Douglas Hayden was feted Wednesday, May 17, in downtown Manhattan by colleagues and friends as sad to see him jump from NYSIF as they were happy to see him land in WRM. He announced his resignation as general attorney/chief legal officer of The New York State Insurance Fund, and accepted a position as vice president, Corporate Development, Wright Risk Management, which runs insurance companies and public, private, and non-profit insurance organizations. Douglas will also become a partner at the Long Island law firm of Congdon, Flaherty, OCallaghan, Reid, Donlon, Travis & Fishlinger.

Acknowledged as a valuable legal asset for the Fund by acting chairman of the board of commissioners of NYSIF, Robert H. Hurlubt, he served as NYSIFS general attorney/chief legal officer and ethics officer since February 2003. Prior to his appointment to general attorney, Douglas was NYSIFS deputy general attorney, in charge of litigation from 1998 to 2003. In 2005, he also served briefly as NYSIFS co-chief executive officer, while maintaining his duties as general attorney.

We know Doug as an outcome driven professional who established a compliance unit at NYSIF to deal with all corporate governance issues, and who implemented Best Practices standards in the wake of Sarbanes-Oxley " the first compliance unit established among all state compensation funds nationwide.

Recently, Doug spoke on Sarbanes-Oxley legislative reform, as well as illegal aliens and the effects on the tort and compensation system. Importantly, he has been a protagonist in the effort to identify potential insurer links to terrorist organizations based on the protocols established by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) division of the United States Treasury. Serious stuff, for sure.

Of potentially great impact in upstate New York, Doug has advocated before the NYS Senate Labor Committee in 2004 regarding workers compensation reform and the need to drive down the cost of doing business in New York.

In his spare time, Doug serves as village justice of the Village of Floral Park; as active member on the boards of the New York State Bar Association Torts, Insurance, and Compensation Law Section (TICL), where he was chairman of the section in 2006 (4,000 members statewide); the Defense Association of New York, Inc. (DANY); the Insurance Federation of New York, Inc. (IFNY); the American Society of Workers Compensation Professionals, Inc. (AMCOMP); the American Association of State Compensation Insurance Funds (AASCIF), where he served as chairman in 2004; and the Nassau County Magistrates Association. All the best, Doug.