There were lots of warm well-wishes for outgoing President Ralph “Buddy” Iannaco at yesterday’s CAR Governing Committee Meeting. The Governing Committee Chairman William Cahill gave a short speech at the end of the public meeting thanking Mr. Iannaco for his years of service at CAR and in particular, in his help in implementing the major changes that CAR has seen over the last decade with the 2004 changes to commercial servicing carriers and the 2008 transition to managed competition.
In return, Mr. Iannaco graciously thanked both the Board members and employees of CAR and wished them all the best of luck. A private luncheon honoring Mr. Iannaco followed the meeting.
With no heir apparent on the horizon, however, the Governing Committee Meeting took further steps yesterday to provide for the interim administration of CAR upon the retirement of Mr. Iannaco on June 30th. The Committee approved The Management Transition Plan (MTP), which essentially provides for the day-to-day administration of CAR until a successor is selected.
Under this plan, Mr. Iannaco was retained as a formal consultant to help assist CAR’s interim management handle the internal operations of the authority.
As to the day-to-day administration of CAR, an Executive Committee of the Governing Committee, consisting of the Chairman of the Governing Committee, William Cahill of the Hanover Insurance Company, the Vice-Chairman of the Governing Committee, Richard P. Jones of the Leslie S. Ray Insurance Agency, Inc. and the Chairman of the Preliminary Screening Committee, David Cochrane of the Commerce Insurance Company will have oversight responsibility until the arrival of a new President.
Aiding the Executive Committee will be the four current officers of CAR, Ms. Valerie Gedzium, Vice President of Compliance Audit; Natalie Hubley, Vice President of Financial Services & Treasurer, Mr. Paul Ryan, Vice President & Chief Information Officer and Ms. Pam Wallace, Vice President of Residual Market Services all of whom will serve as Acting President of CAR in order to execute the daily business of the authority pursuant to approval by the Executive Committee.
Under the Management Transition Plan, The Governing Committee also approved the selection of Horton International, of West Hartford, Connecticut as its choice of Executive Recruiting Firm to aid in the candidate review and selection of a new CAR President. Founded in 1978, Horton International, is now a global executive search firm with 43 offices spanning North and South America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. It is believed that the search process will be handled by Horton’s Boston office.