LAST MONTH, Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Robert Wooley confirmed what had been suspected for some time: He's leaving.
The commissioner -- and Benefits Selling Expo keynote speaker -- will leave his post Feb. 15.
"After careful consideration for my family, the employees of this department and the voters who placed their confidence in me more than two years ago, I have decided to leave the Department of Insurance to pursue new
opportunities in the private sector," Wooley said in a statement.
Wooley added that he would not confirm where he is going -- yet.
"I am not willing to talk to anybody about my new position until I get out of here," Wooley told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "It is time to move on."
The New Orleans daily also reported that Deputy Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon, 61, will assume control of the agency and run for the post in the Sept. 30 statewide election.
Broker Warren Benoit, of Kenner, La.-based Warren Benoit and Associates, expressed mixed feelings about the announcement.
"I'm disappointed. He has done a wonderful job through a catastrophic situation. The things that worked, he brought to the state and the things that didn't, he left behind. But I wish him the best," Benoit said.
Benoit also voiced his support for the incoming commissioner.
"He brings a lot of legislative experience to the job and he's seen Wooley's administration up close, so I think he'll carry a lot of that on."
