Joel Chansky—Captive Insurance Person of Interest
From: Captive.com/IRMI, October 8, 2018
As part of our ongoing commitment to provide thoughtful commentary concerning issues impacting captives and the broader insurance markets, we spoke with Joel Chansky, chair of the Captive Insurance Companies Association (CICA) Board of Directors. Mr. Chansky is a principal and consulting actuary in the Boston office of Milliman, Inc., specializing in alternative market issues. He is a frequent speaker on the topics of captives, risk retention groups, and alternative risk financing. He is also a faculty member of the International Center for Captive Insurance Education and a former board member of the National Risk Retention Association, the Arizona Captive Insurance Association, and the Captive Insurance Council of the District of Columbia.
Joel, first—congratulations on being elected chair. Every chair whom I have known brings a set of priorities to the position. So, for you, what are the things you’d like to see accomplished during your term?
Thank you for the kind words. As an industry veteran, I have been involved with CICA for several decades. I was excited to have an opportunity to get involved with the CICA board, and it was a natural fit for me. I have admired the leadership CICA has taken in areas of best practices, education, networking, and domicile-neutral advocacy. Being on the board for the past several years has helped to shape my priorities for when I took over as board chair, and my priorities center around growth. First and foremost, I would like to see CICA grow its membership base, in particular, by attracting new captive owner members. Second, I would like to see CICA continue expanding its influence outside of North America. And, third, attracting the next generation to CICA is a priority.
You’ve been active in the captive arena for a long time. As the industry has become more global, how do you see that impacting the role of CICA?
That’s a nice way of saying I’m old! Yes, I’ve been at it for a long time—my first captive work was way back in 1988 in the state of Vermont. Back then, “global” meant Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, and maybe Guernsey. Now, with captives in other parts of Europe, the Middle East, and the Far East, CICA needs to expand its reach. This means the core roles of CICA of education, best practices, advocacy, collaboration, and networking need to be extended beyond North America. So, arguably, our role isn’t changing, but our challenge is to get our message out to more domiciles. And we’re doing that by continuing and strengthening our relationship with European Captive Insurance and Reinsurance Owners’ Association in Europe and by starting to extend our reach to the Far East.