TDCI Announces New Captive Insurance Section Director

Tuesday, February 07, 2023 | 11:22am

NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance (“TDCI”) proudly announces that Mark Wiedeman will serve as director of TDCI’s Captive Insurance Section.

A Utah native, Wiedeman is a graduate from Brigham Young University with a bachelor of arts in history and a master’s in public administration. Wiedeman began his regulatory career working as a valuation analyst for the Utah State Tax Commission. He joined the Utah Insurance Department in 2012 as an auditor before being promoted to senior examiner and eventually rising through the ranks to become assistant division director. In 2022, Mark left the Utah Insurance Department to start a business in contract insurance examinations and captive insurance consulting. 

“Mark’s return to the field of insurance regulation is a huge win for TDCI, for all of Tennessee’s captive insurance licensees, and for the State of Tennessee,” said TDCI Commissioner Carter Lawrence. “His proven leadership and sterling reputation in the captive insurance industry will build on our momentum as a first-choice domicile for captive insurance companies both domestically and internationally. I am thrilled to welcome Mark to the TDCI team, and I am confident he will take Tennessee to the next level of success.”  

Businesses can use captive insurance as an option to help mitigate risk and manage costs in certain aspects of their operations. In Tennessee, TDCI regulates captive insurance companies. Tennessee has 151 active licensed captive companies and a total of 562 risk-bearing entities with annual gross written premium exceeding $1.72B. Currently, Tennessee is ranked 10th worldwide for captive domiciles and is the 6th largest captive domicile in the United States.

Said TDCI Assistant Commissioner for Insurance Bill Huddleston: “While a large part of captive insurance focuses on analyzing numbers and regulatory compliance, building relationships with people is crucial to an agency’s success both internally and externally. Having a person of Mark’s caliber leading TDCI’s Captive Insurance Section will make the Division of Insurance stronger and will make our department stronger as a whole.”  

Said Wiedeman: “Tennessee has a great reputation among captive domiciles, and I am excited to be joining Tennessee’s team where I will work to help them continue in their success. My goal is to maintain a regulatory structure that allows for stable and sustainable growth while giving captive companies a domicile in which they can succeed in providing their parent companies with innovative insurance products.”

A high-resolution photo of Mark Wiedeman can be downloaded here.

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