South Dakota Insurance Commissioner Stepping Down
December 10, 2014 by Thomas Harman
PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Division of Insurance Director Merle Scheiber is resigning effective Dec. 29, following nearly 10 years in office.
Scheiber served as the chairman of the Nonadmitted Insurance Multistate Agreement, a body formed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
The NAIC created NIMA after Congress passed the Nonadmitted Reinsurance Reform Act as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act. The NIMA was seen as an alternative way of allocating, collecting, distributing and reporting surplus lines tax revenues in a manner consistent with the NRRA.
Scheiber also served as the chairman of the NAIC’s workers’ compensation task force. In late 2013, his panel strongly was urged strongly by insurance industry officials to press Congress for Terrorism Risk Insurance Act reauthorization.
Scheiber’s departure makes him the seventh insurance commissioner to resign or retire from commissioner’s jobs this year. In late November, Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner John Murphy left when his term of office expired Dec. 10 to become the chief operating officer at Coverys starting Jan. 5 (Best’s News Service, Nov. 24, 2014).
In mid-November, Tom Hirsig of Wyoming and Gregory Francis of the U.S. Virgin Islands announced they would be stepping down. Hirsig resigned to take what he described as his “dream job,” to become the CEO and president for Cheyenne Frontier Days (Best’s News Service, Nov. 20, 2014).
Also leaving is Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Thomas Leonardi, who is stepping down to join Evercore, a New York-based independent investment banking advisory firm. William Deal, Idaho’s insurance commissioner, announced his retirement just prior to the NAIC’s Fall National Meeting in Washington, D.C.
Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger announced her retirement earlier this year and will be succeeded by Ken Selzer, who was elected to the job in November despite Praeger’s opposition (Best’s News Service, Sept. 17, 2014).
