I am thrilled about recently joining the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance (TDCI) in the role of captive insurance section director.
I appreciate the wonderful leadership, dedication and service to the captive section from my predecessors, and I look forward to carrying on their great work and expanding on the growth of captives in Tennessee under their tenure.
I moved to Tennessee from Vermont in 2013 for the sole purpose of supporting the growth of captive insurance in Tennessee.
Through my decades of experience, being recognised on the national and international level as a leader in the industry, and leading my own captive management firm, I look forward to fulfilling my vision of helping Tennessee grow from an emerging captive domicile to climbing the ranks of a respected captive industry leader. I believe that Tennessee has a bright future ahead and will be recognised as a top domicile globally.
Through my experiences with a client base that has included Fortune 100 companies, large non-profit organisations and mid-sized closely held firms, and managing all forms of captive insurance companies in a variety of fields, I will now be able to focus my industry knowledge to help Tennesseans. As a director for the Tennessee Captive Insurance Association, I saw the Volunteer State modernise its captive statute first-hand. That legislation, and continued legislative efforts, have enabled Tennessee to grow the number of captive insurance companies from two companies in 2013 to more than 200 today.
I look forward to contributing to our continued growth through meetings with business leaders, held virtually now, and in-person when safe again, across our state and expanding relationships as we become a gold standard of the captive industry.
Captive insurance is an option for companies to self-insure certain aspects of their business. Captive insurance is growing overall, and it is an important part of Tennessee’s thriving economy. Specifically, the captive insurance sector at the department has an estimated economic impact in Tennessee of $31 million in direct annual spending, employs more than 100 full-time professionals and our captives write about $1.5 billion in premium annually.
All these successes are in large part due to the great leadership Tennessee has enjoyed at the department and the association. I applaud Tennessee’s past and current leadership for having the vision to expand the state’s captive statute, and I look forward to working with Governor Bill Lee’s administration, Commissioner Hodgen Mainda, and business leaders from around the world to continue to build on Tennessee’s position as a global leader in captive insurance.
Tennessee has recently grown to become one of the top-tier captive domiciles due to our business-friendly environment, responsive regulatory team, and low operating costs. Tennessee is also such an attractive domicile because of our centralised location. Specifically, Nashville is close to the supermajority of the population in the US and it serves as one of the top travel and tourist destinations in the US.
Additionally, we have a flexible regulatory environment, competitive premium tax rates, options for capitalisation, flexibility for investments and experienced service infrastructure for captives including attorneys, accountants and actuaries. Further, an incentive for having a captive re-domicile to Tennessee is that any alien captive will receive a one-year premium tax holiday. A business can be headquartered anywhere in the world and still choose to have their captive based in Tennessee. Our state welcomes the creation of new captives and captives moving to Tennessee from other national and international domiciles.
Lastly, this is a banner year for the captive industry due to the hardening of the insurance market as companies self-insuring with a captive have experienced less of a business impact than those companies insuring solely in the traditional market.
Forming a captive insurance company has now become a mainstream alternative risk tool to mitigate traditional and non-traditional risks. Furthermore, following the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies are now considering captives to help mitigate business interruption risks, including interruptions caused by pandemics.
Overall, Tennessee is a serious domicile with high standards, a business-friendly environment, an accessible regulatory team and a competitive cost structure.
Our team looks forward to the future growth of captive insurance companies domiciled in this state and to serving you, Tennessee. ?
