National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ Fall National Meeting

At the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ 2025 Fall National Meeting in Hollywood, Florida, Dec. 8–11, two NAIC members were honored
with the 2025 Raymond G. Farmer Award for
Exceptional Leadership.

Ohio Department of Insurance Director Judith L. French, who chairs the NAIC’s Life Insurance and Annuities (A)Committee, received the award, as did Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner Nathan Houdek, who chairs
the NAIC’s Financial Condition (E) Committee. Both French and Houdek co-chaired the NAIC’s Risk-Based Capital Model Governance (EX) Task Force that was recently established.

Recipients of the Farmer Award must have shown not only exceptional leadership, but also the length of industry service that has contributed to advancing NAIC’s mission.

At the meeting, three state insurance regulators were honored with the 2025 Robert Dineen Award, for outstanding service and contribution to the state regulation of insurance. The award was named after the founder of the NAIC’s Support and Services Office.

The honorees were Kevin P. Beagan, who has served as a deputy commissioner at the Massachusetts Division of Insurance for 31 years, and played a role implementing reform law that provided the groundwork for the Affordable Care Act and other health initiatives; Amy J. Malm, who serves as administrator of the Division of Financial Regulation at the Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance where she has earned national respect for her leadership and her work protecting the state’s residents after severe storms and excessive insurance claims; and Jamie Walker, deputy commissioner of the Financial Regulation Division of the Texas Department of Insurance, where she developed the NAIC’s Best Practiced in Reviewing Complex Ownership Structures, and chair of the Accounting Practices and Procedures Task Force.

At the conclusion of the Fall National Meeting, NAIC members elected chief state insurance regulators to serve as 2026 officers — President Virginia Insurance Commissioner Scott A. White, President-Elect Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation Director Elizabeth Kelleher Dwyer, Vice President Utah Insurance Department Commissioner Jon Pike, and Secretary-Treasurer South Carolina Department of Insurance Director Michael Wise.

NAIC members elected 2026 zone officers for the four geographical zones organized by NAIC.

Northeast Zone
Chair: Commissioner Justin Zimmerman (New Jersey).
Vice Chair: Commissioner D. J. Bettencourt
(New Hampshire).
Secretary: Commissioner Marie Grant (Maryland).

Southeast Zone
Chair: Commissioner Mike Chaney (Mississippi).
Vice Chair: Commissioner John King (Georgia).
Secretary: Commissioner Michael Yaworsky (Florida).

Midwest Zone
Chair: Director Eric Dunning (Nebraska).
Vice Chair: Director Larry D. Deiter (South Dakota).
Secretary: Director Ann Gillespie (Illinois).

Western Zone
Chair: Commissioner Ricardo Lara (California).
Vice Chair: Commissioner Patty Kuderer (Washington).
Secretary: Commissioner Ned Gaines (Nevada).