Louisiana Secretary of State Named Chief Deputy Insurance Commissioner

Louisiana Commissioner of Insurance Jim Donelon has named Secretary of State Al Ater to serve as chief deputy commissioner of insurance, effective Jan. 11, 2010.

Ater was chief deputy commissioner of insurance from July 2004 until he returned to the Department of State in March 2005, where he acted as first assistant until being named Secretary of State in July 2005. As secretary of state, Ater was responsible for overseeing the operations of the Department of Elections and Commercial Division as well as 14 state museums and the preservation of Louisiana’s historical data.

Ater is a private businessman, a farmer and a former state fepresentative, having been elected to the Louisiana Legislature in 1984 and again four year later without opposition. While serving in the House of Representatives with Commissioner Donelon, Ater was vice chairman of the Transportation, Highways and Public Works Committee. In 2001 he joined the Department of State as first assistant secretary of state, where he spearheaded the merger of the Department of Elections with the Department of State.

Deputy Commissioner Denise Brignac will become the department’s chief of staff after serving as chief deputy commissioner since February 2008. Brignac is a former deputy commissioner of the Insurance Department’s Office of Financial Solvency and will continue to serve as the commissioner’s designee on the board of the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, where she is chairwoman of the board.

Source: Louisiana Department of Insurance