal, CNA

Christina Lee is Senior Vice President and Head of Legal, U.S. Businesses at CNA, where she leads the legal, regulatory, transactional, and product support for CNA’s businesses and corporate functions. Prior to joining CNA in 2021, Christina was Senior Vice President and Global Deputy Chief Compliance Officer for Chubb Group. Christina also spent 11 years at AIG in roles of increasing responsibility, including as Deputy General Counsel of Global Legal, Compliance and Regulatory. Earlier in her career, Christina served as an attorney for the New York State Insurance Department.

Christina currently serves on the advisory board of the Asian American Insurance Network. For several years, she also served on the board of the New York Property Insurance Underwriting Association. Christina was on the board of the Asian American Bar Association of New York and a faculty member of the In-House Counsel Leadership Development Program.

Christina is passionate about developing future leaders and was recognized in 2022 by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association with the Leadership Impact Award and as the Keynote Honoree in 2023 by the Korean American Lawyers Association of Greater New York.

Christina received a B.A. in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley and a J.D. from the Temple University School of Law.

CNA

125 Broad Street | New York, NY 10004

📞 (212) 440-3780 | ✉️ christina.lee@cna.com | LinkedIn

Eric R. Dinallo

IFNY Director

Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton, LLC

Eric Dinallo is Chair of Debevoise & Plimpton’s insurance regulatory practice and a member of its Financial Institutions and White Collar & Regulatory Defense Groups in New York.

Mr. Dinallo is a broad-gauged financial services lawyer who focuses on developing and executing regulatory strategies for clients involved in transactions in the insurance sector. He also counsels financial institutions, including banks and insurers, facing investigations or enforcement actions from insurance regulators, state attorneys general and prosecutors.

Mr. Dinallo has a wide range of private and public sector experience. Most recently, he served as the Executive Vice President and General Counsel at Guardian Life Insurance Company of America. He has also served as the General Counsel of Willis Group Holdings, the then third largest insurance broker, and as the Global Head of Regulatory Affairs forMorgan Stanley.

Earlier in his public service career, he served as the New York State Superintendent of Insurance, where he led the Department through the Financial Crisis to become a nationalmodel on insurance regulation and a respected voice on the industry’s role in the financial system. Mr. Dinallo also served as the Chief of the Investor Protection Bureau at the New York State Attorney General’s Office.

Mr. Dinallo is the Chair of the American Institute for Stuttering.

Debevoise & Plimpton

69 Hudson Boulevard | New York, NY 10001
tel: (212) 909-6565 | email: edinallo@debevoise.com