Salt Lake City, Utah — Utah Insurance Commissioner Todd E. Kiser today announced that Travis Wegkamp has been appointed as the new director of the Captive Division, replacing David J. Snowball, who is retiring this month.

“I am extremely pleased and gratified that the Utah Captive Insurance Division staff has the depth of experience to allow a promotion from within its ranks,” said Commissioner Kiser. “Travis has been an asset to this department for many years, and I am confident that his leadership will maintain the positive trajectory that has been a hallmark of the State’s captive industry.”

Commissioner Kiser praised Snowball’s tenure as director, under whom Utah’s captive industry grew to a total of more than 445 captive companies and 71 captive cells. More importantly, captives in Utah experienced a prolonged period of growth and stability.

Wegkamp joined the Captive Division in 2011 as an audit manager. Over the past five years, he has worked closely with Snowball to develop new and revised captive rules and regulations, and has supervised Captive Division team members and performed financial analyses and examinations. In 2015, Wegkamp was instrumental in the creation of the Captive Division’s suite of online services — the first entirely online captive application system in the country. The system allows applications, documents, and licensing to all be completed, submitted, and managed electronically.

Before joining the Captive Division, Wegkamp spent nearly a decade providing accounting and auditing services to clients in St. George, Utah, and Las Vegas, Nevada. He is a graduate of Southern Utah University, with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting.

“In recent years, we’ve focused heavily on being a leader in developing innovative technological advances to serve our clients and make doing business in Utah a quick and simple process,” said Wegkamp. “Utah’s captive insurance industry has seen some phenomenal growth in the past few years — that’s a tradition I plan to continue.”

Press Release
New Utah Captive Insurance Director Announced

New process is more secure, convenient and easy to use.

The Utah Captive Insurance Division today cut the ribbon on its new online application, which will streamline and simplify the captive insurance company application process and will better protect applicant information. The new Captive Insurer Application will allow providers access to an easy-to-use, secure environment where they can digitally fill out and submit applications for new insurance companies.

“Utah has done it again,” said Dave Snowball, Captive Insurance Director for Utah. “Our new Captive Insurer Application gives applicants step-by-step directions to the required online forms, which makes the process quick and easy. The new application also lets you upload ‘non-fillable’ forms to our highly secure server, which encrypts the file upon upload.”

This is the second submission process that Utah’s Captive Insurance Division has made totally automated. The first presented for use was the Online Annual Statement, which was released in Spring 2015 and is now fully functional. All available online submissions are found at www.captive.utah.gov within the Licensing & Forms link on the home page. Having these forms and required filings online makes it safe and easy to do reporting and submissions.

“Utah’s Captive Insurance Division is committed to being an aggressive captive insurance domicile that looks for strategies to be convenient and simple in the ways it works with owners and providers,” said Snowball. “Utah will continue to look for ways to improve systems and procedures to provide the best service possible.”

As the process is new, use of the new Captive Insurer Application will not be required until April 1, 2016. However, applicants are encouraged to use it during the testing period (particularly the online portal for sending documents into the department) so the transition is seamless and any modifications can be worked through before the deadline.

Press Release
UID Opens Online Application for Captive Insurers