The California Earthquake Authority Welcomes Bret Ladine as New General Counsel

Sacramento, CA — The California Earthquake Authority (CEA) today announced the appointment of Bret Ladine as General Counsel, adding a seasoned public servant and consumer protection attorney to its executive leadership team. Ladine brings more than two decades of legal, regulatory, and policy experience in California state government and private practice to the nation's largest publicly managed, privately funded residential earthquake insurer.

As General Counsel, Ladine will serve as CEA's chief legal officer, providing legal and strategic counsel to CEA’s Governing Board, CEO and executive team, overseeing all legal and compliance aspects of CEA's mission-driven organization. Ladine will play a vital role in CEA’s fiduciary stewardship of the policyholder funds that sustain its operations.

"CEA is fortunate to welcome a lawyer of Bret's caliber to our executive team," said CEA CEO Tom Welsh. "Bret has spent his career at the intersection of consumer protection, public accountability, and sound institutional governance — values that are central to everything CEA does. As a mission driven organization, we have a profound fiduciary responsibility to the policyholders who fund our operations. Bret's exceptional legal skills, his deep commitment to public service, and his proven record of protecting consumers in complex regulatory environments make him uniquely well suited to help us honor that responsibility."

Ladine most recently served as Director of the Financial Information System for California (FI$Cal), a Governor Newsom appointment confirmed by the California Senate, leading a 425-person department that operates the state's enterprise financial management system and processes more than $450 billion in annual state expenditures.

Ladine's background is particularly well aligned with CEA's commitment to responsible stewardship of policyholder funds. As General Counsel — and previously Assistant General Counsel — of the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI), he provided legal and strategic guidance on consumer protection and the regulation of financial institutions, financial services, and securities. He was a key architect of AB 1864 (2020, Limón), the California Consumer Financial Protection Law — landmark legislation that fundamentally transformed the state's regulatory framework for consumer financial protection — and led its initial implementation. He also developed policy and regulatory approaches on emerging challenges including cryptocurrency, cannabis banking, and information security.

"I am honored to join the CEA team," said Ladine. "CEA's model — privately funded, publicly managed, and wholly accountable to its policyholders — represents exactly the kind of mission-driven public institution I have spent my career working to support and strengthen. I look forward to bringing my experience in consumer protection and public sector governance to bear to support the Governing Board and CEA’s leadership team in service of CEA's policyholders and its broader mission of earthquake resilience for California."

After his time at DFPI, Ladine served as Deputy Secretary and General Counsel of the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA), also a Governor Newsom appointment, where he served as chief legal officer overseeing legal functions across Caltrans, DMV, and CHP. In that capacity, he played a central role in updating California's autonomous vehicle regulatory framework. Earlier in his career, he practiced at the San Francisco and Palo Alto offices of Hogan Lovells and at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he represented companies and their officers and directors in SEC and DOJ investigations, securities class actions, and matters involving corporate governance and anti-corruption compliance.

Ladine holds a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and a B.A. in History, with distinction, from Yale University, where he served as Managing Editor of the Yale Daily News and was recognized with multiple academic honors. He is a member of the State Bar of California, the Sacramento County Bar Association, and the Anthony M. Kennedy American Inn of Court.