Burlington, Vt.—Reacting to regulatory changes and promoting membership have been key priorities this year for the Vermont Captive Insurance Assn., said outgoing VCIA Chair Dianne Salter.

The VCIA kept a close watch on changes to the regulatory environment involving the National Assn. of Insurance Commissioners, the federal government and the state of Vermont, Ms. Salter said.

The focus remains to make sure the captive industry stays knowledgeable of changes and aware of any impacts of regulation, she said.

“I think that’s probably one of the real strengths of the VCIA, is being able to keep that relationship and lobbying effort in the forefront for their captive owners,” said Ms. Salter, who is also senior vp at Jefferson Health Systems Inc. in Radnor, Pa., which set up a Vermont-licensed risk retention group in 2002.

Another priority was membership, Ms. Salter said. She said she put an emphasis on trying to get people to join and, beyond that, to be “not just a member in name because you paid your registration fee, but really to try to encourage captive owners and service providers to be active in the organization.”

“That’s really the only way the VCIA is able to address any needs that captive owners have,” Ms. Salter said.

She noted that the captive industry still faces challenges when it comes to education and identifying what captives are and how they work.

“I do think there’s some education that needs to happen, too, when we talk about captives. It’s still one of these things that people really aren’t sure what you’re talking about,” she said.

While the property/casualty market may have affected formations, the diversity of new alternative risk facilities—such as health care captives and risk retention groups—has been broad.

That trend is “interesting, because there’s been such a strong push, because the commercial market has been soft for a couple of years now. But there’s still this interest in captives and I think folks continue to position themselves with alternative risk vehicles so that they have the flexibility as the market fluctuates,” Ms. Salter said.