Chief Executive Officer (Interim)
Tom Welsh is the California Earthquake Authority’s Chief Executive Officer. He was appointed by the Board on January 16, 2024, to serve on an interim basis while the Board conducts a search for a permanent CEO.
Tom first joined the CEA executive team in February 2019 as CEA’s General Counsel, managing the delivery of all legal services, enterprise compliance, internal audit, and government relations functions. During his time at CEA, he has twice served as Acting Chief Operating Officer, with responsibility over Human Resources, Facilities, and CEA’s Enterprise Project Management Office. As CEA’s Chief Legal & Compliance Officer, his position prior to appointment as CEO, Tom’s responsibilities include oversight of legal services, compliance activities, audits, government relations, as well as management of CEA’s information technology and administration systems.
In the second half of 2019, Tom led CEA’s implementation of the California Wildfire Fund, a privately funded, publicly managed $21 billion catastrophe insurance fund created by the California Legislature to cover losses from wildfires ignited by California’s three large investor-owned utility companies – PG&E, SoCal Edison, and SDG&E. CEA is the appointed Administrator of the Wildfire Fund.
Prior to joining CEA, Tom spent 30 years as a partner at global law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP. During that time, he practiced in the areas of insurance industry regulation, litigation, public finance, autonomous vehicle regulation, insurance technology, and insurance company insolvencies. For 28 years, Tom served as primary outside counsel to the California Insurance Commissioner’s Conservation & Liquidation Office, which administers the conservation and liquidation of troubled California insurance companies.