By Steve Tuckey
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners has canceled its fall quarterly meeting set to begin later this week due to the devastating flooding that hit New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.
The fall meeting had been set for Sept. 10-13 in New Orleans. "The first priority for all insurance commissioners is responding to disasters," said NAIC President Diane Koken. "Our hearts go out to our colleagues who are trying to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina."
Catherine Weatherford, NAIC executive vice president and CEO, said that after surveying members, the organization has agreed to cancel the meeting and work through executive conference calls in the coming weeks. She said the possibility of holding a smaller meeting in October is under consideration.
Earlier in the week, commissioners looked into the possibility of switching cities since the Meetings Department has long, well-established relationships with site providers. But the logistics of providing accommodations for 1,500 regulators and industry participants in the period of less than two weeks proved too daunting.
"Because regulators are used to conducting telephone conference calls, we do not expect any interruption of NAIC business," she said.
The last time an NAIC meeting was canceled was in September of 2001, when it was scheduled to take in place in Boston shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The NAIC has made a pledge of $25,000 to the American Red Cross Special Hurricane Fund to assist with recovery efforts from Hurricane Katrina.
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