Tuesday, January 6, 2009

 

 

Wilmington – On January 6, 2009, before an audience of more than three hundred people that included family, friends, colleagues, public officials, and Department of Insurance staff members, Karen Weldin Stewart, CIR-ML, was inaugurated as the new Insurance Commissioner for the State of Delaware. The event was held in the Gold Room at the Hotel DuPont in Wilmington. With her brother, Karl Weldin looking on at her side, the Commissioner was sworn in by the Honorable Chandlee Johnson Kuhn, Chief Judge of the Delaware Family Court. Stewart took the oath of office and assumed the position that same day. She will be serving a four-year-term.
                                                      
In her inaugural address, the Commissioner noted, “While it may be true that every person and society has its limitations, it is equally true that we have yet to extend ourselves to those limits. Tonight we toast to the future and celebrate the change to come. Tomorrow, the future begins as we roll up our sleeves to do the people's work. We will not let you down.” Stewart is hopeful of introducing and seeing the legislature pass a broad legislative agenda including health insurance and automobile insurance reforms and of revising regulations to ensure that Delaware maintains a healthy insurance industry.

Rev. Patricia Bryant Harris, of the Marshallton Church, offered the invocation at the beginning of the ceremony. At the conclusion, Rev.  Harris asked the members of the audience to raise their hands in a prayer of praise and requested blessings as the new tenure of the Insurance Commissioner begins. Rev. Harris is the first female African-American to offer the opening prayer at a session of the United States Senate.

"While it may be true that every person and society has its limitations, it is equally true that we have yet to extend ourselves to those limits... Tonight we toast to the future and celebrate the change to come. Tomorrow, the future begins as we roll up our sleeves to do the people's work. We will not let you down."                    - Karen Weldin Stewart, CIR-ML

 

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Contacts:
Elliott Jacobson (302) 674-7303; (202) 294-3266 cell
Michael Gould (302) 674-7305