Chester McPherson has been appointed acting commissioner of the Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking for the District of Columbia, effective immediately, the department said in a statement Sunday.

Mr. McPherson succeeds William White, who claims he was dismissed from his post a day after he made statements critical of President Barack Obama’s announcement that cancelled health insurance policies can be extended for one year, according to a report in the Washington Post.

Mr. McPherson has served as the deputy commissioner for the insurance department’s market operations since August 2011, developing strategic plans and implementing policies and programs to help ensure efficient and effective financial services regulation in the District of Columbia, the department said in the statement.

“Chester McPherson’s extensive management and leadership background make him an ideal candidate to lead the Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking,” said District of Columbia Deputy Mayor Victor Hoskins in the statement.

Mr. White in a Thursday statement said the extension would hurt the new health care exchanges by creating exceptions that would make operations more difficult, according to the Post report. The statement was later removed from the department’s website and the District of Columbia would not comment on Mr. White’s departure, according to the Post report.

Mr. White served as director of the captive insurance division for the Department of Insurance Securities and Banking in Washington, D.C., in 2003 and 2004 before being tapped in 2006 by then-Delaware Insurance Commissioner Matt Denn to head a program to attract captive insurance companies to Delaware. He left that program in 2009.

See the original article in Business Insurance.