Sampson Needs His Strength

David Sampson has been on the job about two months as the new president and chief executive officer of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, but he’ll take center stage this week in Boston presiding over PCI’s annual meeting. He’ll have his work cut out for him tackling one key issue he identified as a major priority–polishing the industry’s tarnished image.

Mr. Sampson’s predecessor–Ernie Csiszar, a former insurance company executive who left his post as president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners for the PCI gig–abruptly resigned not far into his new job shortly after PCI reversed course and pulled out of ProtectingAmerica.org, the Allstate-backed group pushing for a federal mega-catastrophe fund, which PCI joined with much fanfare days before defecting.