Wisconsin Commissioner of Insurance Ted Nickel likes to hunt.
When he’s not overseeing the regulatory insurance environment for his state – as well as presiding over the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) – his favorite pastimes involve guns and reels.
He’s so fond of hunting, in fact, that when
Insurance Business spoke with him, Nickel was sitting in a Wisconsin blind hunting turkeys.
“My passion in life is fishing,” he said. “I love to fish. Anywhere, any kind of fish, it doesn’t matter, I love to fish. And just the outdoors in general is a passion of mine. And I love to hunt.”
But the 51-year-old doesn’t have as much free time for the outdoors as he might have had in the past. In addition to his official state role, as president of the NAIC Nickel serves on the Executive Committee, the Cybersecurity Task Force, the Government Relations Leadership Council, the International Insurance Relations Leadership Group, and the Internal Administration Subcommittee, and is a member of the NAIC American Indian and Alaska Native Liaison Committee, and also chairs the Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Working Group.
“One of my problems is I don’t say ‘no’ very often,” he explained. “So when people are looking for a hand or looking for an assist, particularly in my NAIC role, over the last seven years I have volunteered for a lot.
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“I’m just sort of curious by nature and wanted to explore and understand different parts of the insurance markets.”
He was appointed Commissioner of Insurance for the State of Wisconsin on January 03, 2011, by Governor Scott Walker. In December last year, he was elected as president of the NAIC.
So, yes, he’s a busy man. But then again, insurance is kind of in his blood.
“I’ve come from an insurance family. My dad ran Church Mutual, a commercial lines P&C company, located here in Wisconsin for about 30 years. So I grew up around it and I loved the area where the company was located – my hometown – and decided that insurance paid the bills, very nicely, and it allowed me to live in a place where I could pursue my avocations, like I was doing this morning [hunting turkey].”
Though he may have started out in his father’s P&C business, Nickel’s interest and expertise has steadily become focussed on regulatory processes.
“My first job in insurance was sort of a compliance-type person and also I took on a significant government affairs role. I’ve always been interested in public policy – in good public policy. I worked for quite a while with state legislature, I was a part of a national trade association, and I really enjoyed the insurance side – what insurance does and means – but also that public policy side of it.”
Prior to his state appointment, Nickel also served on the board of directors of the Wisconsin Insurance Alliance, the Wisconsin Insurance Security Fund, and the Oklahoma Property Casualty Insurance Guaranty Association, and also served as a member of the Legal and Government Affairs Committee of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America.
But back to his Thursday morning turkey shoot. How did the Commissioner get on?
“I’m sitting in my turkey blind right now,” he said. “The wind just picked up and they started coming to me and I just shot my bird. It’s about 20-pounds, a nice adult turkey.
“It’s a very limited season and I don’t have much time, so when they showed up I wanted to make it count. Now I’m about to get squared away and then head into the office.”
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