ATLANTA, Ga. — Georgia Insurance Commissioner John W. Oxendine, the Republican frontrunner in the 2010 Georgia governor’s race, will offer his views on the prospects for small businesses and the future of business in Georgia at the monthly meeting of the Georgia Association of Business Brokers on Tuesday. Oxendine, elected Georgia’s Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner in 1994, will speak at the GABB monthly meeting at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at the South Terraces Conference Center, 115 Perimeter Center Place, Atlanta, Georgia 30346.
The Georgia Association of Business Brokers (GABB) is the state’s only professional organization and Multiple Listing Service dedicated to buying and selling businesses and franchises. The meeting is open to the public at no charge; networking time is available before the meeting at 9:45 a.m. and after the meeting.
Oxendine has gained the reputation as a strong advocate for Georgia consumers while maintaining a vigorous competitive environment for Georgia insurance companies. His official duties include regulating approximately 1,600 insurance companies, licensing 137,000 insurance agents, and regulating more than 1,000 industrial loan offices of companies that make loans of $3,000 or less.
During his tenure, Oxendine has championed policies aimed at protecting the interests of Georgia consumers and promoting a competitive market place. He successfully fought for legislative proposals to increase the portability of health insurance policies and to ensure more affordable choices of health insurance products. In 2005, Oxendine initiated a $126.5 million Rural Georgia Healthcare Initiative. In addition to private dollars invested in rural healthcare facilities, the Initiative created one of the largest and most comprehensive telemedicine networks in the country. Today, the Georgia Partnership for Telehealth consists of a total of 77 telemedicine and teleradiology sites across the state. The program allows Georgians living in rural areas of the state convenient local access to specialty care usually found only in Georgia’s largest metropolitan areas.
Oxendine’s office has a Consumer Services Division dedicated solely to helping Georgians who have claims disputes with their insurance companies. In times of natural disasters, representatives are rapidly deployed to affected areas to assist policyholders with their insurance needs.
He has served on the Executive Board of the Northeast Georgia Boy Scouts of America, the Board of Directors of Safe Kids of Georgia, Chairman of the Gwinnett Neighborhood Leadership Institute, and on the Southeastern Regional Board of Directors of Operation Hope, a nonprofit organization focusing on inner city investment banking needs.
Prior to taking office, Oxendine was with the law firm of Oxendine & Associates. He also served with distinction on the State Personnel Board, and was elevated to Chairman of the Board by Governor Joe Frank Harris in 1990.
In 1980, he enrolled at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, where Oxendine received his bachelor’s degree with a triple major in 1984 Christianity, Greek and Political Science in 1984, and stayed at Mercer to earn his law degree in 1987.
Currently he resides in Gwinnett County with his wife Ivy and their children J.W., Philip, Caroline and Jake. John and Ivy are members of Mount Pisgah Methodist Church in Roswell, Georgia.
The Georgia Association of Business Brokers (GABB) is the state’s only professional organization and Multiple Listing Service dedicated to buying and selling businesses and franchises. An experienced GABB business broker can help a buyer find businesses for sale, negotiate a fair price and obtain financing. A broker can help an owner evaluate and price a business, market and advertise to prospective buyers, negotiate and close a deal. The GABB Web site lists hundreds of businesses for sale throughout Georgia, as well as around the country.
More information: www.gabb.org .
