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Ernst Csiszar said he was resigning his positions as South Carolina insurance director and president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to become president and CEO of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, Des Plaines, Ill.
Hours after Csiszars announcement, commissioners huddled to decide what steps to take. Csiszar will assume his new post on Oct. 4.
Regulators will hold an electronic election within days to elect a new state insurance commissioner to lead the NAIC.
Under ordinary circumstances, the position of president runs through December when a new president steps in for the following calendar year. Typically, the NAIC vice president becomes president.
Jim Poolman, NAIC vice president and North Dakota insurance commissioner, says that if elected, he will continue to pursue aggressively the NAICs agenda in Congress and with state legislators, as well as its consumer initiatives.
When asked whether the cause of state regulation would be hurt in Congress by the perception of NAICs president resigning to become head of a major industry trade group before his term had expired, Poolman said he did not think so. The PCI is an active supporter of state regulation, he added.