TUCSON, ARIZ. ─ March 7, 2022 ─ At its annual International Conference today the Captive Insurance Companies Association (CICA) honored David Provost, deputy commissioner of Vermont’s Captive Insurance Division, with the CICA 2022 Distinguished Service Award, and The Biltmore Company® with the CICA 2022 Outstanding Captive Award.
The CICA Distinguished Service Award is presented annually, when appropriate, to a single individual or entity that has made a significant contribution to the captive insurance industry.
David Provost has over 30 years of experience in captive insurance in both the private and government sectors. He joined Vermont’s Department of Insurance in 2001 and has served as deputy commissioner since 2008. Provost is consistently recognized by his industry peers as one of the most experienced and knowledgeable captive insurance regulators having been involved in licensing hundreds of captive insurance companies in Vermont. He has been visible and vocal in helping to defend the captive industry from potentially harmful legislation. Provost believes in the power of volunteering. He actively shares his knowledge by speaking at conferences in the U.S. and Europe.
Upon receiving the award Provost said he appreciates that “it’s called a ‘service’ award, because that’s what I feel like this job is about: serving the captive insurance industry. As a state regulator, you have unlimited opportunities to listen, learn, participate, and contribute, and I’ve taken advantage of as many of those as I could fit in one person’s schedule.”
The Outstanding Captive Award is presented to a captive insurance company or risk retention group that has shown creative uses for a captive, been successful in managing the captive in terms of net results and usefulness to its owners, has prevailed over difficult times or situations, and has gained acceptance, recognition, and a positive reputation among rating agencies, regulators and colleagues in the captive industry.
The Biltmore Company oversees the operations of a National Historic Landmark, America’s Largest Home®, once the private estate of George Vanderbilt; a winery, on-site hotel properties, numerous restaurants serving estate-raised food, event and meeting venues and more. Since its beginnings in 2014, Biltmore’s captive insurance program has enabled the organization to improve coverage for an uncommon risk profile. Today Biltmore manages 35 lines of insurance ranging from deductibles on key commercial policies to risk policies including business interruption, event cancellation, cellular devices, and many other business-risk exposures.
Biltmore’s captive insurance program was especially beneficial during the COVID-19 pandemic when North Carolina mandated business closures. Through its business interruption, loss of business income, event cancellation and other key insurances in their captive program, Biltmore was able to continue operations once they were cleared to re-open and pay claims quickly and efficiently from the captive.
Since its inception, Biltmore has maintained a proactive approach with its captive. “When creating our captive, we developed a guiding principle that we wanted to operate as a world class captive insurance company,” Steve Watson, chief financial officer and executive officer at The Biltmore Company said. “That core principle has pushed us to pursue continuous improvement in finding new ways to cover our risk exposures,” he added.
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