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Mumford to Join Iowa Insurance Division, Resign from NOLHGA Board

James R. Mumford, immediate past chair of the NOLHGA Board of Directors and co-chair of the Guaranty System Modernization Task Force, will resign from the Board and all NOLHGA-related committees and task forces effective January 27, 2005, to take a new position as first deputy commissioner of the Iowa Insurance Division. He will also step down from the state guaranty association boards on which he serves (Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, New York, Oklahoma, and Virginia).

Mumford recently completed his second three-year term on the NOLHGA Board and is currently serving a special one-year term as immediate past chair. Upon his departure, the NOLHGA Board will still have a full complement of 13 members.

NOLHGA President Peter Gallanis praised Mumford's tireless work on behalf of the guaranty system. "Jim's passion for the guaranty system is obvious to anyone who has worked with him, and the importance of his work on behalf of the system simply can't be overstated," Gallanis said. "Fortunately, our loss is the regulatory community's gain, and we can still look forward to working together to protect insurance consumers in the coming years."

Staff Contact - Sean McKenna

Chandler Named New Co-chair of GSMTF

NOLHGA Chair Ron Downing has named Chris Chandler, vice president, government affairs, with Prudential Insurance Company of America, as the new co-chair of the Guaranty System Modernization Task Force (GSMTF). Chandler, who chairs NOLHGA's Communications Committee and also serves as secretary on the NOLHGA Board, will chair the task force with current co-chair Jack Falkenbach (MPC chair and executive director of the Delaware Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association).

Staff Contact - Sean McKenna London Pacific Life & Annuity Company (N.C.)

Batch 5 Claims Reports E-mailed to GAs

Batch 5 of the claims funding reports was e-mailed to affected guaranty associations on January 18, 2005. This batch covers the period January 6 through January 16, 2005. Funding to Philadelphia American (the TPA) is due from affected guaranty associations no later than January 26. The following guaranty associations need to remit funds: Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and West Virginia. Total benefits to be funded amount to $3,315,266.45.

As a reminder, all checks related to those policyholders who elected to surrender their entire contracts or for amounts related to liabilities not covered by guaranty associations were mailed by the London Pacific liquidator on December 28-30, 2004. Other than a number of corrections received since the first true-up was done in December, the transactions contemplated by the exchange agreement among Hartford Life, London Pacific, and the guaranty associations are now essentially completed. The final accounting (which will include a number of corrections received since the first true-ups that were held in December) is scheduled for April 2005.

As a result, the only remaining blocks of business are the deferred annuity policies being administered by the guaranty associations through Philadelphia American and a small universal life block. The universal life block is expected to be assumed by Hartford Life in 2005 once certain tax issues related to section 7702 are resolved with the IRS.

Task Force Chair - Frank Gartland; Staff Contact - Paul Peterson

Joanna Akiyama Joins NOLHGA

On January 18, 2005, Joanna Akiyama became NOLHGA's new manager of insurance services. Akiyama has eight years of experience in the health-care industry, with two years in software development. She is a graduate of George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where she also earned an M.B.A. degree. She most recently served as senior consultant/project manager with AXIOM Systems in Germantown, Md., where she was responsible for the implementation of AXIOM's HIPAA MAXIM product, a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act compliance solution for health-care payers.