AIA Hires, Promotes Staff to Meet Regulatory Challenges Abroad

The American Insurance Association says it has hired two new staff members to augment its financial regulatory and international team.

The trade association also promoted two current staff members.

AIA continues to be the leading property-casualty industry voice in discussions on financial regulation and group supervision of insurers at the state, national, and increasingly, international levels. The association deploys staff to engage proactively and to advocate for an efficient and effective regulatory structure that advances private, competitive markets here and abroad that work for our members and their customers. 

Adam Kerns joined AIA on October 1 as assistant general counsel focusing on financial regulatory issues, and Steve Simchak joined AIA Nov. 26 as its director of international affairs. 

“Adam's public policy, corporate and financial issue management experience, coupled with Steve's association and trade background, make them both well-suited for their respective roles with AIA,” says Leigh Ann Pusey, AIA's president and CEO, in a statement. “The addition of these two well-regarded professionals to the already strong AIA team will serve our members' interests, as AIA continues to play an increasingly influential role on insurance regulatory and market access issues, particularly as those issues evolve internationally.”

Kerns' current areas of responsibility include group supervision, group capital, enterprise risk management, corporate governance, solvency, and climate change. Prior to joining AIA, Kerns gained experience as director of finance in the Government and Industry Affairs Department at Farmers Group, Inc., an AIA member company. He previously worked as a controller for a Los Angeles law firm, a real estate attorney for a Philadelphia law firm, and as an auditor for Aramark and PricewaterhouseCoopers. 

Prior to joining AIA, Simchak was the program director of the Coalition of Service Industries (CSI), where he managed CSI's involvement with the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, the International Services Agreement talks, and bilateral engagement with the European Union, China, India and other countries. He previously worked in the offices of Congressman J. Randy Forbes (R-VA) and Congressman Bill Shuster (R-PA). 

Additionally, AIA says Phillip Carson has been promoted to associate general counsel and director of financial regulatory policy. Most recently, he served as assistant general counsel.

Prior to joining AIA in 2003, Carson was a financial auditor with the international accounting firm of Deloitte and later became a tax consultant with Arthur Andersen. He was first introduced to the insurance industry while working at Allstate Insurance Company. He then moved to United Airlines where he was first a manager in United's tax department and later, securities counsel in United's law department. 

Ken Stoller has been promoted to assistant general counsel. Stoller joined AIA in 1998 as an analyst/editor in AIA's Legislative Reporting Service (LRS). Most recently, Stoller served as senior counsel. Prior to joining AIA, he practiced workers' compensation law in Florida and held a variety of positions in insurance, education and small business.