McPherson Named D.C.’s Acting Insurance Commissioner

Chester A. McPherson, who has been serving as interim commissioner for the Washington, D.C., Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking (DISB), has been appointed as acting commissioner. The appointment was announced by D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s office Tuesday.

McPherson has been the department’s interim commissioner since last November after his predecessor, William P. White, left the post. According to published media reports, White claimed to have been dismissed from his post after questioning the White House’s proposal to let health insurers extend for a year policies that are canceled under the healthcare reform.

Prior to serving as interim commissioner, McPherson was the department’s deputy commissioner of market operations. Before joining DISB in 2011, he was a legislative counsel with the D.C. Council.

As the newly appointed acting commissioner, McPherson now serves as an ex-officio member of D.C.’s Health Benefit Exchange Authority Board and on the board of directors of the Washington D.C. Economic Partnership Council. Additionally, McPherson represents the National Association of Insurance Commissioners on the Financial and Banking Information Infrastructure Committee, a committee chartered under the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets.