Vermont Captive Insurance Division
A year of progress
Sandy Bigglestone looks back with Captive International on her first year as deputy commissioner of the Vermont Captive Insurance Division.
“We are attracting more international companies, not just in Latin America, but elsewhere.”
Sandy Bigglestone
Vermont Captive Insurance Division
The 2023 Vermont Captive Insurance Association (VCIA) annual conference in August marks exactly a year since Sandy Bigglestone took over from Dave Provost as the deputy commissioner of the Vermont Captive Insurance Division (CID).
Bigglestone said that a good part of the past year has been establishing with the industry and the people in it that she can demonstrate the same common sense approach, flexibility and regulation, that the CID has shown for many years.
She told Captive International that she’s been applying her own personal touch and that a good part of her time has been focused on getting her house in order, in particular with looking at ways in which the CID can improve, which it has always had as a goal internally.
In addition, the CID been looking at and focusing on staffing and its work culture, doing checkups on how people are perceiving that culture. Due to recent events such as COVID-19, the division has been through something of a transition, with people in new positions and with work environments being more remote than ever before, due to people working from home. There were some promotions and of course that led to vacancies had to be filled.
“I have to say I’m pinching myself because of how pleased I am with how it’s all turned out,” Bigglestone said. “By promoting people internally, we have shown we have a deep bench of knowledge, with people ready to take the next step in their regulatory careers, and it’s been a wonderful transition for those folks to be promoted and take on their new roles.”
She has been focused on staffing, training and professional development—those have been a big area of her strategy. She wants to continue to attract and retain qualified staff, something that is a key reason why Vermont is so successful in its regulatory operations, as it makes sure that everyone on its staff has the knowledge and understanding of the captive insurance industry.
Education and professional development
Another big priority for Bigglestone is education. Alongside regular staff meetings, the CID has been having learning sessions: in one it brought in a parametric expert and in another coming up an industry actuary will be talking about specific developments in the captives world. That provides a venue for Bigglestone and her staff to learn together.
As she puts it, amazing things happen when you bring people into a room together, and you have a topic that you can learn about and that allows staff to engage with each other.
“We are faced with the same opportunities and challenges in our day-to-day jobs,” she explained. “So that is a big focus of mine with respect to staffing, education and professional and personal development.
“I charged our team with developing these opportunities because we have been growing—we’ve had open positions and our budget allowed us to hire more staff. It’s important to have the resources to keep up with our work, especially since we’ve been growing so rapidly.”
Bigglestone’s team has been developing a formal training programme for new employees. She praised her team, saying that a couple people had stepped outside their normal day-to-day work to take on the training of new staff. She stressed to Captive International that she couldn’t be more pleased with the team and their commitment to being as cohesive and aligned as possible.
The international angle
Internationally, Bigglestone said, Vermont has been attracting attention and she’s trying to continue the momentum it gained with the trade mission in March to Mexico City in cooperation with the VCIA, the US Department of Commerce and the US Commercial Service.
“That was a wonderful day—it was well organised and we worked very hard,” said Bigglestone. “We were elated with the response and the reception we received from many organisations we met, and we’d like to repeat the exercise.
“Vermont aims to be as global as we possibly can. We are attracting more international companies, not just in Latin America, but elsewhere. We have captive owners that are international—whether they’re direct owners or ultimate owners of the captive, they have international operations, by nature of being Fortune 100 or Fortune 500 companies.”
However, Bigglestone added, the shift in what the department is accomplishing now is to establish Vermont as a domicile that has increased global reach, where an organisation seeking to form a captive that is possibly 100 percent operating outside of the US, or has US operations, but is headquartered in another country. “Vermont has had a good amount of traction in this regard and I look forward to continuing the good work,” she said.
Returning to education, Bigglestone stressed that it has been a huge objective for Vermont as a domicile, modelling captives and why it has benefited their organisations, why it benefits Vermont, and how the CID approaches licensing and regulation.
“This kind of education is very important, especially when transitions and turnover in regulatory staff occur, including leadership in other jurisdictions. Whether they’re captives-focused, or traditional insurance-focused, it’s always important to continue educating about the captives story and why it’s an important marketplace for companies.
“We enjoy educating other stakeholders within the Vermont state government. When they see the headlines, ‘Vermont’s growing’, they will understand why Vermont is such a great place for captive insurance,” she said.
Standards, standards, standards
Bigglestone explained that the CID needs to appease concerns over whether Vermont is growing because it is loosening standards.
“Being a leader in the industry is both a blessing and a curse. Yes, Vermont is attractive, but what makes Vermont so attractive? There’s a school of thought that says you’re competing by lowering standards, but that has been proved not to be the case,” she said.
“A big focus over my tenure so far as the deputy leader of this division is to make sure that people understand—both inside and outside the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation—that standards matter, integrity matters,” said Bigglestone.
“I always say that we need to do the right thing, and that has had a ripple effect. If people understand that, we are attracting business because we have standards, but it takes a very balanced, approach as you have to be reasonable. And that takes experience and knowledge.
“I’ve had to address concerns and assure the industry that I’m not coming in and making major waves of change. I’m trying to uphold the standards, but at the same time look for ways we can improve upon how we operate and understand the needs of the industry by being collaborative.
“That’s where the critical thinking comes into play, where we can say: ‘What can we change to ease the pain points?’, but at the same time get to a place where we’re making our regulatory process or filing requirements better and more valuable to our regulation.”
Bigglestone celebrates the fact that Vermont is continuing to grow at pretty much the same pace as the past few years. So far this year the state has licensed 22 captives, with new cell growth keeping pace with new licences.
Another accomplishment for the past year that Bigglestone highlighted is the first legislative bill she introduced as deputy commissioner, and she praised the work of the Vermont state legislature.
“If anyone has the chance to experience the Vermont legislature, they should,” she concluded. “They are very open and ready and willing to learn. They have a unique focus on the industry and on making changes that are reasonable, but not in any way that will sacrifice standards.”
To learn more about Vermont, visit www.vermontcaptive.com
Share this page
Image credit: Video by DreamClip Creators on Envanto