NU Online News Service, Oct. 11, 12:25 p.m.EDT

Sanford “Sandy” Elsass was elected chairman of the National RiskRetention Association (NRRA) at its annual conference last week,the association says.

Elsass, president and chief executive officer of Uni-TerUnderwriting Management Corp., succeeds Brian Braley, vicepresident-legislative affairs of the Housing Authority RiskRetention Group.

In accepting the position, Elsass commends Braley and the NRRABoard for leadership over the past year in successfully defendingrisk retention groups (RRGs) against the efforts of some states torestrict the legal operation of RRGs under federal law.

He notes that a high priority over the next year will be tobuild support for the Risk Retention Modernization Act (HR 2126)now before Congress. The Act would create a mechanism to resolvedisputes with states and relieve the industry of the costly,lengthy process of going to the federal courts to enforce thelaw.

NRRA represents the Risk Retention and Purchasing Group sectorsof the insurance industry. It was formed in 1987 and is the onlytrade association dedicated to the successful development,education, and promotion of alternatives to traditional insurancein the United States.

Risk retention groups are authorized by the Liability RiskRetention Act of 1986 to write liability insurance nationally whenlicensed in a single state. They have grown into a major sector ofthe insurance industry with more than 250 companies writing $2.5billion premium.