Third Time’s a Charm for Nevada’s Captive-Focused Insurance Commish

Scott Kipper’s list of LinkedIn experiences runs 14 items long, but that’s not so much him bragging. He’s moved around a lot in a career that stretches back more than 30 years.

He could have just left off some of the less important experiences, but it would be difficult for him to pick which ones to axe.

Three experiences are as Nevada’s insurance commissioner, showcasing an unprecedented third stint. Kipper’s first go as commissioner was from 2008 to 2010. He was appointed again in 2011, holding the office through 2015.

Another on his long list of experiences is as deputy commissioner in the Office of Health Insurance in Louisiana, a role he held twice. He also served as insurance administrator at the Oregon Insurance Division from 2007 to 2008.

In between his previous stint as Nevada’s insurance commissioner, he ran his own consulting company and worked in executive positions in compliance and government relations at three firms.

He most recently served as the deputy director of operations for the State of Washington Office of the Insurance Commissioner.

Almost as striking as his long list of experiences is the nomadic life the 66-year-old has lived. Born in Nebraska, raised in Wyoming, Kipper has lived in 11 states – a few of those were multiple residences.

Kipper was appointed to his third stint as insurance commissioner in late February by Nevada Department of Business and Industry Director Terry J. Reynolds, placing him over an industry with $22 billion in written premium and more than 1,600 carriers licensed to conduct business in the state. His appointment to head the DOI was made following the resignation of Barbara Richardson, who served in the role since 2016.

Kipper’s previous tour as commissioner was highlighted by a push to bring more captives to the state, resulting in more than $4 billion in captive premiums by 2014, toward the end of his time in the role.

Making Nevada a captive capitol, and finding deeper meaning in his work, were among the reasons he said he headed back into public service over a year ago, and eventually back into his old role as commissioner.

Kipper found that he missed public service, and after years of private consulting, he grew less satisfied with his work compared with his time in the public sector.

“You know you’re, well, I wouldn’t say a hired gun, but you’re working for companies that, generally, they don’t hire you unless they have a problem. Right?” he said. “You know, some of it was good work, and some of it was a real challenge.”

When he went back to work as a deputy commissioner last year for Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler, who Kipper has known for 20 years, he found his “passion for public surface service” hadn’t subsided.

“Public service is a big incentive for him,” Kreidler said. “And I think it is for many of the people who serve as insurance commissioner and people who work in commissioners’ offices.”

Both men share the public service passion and have a distinction among the nation’s insurance commissioners.

Looking back through records from the National Association of Insurance Commissioner, it appears Kipper is the only commissioner to hold the post three times for the same state (excluding people’s stints as interim insurance commissioner or a deputy).

Kreidler is the nation’s longest serving insurance commissioner, and he’ll be heading into his 24th year when his terms ends. The 80-year-old says he’s unlikely to seek reelection.

Kipper’s first challenge is finding warm bodies. “One of the effects of the pandemic and one of the challenges that we’re facing here, which is not really a regulatory issue, but is one of finding enough qualified staff to do the work that we need,” he said. “In Washington, I think that the vacancy rate was 15% to 17%, and we’re seeing that here, and regulators across the country are also saying that it’s been a challenge finding enough qualified staff.”

Third Time’s a Charm

Kipper has a blue-collar way about him. He speaks plainly in a relaxed tone, and one would be hard-pressed to find a hint of “I” or “me” in most of his comments. Also absent are terms like “my insurance department,” or efforts to point to his track record.

People seeing him for the first time back in town again after a few years’ absence stop him and ask him what he’s up to, and they’re likely to get a dose of his humble humor.

“I was telling somebody this the other day, they said ‘Oh, you’re back again?’ I said, ‘Well, I’m gonna keep trying to do this until I get it right.’ But I’m not sure what that necessarily is. I don’t know what I would do differently,” he said.

Seconds after recalling the story, he followed up by immediately talking about his interest in bringing more captives to Nevada.

In 2022, the state counted 155 active captives accounting for $482.3 million in premiums, according to the Nevada Division of Insurance. That’s down from a peak of 201 captives in 2017. While total premiums were at a high last year, the number of captives has steadily fallen in the last five years, DOI figures show.

Nevada is considered one of the country’s oldest captive domiciles and was consistently among the states with the highest number of captives. Competition for captives and the premium taxes they can generate have heated up in recent years.

“Most states now have a captive program,” Kipper said. “You know, we need to reevaluate and make sure that Nevada is still a very attractive domicile, and if not, what we need to do to is get us back in the forefront.”

Auto Rates/Cannabis

His other goals include getting personal auto rates under control, and facilitating insurance for growing or emerging industries, like cannabis.

“You know, our personal auto rates have certainly caught the attention as being relatively high or at least have increased a great deal over the last five or six years,” he said.

The last time he was commissioner, voters in Nevada had yet to legalize cannabis.

“You know, this has come so far in the time since I was here last, I’m really excited about the possibilities of risk management when it comes to the cannabis industry and new and better ways for them to manage that risk,” he said.

Kipper covered a few other items on his to-do list, and when pressed for what he’d do differently in his third stop at commissioner, he drew on his blue-collar humility and offered a folksy analogy.

“It would be like different words to a verse in the same song,” he laughed. “So does that make some sense? You know, we still have all the basics that we have to do. We still have consumer services that hasn’t changed much. We still have to work with the administration and the Legislature, and that hasn’t changed – much different issues, but it’s still the same process. There’s always going to be vacancies in state government, no matter how hard you try. We can become more creative in trying to attract talented individuals to the Division of Insurance. So that really hasn’t changed, but it’s just variations on how we do things and, and variations on that language in the song.”

That philosophy may explain way he’s returned as commissioner for a third time. Could it lead to Kipper singing variations on the same song for perhaps a fourth time at some point in the future?

Probably not. This is likely to be his final tune and the last stop in a long and winding tour in insurance regulation.

“It’s probably gonna be the old commissioner’s retirement home,” he said of his next post. “That’s probably what it’s gonna be.”

Topics Nevada