Alabama Department of Insurance Deputy Commissioner and Chief Actuary Charles Angell has been named the 2016 Alabama State Employee of the Year. Insurance Commissioner Jim Ridling made the announcement yesterday and presented the award to Mr. Angell before an assembly of all Department employees. Ridling said, “He is highly deserving of this honor and, in many ways, exceeds its challenging requirements and expectations. With a highly accomplished career spanning some five decades in both the insurance industry and government service, Charles is a nationally recognized insurance professional, often called on by other state Insurance Departments for his expertise and wisdom.”
Angell has become a highly sought-out expert and public speaker on property and casualty insurance issuesby state leaders and legislators, business groups, professional organizations/societies and citizen groups, especially in the area of coastal property insurance. He is a frequent visitor to Alabama coastal Counties, meeting often with local government and business leaders, media outlets and citizen groups on coastal property insurance issues and reform efforts.
Angell has been a strong and passionate advocate for coastal home fortification. He has worked tirelessly on behalf of the ALDOI with local coastal area governments and business leaders, national standard setting organizations such as Smart Home America and the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) and local consumer groups. To that end, he was instrumental in the 2012 passage of state legislation to establish the Strengthen Alabama Homes (SAH) program allowing the state to make grants to coastal area residents to fortify their homes against storm damage.
Most recently, Angell served as a member of the Coastal Insurance Working Group (CIWG), appointed by Governor Robert Bentley in June of 2015 and consisting of insurance experts,consumers, legislators, policymakers and the Alabama Center for Insurance Information and Research. Governor Bentley asked the CIWG to focus their attention on public policy to address the cost of property insurance along Alabama’s Gulf Coast. While legislation was introduced, at the same time, Charles entered into negotiations with the Alabama Insurance Underwriting Association (the wind pool) leadership that led to an agreement between the ALDOI and the AIUA Board which accomplished many of the goals of the legislation without need to change the law. Governor Bentley announcement the agreement on May 18, 2016, at a press conference in Mobile, Alabama, and praised Charles for his work to make it areality.
Under Mr. Angell's leadership of the Rates & Forms Division, the ALDOI has among the insurance industry at the state and national level a reputation of fairness and professionalism. The Consumer Services Division, with only seven specialists, receives and closes approximately 2,400 inquiries and 1,800 complaints per year. The Pre-need Division recently accomplished a major overhaul of the state’s pre-need statute and is currently implementing its provisions. The Department’s Producer Licensing Division recently completed a 12-year project to eliminate all paper licensing files and upload those files to the departmental electronic State Based Systems (SBS) licensee’s records. The Division also implemented a statutory finger printing requirement for all Insurance Producers, Independent Adjusters and Title Insurance Agents. Under Charles’ leadership, the ALDOI currently licenses and monitors the activities of 145,000 individuals and 9,600 agencies.
Commissioner Ridling said,“In addition to all his other accomplishments, Charles has worked side-by-side with me on some very successful industrial recruiting efforts to bring more than a dozen new property insurers to Alabama coastal counties. I can’t think of anyone in state government more deserving of this recognition of service to the people of our state than Charles Angell.”