NAIC Elects New Officers

The newly elected leadership of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners includes a commissioner who has served as a regulator in two different states.

Missouri Insurance Director John M. Huff was elected NAIC president and Kentucky Insurance Commissioner Sharon P. Clark was chosen president-elect.

Huff, a native of Potosi, Mo., was appointed as director of the Missouri Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions and Professional Registration by Gov. Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon in 2009. Huff is a former member of the U.S. Financial Stability Oversight Council. He also spent 11 years as a senior manager with Swiss Re and GE Insurance Solutions before entering the public sector, the NAIC said in a news release.

Clark was reappointed as Kentucky’s top insurance regulator in 2012. Clark serves as the chair of the Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange Advisory Board. She is a member of the Kentucky Group Health Insurance Board and also served as past secretary-treasurer of the National Insurance Producer Registry board, the NAIC said. She is also interim chair of the Surplus Lines Multistate Compliance Compact.

Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner Ted Nickel was named vice president. Nickel was appointed Wisconsin commissioner in 2011. Tennessee Insurance Commissioner Julie Mix McPeek, former executive director of the Kentucky Office of Insurance, was elected secretary-treasurer.

Each of the leadership positions are for one-year terms running from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2016. In addition, the NAIC has announced the election of 12 zone officers. They are:

Northeastern Zone - Susan L. Donegan of Vermont, chair; Eric A. Cioppa of Maine, vice chair, and Al Redmer Jr. of Maryland, secretary.

Southeastern Zone – Jim L. Riding of Alabama, chair; Wayne Goodwin of North Carolina, vice chair, and Mike Chaney of Mississippi, secretary.

Midwestern Zone - Bruce R. Ramge of Nebraska, chair; Nick Gerhart of Iowa, vice chair, and John D. Doak of Oklahoma, secretary.

Western Zone -Dave Jones of California, chair; Laura N. Cali of Oregon, vice chair, and David Mattax of Texas, secretary.

NAIC’s committees, task forces and working groups will be tasked in the coming months with reviewing important rules involving life, annuities and retirement.

Among the committees is the Life Insurance and Annuities Committee, which is responsible for the Contingent Deferred Annuity Working Group, the Life Actuarial Task Force and the Unclaimed Life Insurance Benefits Working Group.

Earlier this month, a consumer group pushed for more disclosure around contingent deferred annuities offered to 401(k) plans. This comes about as group annuities within employer-sponsored defined contribution plans benefit from exemptions to Securities and Exchange Commission regulations.

In addition, the NAIC has released a draft proposal of the Unclaimed Life Insurance and Annuities Model Act, which specifies insurer conduct when identifying and locating people whose deaths require a likely payout by a carrier.

InsuranceNewsNet Senior Writer Cyril Tuohy has covered the financial services industry for more than 15 years. Cyril may be reached at cyril.tuohy@innfeedback.com.

© Entire contents copyright 2015 by InsuranceNewsNet.com Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted without the expressed written consent from InsuranceNewsNet.com.

Cyril Tuohy is a writer based in Pennsylvania. He has covered the financial services industry for more than 15 years. He can be reached at cyril.tuohy@innfeedback.com.