Burlington, Vt.

Maria Sheffield plans to throw her hat into the ring to beelected Georgia's next insurance commissioner, looking to succeedher former boss, John Oxendine, who is running for governor nextyear, the National Underwriter has learned.

Ms. Sheffield broke the news to NU during the VermontCaptive Insurance Association's recent annual conference here. Shesaid that before announcing her intentions, she wanted to determinefor sure that Commissioner Oxendine would be running for governorin 2010.

"Given the state of the economy and the direct impact it has onthe insurance industry, as well as the raging debate at the federallevel regarding the regulation of insurance–whether that should bestate-based or federal-based–I thought at this point in time it'scrucial that we have an insurance commissioner in office whoactually understands the issues and has experience in the office,"said Ms. Sheffield, now an attorney with Burr & Forman LLC inAtlanta.

Ms. Sheffield–who, like Mr. Oxendine, is a Republican–noted thatshe worked with the Georgia Department of Insurance for six years.At first, she was still working on obtaining her law degree andserved in the administrative procedures division, handlinglegislative work for the insurance department and the firemarshal–a position appointed by the insurance commissioner.

After obtaining her law degree–which she added to a master'sdegree in public administration and a master's in businessadministration–she requested a move to the regulatory servicesdivision, responsible for general licensure and complianceissues.

To her knowledge, she said, this was the first time an attorneyhad served in the regulatory division, because traditionallyattorneys serve in enforcement.

While the enforcement division "clearly plays a valuable role inthe department," functioning "after someone's done something theyshouldn't have done," she said she wanted the experience of helpinginsurers before they were in trouble.

"My experience with companies is that you're always going tohave a small segment of the industry that is doing something theyshouldn't do," she said, while adding that "97 percent are tryingto do the right thing."

Ms. Sheffield said regulators need to do what they can to "makesure we assist the industry in being compliant. If we're availableto them in advance–before they've done something wrong–that canmake a big difference."

She added that "we can't think of the industry as an enemy ofthe state. The industry provides a very valuable service to thecitizens of the state of Georgia and it also generates a lot ofrevenue for the state."

As an attorney, Ms. Sheffield noted that she has had experiencewith the captive insurance industry, which she is interested inpromoting in Georgia.

"Georgia's been a domicile since the 1980s, but it's never beenan active domicile," she said, noting that a number ofself-insurance funds decided to convert after the captive law waspassed. She pointed out that Georgia is one of the only states toallow a captive to directly write workers' compensation if theinsureds are located in the state.

While most of the captives in Georgia are for workers' compcoverage, there now are four or five medical liability captives anda few that provide liability coverage for the taxi cab industry,she noted.

However, to attract a wider range of captives, she said shewould like to see Georgia adopt regulations similar to those inVermont and South Carolina.

"As you know, many of the states have a captive law and some ofthem have embraced that industry," she said. "Clearly the captiveindustry can be a revenue generator. We've seen what has happenedhere in Vermont."

In Vermont the captive insurance industry is supported by thegovernor and legislature and is hailed for the number of "clean"jobs and income it has brought to the state–about 1,400 to date,she noted.

She said Georgia already has a strong industry base and anetwork of captive service providers in place–actuaries, attorneysand third-party administrators, reinsurers and intermediaries.

The captive industry, she noted, is not a competitor to thetraditional insurance market. Major corporations, such as Coca-Colaand Home Depot, have captives, and since "they're going to put themsomewhere, why not at least have a law on the books that allowsthese corporations–that are either headquartered in Georgia or havemajor operations in Georgia–the option to have a captive close towhere they're domiciled?"

As commissioner, she said, her goal would be to see thenecessary changes made in legislation, and to have someone in thedepartment with a background in captives to help run theprogram.

CHANGE IN UTAH

Meanwhile, Utah captive insurance regulator Donnie Spann hasresigned and been replaced by captive management executive Ross C.Elliott. Mr. Spann's resignation was effective Aug. 21. Since 2008,Mr. Elliott has been employed by Alta Holding, a captive insurancemanagement services provider company.

Utah Insurance Commissioner Kent Michie said in a statement hehad "reluctantly agreed" to accept Mr. Spann's request to resigndue to a family health issue back home in Tennessee, noting thatMr. Spann built an "incredible record of achievement for theCaptive Division."

In his three years in Utah, Mr. Spann increased the number ofcaptive insurance companies domiciled in the state from two in 2005to 123 today.

"Utah has become known as one of the fastest growing captivedomiciles in the world," Mr. Michie said, adding that the companiesgenerate about $167 million in gross premiums and $116 million innet premiums. The companies domiciled in Utah have more than $752million in assets that they are managing.

Mr. Spann and Mr. Elliott were both at the VCIA conference here.Mr. Elliott told National Underwriter the two are longtimefriends, both from Tennessee. Mr. Spann worked for the TennesseeInsurance Department. At one time he worked as a field examiner,performing the statutory examinations of insurance companies.

Prior to his employment with Alta Holdings, Mr. Elliott operatedhis own captive management company for about three years. He alsoserved as general manager of Landcar Insurance Services, a group ofthree insurance companies that comprised the insurance division ofthe Larry H. Miller Group. He is a current member of the board ofdirectors of Bear River Mutual Insurance Company.

"We are fortunate to have Ross available to fill the shoes thatDonnie has left," Mr. Michie said. "I am confident in Ross'sexperience, attention to detail and ability to grow this importantprogram of the department in the future. He will complement theteam we already have in place to continue servicing this importantand vital part of the Utah insurance market. We look forward tofuture growth in the program under his management."