Tennessee Commissioner McPeak Elected NAIC President for 2018
December 11, 2017 by Best's News Service
HONOLULU – Tennessee Insurance Commissioner Julie Mix McPeak has been elected as the new president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
McPeak, who became NAIC president without opposition, had served for the past year as the president-elect and was next in the line of officer succession when the executive committee took its vote during the Fall National Meeting on Dec. 4. McPeak and the other officers will begin their one-year terms on Jan. 1, 2018.
McPeak said she and NAIC leadership would continue to work on implementing the covered agreement with the International Association of Insurance Supervisors that U.S. officials signed in September. McPeak said the NAIC will be continuing its work on health care issues “and what that might mean for us in that ever-changing landscape.” And she said the NAIC will distribute the details of its strategic plan, State Ahead, during the first quarter of 2018. The initiative is a five-year effort that will focus on improvements in the areas of safe and solvent markets; consumer protection and education; and NAIC member services and resources.
As Congress continues to consider revising or replacing the Affordable Care Act and weighs a long-term National Flood Insurance Program reauthorization, McPeak said the NAIC has been working hard to position itself as a factual resource on issues before Congress. “We’re spending a lot of time there and a lot of energy responding to ideas, proposals, possible legislation while also trying to advocate for what’s best for our markets, particularly on flood,” she said.
She will also continue to be involved in international affairs, having recently been re-elected vice chairwoman of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors’ Executive Committee.
Maine Insurance Superintendent Eric Cioppa moved to president-elect from vice president; South Carolina Insurance Director Raymond Farmer moved from secretary-treasurer to vice president. Farmer was elected in May 2017 to fill the vacancy left when former Texas Insurance Commissioner David Mattax died in April (Best’s New Service, May 16, 2017).
In the only contested race, Gordon Ito was elected as secretary-treasurer over Illinois Insurance Director Jennifer Hammer.
(By Thomas Harman, Washington Bureau manager, BestWeek: Tom.Harman@ambest.com)
