Atchinson Named Head of PIAA

The Physician Insurers Association of America (PIAA) has named Brian K. Atchinson president and chief executive officer, effective August 1.

He succeeds Lawrence E. Smarr, who is leaving the PIAA — a Maryland-based trade group for medical professional liability insurers — after 19 years.

Atchinson most recently served as acting head of institutional relations at The Geneva Association. From 1992 to 1997, Atchinson was the Maine superintendent of insurance and also an officer and president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) from 1994 to 1997.

While in Maine from 1997 to 2001, he served as managing counsel and vice president of UNUM Corp. From 2001 to 2010, Atchinson served as president and chief executive officer of the Insurance Marketplace Standards Association in Bethesda, Maryland, an insurance trade association focused on the life insurance, annuities, and long-term care insurance marketplace.