FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
2/17/2026
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Courtney Thornton to lead Maryland Insurance Administration's Property and Casualty Division
Commissioner Grant also names Chief Data Officer and Director of Mental Health Parity and Network Adequacy
BALTIMORE – Maryland Insurance Commissioner Marie Grant has announced the appointment of Courtney Thornton as Associate Commissioner of Property and Casualty, Brent Matthewson as Chief Data Officer and Sharon Fountain as Director of Mental Health Parity and Network Adequacy.
“Courtney, Brent and Sharon bring extensive experience and industry knowledge to the Maryland Insurance Administration," Commissioner Grant said. “Their expertise will enhance our capacity to serve Marylanders, and we're excited about the perspective and momentum they bring to our team."
Thornton will lead the Maryland Insurance Administration's Property and Casualty Division, which houses a Complaints Unit and a Rates and Forms Unit. The Complaints Unit handles consumer complaints regarding auto, homeowners, and commercial insurance, including claim delays or denials. The Rates and Forms Unit reviews and analyzes insurance company filings to ensure compliance with state regulations, laws, and actuarial standards.
An experienced insurance attorney, Thornton comes to the Insurance Administration from the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, where she was a lead senior counsel and subject matter expert on all cases and legal matters involving insurance and associated litigation. Prior to joining the Commission in 2023, she spent 12 years in the insurance industry with progressively responsible legal roles at Liberty Mutual Insurance, Zurich North America, AIG and Nationwide Insurance Co. Thornton holds a law degree and an undergraduate degree in criminology and criminal justice from the University of Maryland. She starts with the Insurance Administration on March 4. |  Courtney Thornton
Associate Commissioner of Property and Casualty |
Matthewson is assuming the inaugural role of Chief Data Officer at the Insurance Administration. He has deep expertise in data strategy, analytics transformation, and enterprise data governance.
As a data executive in the health care, financial services and retail energy sectors, Matthewson led large-scale teams and multimillion-dollar initiatives, consistently transforming information assets into a competitive advantage. Most recently, he was Chief Data Officer at WellStar Health System, where he led a modernization effort to establish a fully integrated, cloud-based data enterprise. Matthewson holds an MBA from St. John Fisher College and undergraduate degree in mathematics from Hampton University. He currently serves as an advisory board member at the University of North Carolina Charlotte's Data Science Initiative and Health Informatics and Analytics program. |
Brent Matthewson
Chief Data Officer |
| Fountain is joining the Insurance Administration after serving as a Senior Employee Benefits Specialist at the U.S. Department of Labor from 2021 to 2025. In that role, she worked closely with colleagues from the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Treasury Department on Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) regulations and many other MHPAEA-related projects, including reports to Congress and enforcement actions.
Prior to joining the Department of Labor, Fountain had a nearly two-decade career at Bloomberg Industry Group, where she was a Deputy Director at Bloomberg Law and a Managing Editor for Compensation Planning with the company's Tax and Accounting division. She has extensive experience in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the Affordable Care Act.
At the Insurance Administration, Fountain will lead a unit in the Market Regulation and Professional Licensing Division that oversees enforcement of mental health parity and network adequacy requirements related to health insurance products. She will serve as the MIA's chief technical and subject matter expert for any issue related to mental health parity and network adequacy.
Fountain holds an undergraduate degree in finance from Clarkson University, a law degree from the George Washington University School of Law, and an LLM in taxation from the Georgetown University Law Center.
|  Sharon Fountain Director of Mental Health Parity and Network Adequacy
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About the Maryland Insurance Administration
The Maryland Insurance Administration is an independent State agency charged with regulating Maryland's $49 billion insurance industry. For more information about the Insurance Administration, please visit insurance.maryland.gov or follow us on Facebook, X, LinkedIn, Instagram, or Bluesky.
