2 Retired Rancho Santiago CCD Employees Have Deep Ties to ASCIP Risk Pool – Insurance News

September 7 – Rancho Santiago Community College District stakeholders begin to examine the district’s decades-long relationship with Alliance of Schools for Cooperative Insurance Programsinsurance risk pool operator, the names of two now retired administrators keep popping up.

John Didionformer Vice-Chancellor for Human Resources and former Vice-Chancellor for Fiscal Services Peter Hardashnot only supervised matters related to insurance and risk management, but also had connections with Cerritos– based on common rights, the origins of which date back much further than 27 years Rancho Santiago was the policy holder.

Although Didion and Hardash retired in 2016 and 2021, respectively, both former administrators remain involved with ASCIP to this day, serving on its board of directors. Internal insurance Down Public Agencies, LLC (CIPA), a non-profit corporation and subsidiary created by ASCIP in 2005, pursuant to the organization’s founding documents.

Advertisement These board positions are unpaid, as was the case when both men served on the CIPA board while working for the district, recommending and directing hundreds of millions of dollars in insurance business to ASCIP and its subsidiaries.

Didion and Hardash did not respond to requests for comment about the district’s partnership with ASCIP.

IN January 2023 retired Professor Barry Resnick of Rancho Santiago CCD contacted the Daily Pilot, claiming that Didion and Hardash were corporate directors of a supplier called CIPA that received nearly 8 million dollars from public funds from 2008 to 2021, but elected officials were not aware of their existence.

Resnick heard about CIPA from a colleague and learned that Didion worked as a managing director at the company. He called ASCIP directly for confirmation and was transferred to a lawyer who, after multiple calls, confirmed Didion’s position, according to Resnick.

While this dual employment occurred — documents obtained by Pilot show that Hardash’s and Didion’s signatures appeared on invoices made out to JPA for construction bond insurance handled by CIPA — neither administrator apparently disclosed their service on the board directly to elected officials. Rancho Santiago.

“I asked a couple of trustees and they didn’t know. It was disturbing,” Resnick said. “It’s like (Didion and Hardash) are working for two masters, but the one they have a fiduciary responsibility to is the district.”

Jan Hanna served on the board of Rancho Santiago CCD for more than two decades, but in a 2023 interview with Pilot, he admitted he had no idea Hardash was connected to ASCIP or CIPA.

“I didn’t know at the time — I didn’t know at all,” he said. “(Hardash) was involved in a lot of the discussions. He was present in closed sessions when these things were discussed and he gave reports on certain issues, and maybe ASCIP was involved, but I wasn’t aware of his relationship with ASCIP.”

Hardash, who is 68 years old according to voting records, was just 24 years old and worked in Downey Unified School District in 1980, when he and 45 others Los Angeles County administrators helped create Alliance of Schools for Cooperative Insurance Programs as a joint purchasing program.

ASCIP tells the story of his role in the founding of the JPA in its 2014–15 annual report, issued to mark the 35th anniversary of the JPA. The report includes his commentary and photo.

As stated on the ASCIP website, ASCIP currently manages a risk pool that includes 134 members and offers employees health, dental and vision insurance, workers’ compensation, and property and liability insurance.

The joint authority is led by a chief executive officer and overseen by a 13-member executive committee comprised of administrators from California K-12 districts, community colleges and public charter schools that are members.

ASCIP CEO Fritz Heirichthrough JPA lawyer Robert J. Feldhakedeclined Pilot’s repeated requests in 2023 and 2024 for an interview about CIPA and its board.

The exact date Hardash joined the ASCIP Executive Committee is unclear, based on conflicting documents provided by Feldhake in response to two separate public records requests filed by Pilot.

One document shows Hardash joined the board in 1995, while another shows he was a member in 1992. He served on the executive, claims and underwriting and finance committees, as well as the nominating committee, which selects leaders from among ASCIP members for executive positions.

Didion, now 70, joined the ASCIP board in 1994 and served as chairwoman Claims and Cost Coverage Committee three years later when he left Long Beach City CollegeASCIP member to take up the position of HR Director Rancho Santiagowhich at that time had no connection with ASCIP.

That all changed three months after Didion arrived in January 1997when he recommended that the district change its property and liability insurance from another insurance fund to ASCIP, which was based on a board meeting agenda that had been marked as a personnel matter.

According to an email to: In 2001, the District transferred its occupational injury insurance to ASCIP. Rancho Santiago historical JPA agreements provided by the risk manager Don Maus to the chancellor Marvin Martinez in 2020 and checked by Pilot.

Four years later, Didion was named one of the founders of CIPA, Alliance of Schools for the Cooperative Insurance Program a captive insurance company based in Hawaiiin accordance with the founding documents of the organization.

In that role, he and a small group of administrators enjoyed annual retreats to fancy hotels, where board meetings and underwriting conferences were interspersed with golf games, spas and excursions that appear on numerous expense reports paid for by ASCIP and obtained by Pilot.

Unlike the ASCIP Executive Committee — which by statute is barred from membership by retirees no longer affiliated with JPA member districts — CIPA board members have until recently been able to serve indefinitely.

Under the new statute, which Pilot obtained from the JPA through a public records request, the policy change implemented in January of this year limits post-retirement service to just five years.

Didion and Hardash serve on the board to this day and continue to make regular pilgrimages to HawaiiDidion was appointed chairwoman of CIPA’s board this year, according to minutes of the company’s board meeting obtained by Pilot.

Didion’s involvement in Internal insurance he continued working for public agencies after his retirement Rancho Santiago IN August 2016. Six months later he accepted a paid consulting position with CIPA, signing a contract as Managing Director at a rate of 96 PLN000 a year, the sum he earned in addition to his two public school pensions, which amounted to 194 PLN951 per year, according to Transparent California.

But before he retired Rancho Santiago CCDDidion made one more recommendation: June 2015recommended the district authorities to transfer $22.6 million employee health insurance into the ASCIP risk pool. The move was supported by the district Joint Benefits Committeethe panel was chaired by Didion.

Today, Rancho Santiago The Employee Health Account is the district’s latest connection to ASCIP. Under that program, the district has paid premiums for years to cover the costs of retirees who could enroll in Medicare.

When Chancellor Martinez decided in 2021 to move retirement coverage from ASCIP to Medicare as a cost-saving measure for the district, Didion filed a lawsuit on behalf of a group of retirees seeking to keep the company in JPA. He was ultimately unsuccessful.

But the fate of that 27-year partnership now hangs in the balance as county officials vote on Monday on whether to continue working with ASCIP and its vendor Anthem or go to a competitor.

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