Insurance Commissioner Lara announces statewide board appointments to advance consumer protection mission

News: 2022 Press Release

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara today announced several new appointments to multiple statewide boards to advance the Commissioner’s and the Department of Insurance’s mission to protect California policyholders.

These appointments include one new member to the California Insurance Guarantee Association (CIGA) Board of Governors as well as three new members and one reappointed member to the Insurance Diversity Task Force.

“The leaders and entrepreneurs joining these boards are lending their unique experiences and knowledge to protect consumers and I thank them for serving their fellow Californians,” said Commissioner Lara. “I have no doubt their contributions will help ensure consumers’ claims are honored, push for more diversity in the insurance industry’s boardrooms, and expand contracting opportunities for our state’s small businesses.”

The CIGA Board of Governors oversees the guarantee association’s general operations and management in order to protect policyholders in the event of an insurance company insolvency. Established in 1969 by the Governor and California State Legislature, CIGA comprises all insurance companies admitted to sell homeowners, workers’ compensation, automobile, and other specified property and casualty lines of insurance in California.

The Insurance Diversity Task Force oversees the Department’s nationally-recognized Insurance Diversity Initiative, which encourages insurers to increase procurement contracts with diverse business owners, such as a woman-owned, veteran-/disabled veteran-owned, historically disadvantaged community-owned, and LGBTQ+-owned businesses, as well as advance diversity of insurance company corporate boards. The Task Force makes recommendations to the Insurance Commissioner regarding innovative ways to increase diversity within the insurance industry.

The next CIGA Board of Governors meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 3, 2022 and the next meeting of the Insurance Diversity Task Force will be held on Thursday, June 9, 2022.

More details are available at: www.insurance.ca.gov/boards. These positions are uncompensated.

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Media Notes:

Newly appointed members include:

CIGA Board of Governors:

Patrick Wong is Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary for CSE Insurance Group. Wong has over 20 years of experience in insurance and is a member of CSE’s Executive Leadership Team leading the Corporate Department, which includes Legal, Governance, Compliance, Quality Assurance, and Internal Audit. He serves as the representative for CSE on the Pacific Association of Domestic Insurance Companies (PADIC) Board of Directors and is a previous member of the In-House Counsel Committee of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area. Wong joins the CIGA Board of Governors as the representative of CSE Insurance Group in a member insurer seat with a term ending on December 31, 2022.

Insurance Diversity Task Force:

Griselda Gonzalez is Chief Financial Officer of CG Moving Company, Inc., where she works with corporate clients, government agencies, and non-profit clients in offering office relocation and storage solutions in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her previous experience was in financial services, working for First National Bank of Northern California and then at Cal State 9 Credit Union. She currently serves on the California Moving and Storage Association Board of Directors and has won its “Chapter of the Year” award four times. She serves on the American Trucking Association-Moving and Storage Conference Board of Directors and represents independent movers. She is also a member of the Golden Gate Business Association. Gonzalez joins the Task Force as an advocate/representative for women business enterprises with a term ending on April 29, 2024.

Pradip Khemani is Vice President, Global Business Services and Healthcare Business Operations for Blue Shield of California. Khemani has over 26 years of international business experience with expertise in procurement and supplier governance as well as business operations, marketing, and sales and currently oversees procurement of $1 billion in contracting services. He is a board member of the National Sourcing and Purchasing Council which was created to provide a forum exclusively for Blue Cross Blue Shield to promote the exchange of best practices and information unique to procurement strategy and vendor/risk management. Khemani joins the Task Force as an insurance industry representative with expertise in supplier diversity with a term ending on April 29, 2024.

Jose Plascencia is Owner of Jose Plascencia Allstate Insurance. He is a former Market Development Director and Media Spokesperson for AAA of Northern California, where he led, facilitated, and championed several Diversity and Inclusion initiatives over his 15-year career. He is also Board Chair of the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce Foundation where he oversees the effectiveness of the diverse supplier program, which helps Hispanic and Latino-owned businesses to connect to companies with contracting opportunities. He is the first Latino Board Chair for the Greater Reedley Chamber of Commerce and Board Chair for United Health Centers Foundation of the San Joaquin Valley. He is also the former Board Chair for both the Central California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Valley PBS. Plascencia joins the Task Force as an advocate/representative for minority business enterprises with a term ending on April 29, 2024.

Vikita Poindexter is the CEO/President of Poindexter Consulting Group, LLC, a minority woman-owned small business. She educates her fellow business owners on how to propel and grow their business in the U.S. with an emphasis in California on human resources, diversity in staffing, and recruitment. Poindexter is also an appointed executive council member of AARP-CA, board member of California’s statewide Micro Enterprise network (CAMEO), member of the California Small Business Association Workforce Skills and Education Issue Committee, and a member of Southern California Edison’s Small Business Advisory Panel. She is a former Board President of the California Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners. Poindexter has been reappointed to the Task Force as an advocate/representative for women business enterprises with a term ending on May 13, 2024.