Csiszar Elected New NAIC President
By Michael Ha
NU Online News Service, Dec. 8, 1:00 p.m. EST?At the opening session of the winter national meeting, now being held in Anaheim, Calif., members of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners officially elected South Carolina Insurance Director Ernst Csiszar as president for 2004.[@@]
Mr. Csiszar, who has been serving as NAIC vice president this year, succeeds Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Mike Pickens, who will become immediate past president in 2004.
Additionally, NAIC members elected North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Jim Poolman as vice president, to take over Mr. Csiszar's previous NAIC role and succeed Mr. Csiszar in the president post in 2005, NAIC spokesman Roger Hoadley told National Underwriter.
At the meeting, NAIC members also re-elected Oregon Insurance Administrator Joel Ario for a second consecutive term as secretary-treasurer.
Mr. Csiszar, who was appointed director of the South Carolina insurance department in 1999, has been working in a number of NAIC committees as well. He currently serves as chairman of NAIC's international insurance relations committee and vice chairman of the internal administration subcommittee.
Mr. Csiszar also represents NAIC for the International Association of Insurance Supervisors and serves as chairman of the IAIS subcommittee on securitization as well as chairman of the group's reinsurance committee.
He has been representing NAIC on various development initiatives for the United States commerce department and the United States Agency for International Development.
Originally from Romania, Mr. Csiszar immigrated to Canada in 1966 before eventually settling down in the United States. His private-sector experience before joining the South Carolina insurance department includes serving as president and chief executive officer of Seibels Bruce Group Inc., a regional property-casualty underwriter and insurance-services provider in Columbia, S.C., from 1995 to 1998.
He also spent time in ivory towers, working as visiting professor at the University of South Carolina business school from 1993 to 1995.
Commenting on his new role, Mr. Csiszar said that NAIC "made tremendous progress in 2003, highlighted by the adoption of our new plan of action for regulatory reform, called ?Reinforced Commitment: Insurance Regulatory Modernization Action Plan.'"
But that was just the beginning, he added. "2004 is the time for us to take a strong step forward. I will continue working with all of our constituencies to meet the challenges facing state-based regulation and push toward the concrete goals outlined in our plan."
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