Donelon Hosts Nation's Insurance Commissioners in New Orleans

Commissioner Donelon Hosts Nation’s Insurance Commissioners
in New Orleans

Commissioner of Insurance Jim Donelon welcomes the nation’s 56 insurance commissioners for their Spring National Meeting this weekend in New Orleans. The four-day conference provides approximately 1,900 insurance regulators, industry representatives and other interested parties with a national forum to discuss common issues and interests, including regulatory and legislative insurance matters.

Commissioner Donelon said the NAIC last met in New Orleans in December 2004. The group was scheduled to hold its Fall National Meeting in the New Orleans in September 2005 but that meeting was altogether cancelled because of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. “I am excited to once again welcome the NAIC to my hometown,” said Commissioner Donelon, who is also the organization’s President-Elect.

Donelon noted that hosting the NAIC provides New Orleans with a huge financial boost. “A convention of this magnitude has a serious economic impact in terms of hotel bookings, restaurant reservations, museum visits and shopping for souvenirs.”

As part of his welcome address to the group during Saturday’s opening session, Commissioner Donelon will discuss Louisiana’s recovery from the largest catastrophe in the history of insurance: Hurricane Katrina. “My message to the Commissioners is one of thanks for their outpouring of assistance to our Department following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and to update them on the state of our insurance market, which is in better shape now than it was before the devastating hurricanes of 2005,” Donelon added.

Commissioner Donelon is also encouraging the Commissioners to check out the “Living with Hurricanes: Katrina and Beyond” exhibit at the Presbytere in Jackson Square, the Cabildo, the National World War II Museum and many other attractions unique to New Orleans.

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