Vermont, Captive Insurance Industry Remember Len Crouse

Len Crouse, Vermont's longtime top captive insurance regulator, died earlier this month. He was 78.

In 2008, Mr. Crouse retired from his position as Vermont's deputy commissioner of captive insurance. During his 18 years as a captive regulator, Mr. Crouse presided over tremendous captive growth in Vermont, with more than 600 captives licensed in the state during his tenure. (See "Captives Get Going (1985–2005)" in the "History of Captives.")

At the time of his retirement, Mr. Crouse, in an interview with Business Insurance magazine ("Three Questions: Leonard Crouse," February 17, 2008), reflected on some of the changes that occurred in the captive industry while he was a captive regulator.

For example, he noted how captives were taking on new risks, such as employee benefits. "The alternative market is a perfect place for this business to go, and it's going to continue to grow," he said in the Business Insurance article.

Mr. Crouse also noted in the article how Vermont's captive regulatory staff grew. "The growth that we have had in this business has been phenomenal ... when I started here, we had 4 people—and now we have 30 people in the department," he said.

When he retired, Mr. Crouse was succeeded by Dave Provost, who remains Vermont's deputy commissioner of captive insurance.

With 589 captives at year-end 2020, Vermont is, by far, the largest captive domicile in the United States and the world's third largest.