It was a beautiful evening in Burlington, Vermont for the VCIA Spring Mixer! From left to right: Christine Brown and Sandy Bigglestone from the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation, VCIA Board Chair Jan Klodowski and Dawne Ware from Marcum LLP

One of my favorite VCIA events of the year is our annual Spring Mixer in Burlington, where 100 or so of our members join us for a little education, a little networking and a lot of fun! This year’s event on May 16 was no exception.

At the VCIA Board of Directors open meeting, an overview of the upcoming VCIA Annual Conference was presented to members. The conference, taking place August 7 – 9, is our 33^rd annual conference and the theme is “VCIA: Where the Captive World Comes to Meet!” This is an apt description of our annual event, which highlights the power of collaboration among people from all sectors of the captive industry.  This year, special focus has been placed on professional development as well, with sessions such as Presenting to Board/Management, Building Better Relationships and a new young professionals forum.

Ian Davis, Director of Financial Services for the State of Vermont, then gave an update on the State’s captive insurance activities, including the fact that Vermont has already licensed 11 new captives in 2018 with more in the pipeline. Dave Provost, Sandy Bigglestone and Christine Brown from Vermont’s Department of Financial Regulation (DFR) gave a report on their ever attentive zeal on making the regulatory process for captives in Vermont efficient and cost effective.  Dave also announced the Governor signing the DFR bill this week, which includes a change to the captive statute that will offer an onshore affiliated reinsurance alternative to insurance companies affected by the recent imposition of the Base Erosion Anti-Abuse Tax on reinsurance ceded to offshore affiliates. An affiliated reinsurance company is an insurance or reinsurance company that reinsures risks only from its parent or affiliates, and is subject to a financial solvency regulatory system separate from that generally applicable to traditional insurers and/or reinsurers in the ceding entity’s domestic jurisdiction.

And finally, the part of the day we all wait for (and deserve!): the cocktail mixer under beautiful blue skies on the patio of the Hotel Vermont/Marriott Courtyard. Our thanks to our great friends at Johnson Lambert for sponsoring this wonderful event!  Not only do our Vermont members show up en masse, but friends from New York, Connecticut and even South Carolina joined us for a great evening of friendship and comraderie.

We look forward to seeing you in Vermont in August. Thank you all very much!

Rich Smith
VCIA President