Long-Time Maine Insurance Regulator Cioppa to Retire April 1

After 33 years at the Maine Bureau of Insurance, including 10 as superintendent and 13 as deputy superintendent, Eric Cioppa will retire on April 1, 2022.

Cioppa joined the insurance department in 1988 as a statistician then served as supervisor of the workers’ compensation section, prior to becoming deputy superintendent in 1998 and then superintendent in 2011. Cioppa’s appointment to serve as superintendent was reconfirmed by the legislature in 2017.

Throughout his tenure at the bureau, and especially in recent years, Cioppa has also been involved with helping to set national priorities, develop model laws and regulation, and act as a spokesperson for the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). He served as president of the NAIC in 2019, vice president in 2017 and secretary in 2016 in addition to chairing and serving on numerous committees.

His regulatory colleagues at the NAIC also appointed him to serve a two-year term as their non-voting member representative on the U.S. Financial Stability Oversight Council in 2018, and appointed him for a second two-year term in 2020.

Governor Janet Mills thanked Cioppa on behalf of all Mainers. “Superintendent Cioppa has accomplished so much for Maine people during his tenure at the Bureau,” stated Governor Janet Mills. “From his work to overhaul the workers’ compensation system in the state in the early ’90s, to overseeing the implementation of the Affordable Care Act in Maine since 2010, to working with my administration on health insurance and consumer financial protections during the pandemic — and all the legislative, regulatory and enforcement work in between — Superintendent Cioppa’s contributions to the health and welfare of Mainers have been invaluable. I will deeply miss him.”

Department of Professional and Financial Services Commissioner Anne Head said that Cioppa “has been an incredible asset to the state and its people; he’s been tireless in his work to protect the rights of Mainers and to support business innovation and competition in Maines insurance industry.”

The administration is undertaking a national search to identify candidates for the Superintendent of Insurance position.