My blog entry on Friday morning, offering my own speculation on why Ernie Csiszar so abruptly resigned last week as president of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, prompted some buzz from others in the market with personal knowledge of how the split actually went down.
In my earlier entry, I noted that Ernie had stepped down days after PCI defected from ProtectingAmerica.org, shortly after announcing with much fanfare that PCI would join the Allstate-backed group that aims to create a national catastrophe fund. Since the principals have clammed up on what the heck happened here, I suggested that Ernie was probably caught in the crossfire between two big members–Allstate and Liberty Mutual, with the latter adamantly opposed to a cat fund.
However, others in the know suggest that I missed the mark…That it was actually the smaller members (in relative size, but the majority in total numbers at PCI) that pressured Ernie to take a hike because of the way the decision to join ProtectingAmerica.org was made.
What I heard Friday afternoon is that this was not so much a showdown at the OK Corral between two behemoths–Liberty and Allstate–as it was a death by a thousand cuts. My understanding now is that Ernie talked with both carriers and worked out a truce of sorts, based on the fact that the political reasons for joining PA.org were more compelling than the ones that would have kept PCI on the sidelines. Apparently, many board members didn't feel the same way. Thus the rift and the hasty exit. Bottom line, this may have just come down to an internal governance dispute.
Whatever happened, the one thing for certain is there had to be a better way to handle this debacle without forcing a quick resignation by your CEO that would inevitably be linked to the Hokey-Pokey dance PCI did–sticking one foot into PA.org, then taking that foot right back out, leaving both organizations lurching all about.
Both organizations really took a hit here. PA.org's cause was bolstered by PCI's arrival, and is likely to be devastated by its stunning departure. PCI, meanwhile, looks like a group in chaos, and it loses a very potent personality in Ernie Csiszar, who knew how to get things done. It's really a shame it came to this.
I'm all ears if anyone else wants to offer more inside dope by e-mailing me at [email protected], or feels like offering their own observations about the repercussions on this blog. I'd especially like to hear more from the man himself, Ernie Csiszar, who had nothing of substance to say in the statement PCI released.
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