Merritt Farren

Merritt Farren graduated from El Camino Real High School. Farren earned a bachelor's degree in international relations from Stanford University in 1982 and a graduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 1985. Farren's career experience includes working as an attorney.[1]

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I’m a Pacific Palisades fire survivor, an executive with over 30 years of experience at Disney, Amazon and other companies in business, technology, and law. At Disney I served as the General Counsel of the Disneyland Resort, where oversaw Legal, Guest Claims and Security.

I have the right experience, motivation and plan to fix our insurance crisis, which is threatening the financial well-being of families and businesses up and down our state.

I’ve lived in California since the age of nine and love our state. My father was a navy pilot. We lived a middle-class life at a time when it was easy to lead a middle-class life in California. Family vacations were camping vacations in our beautiful State Parks and I attended terrific public schools through high school. University was at Stanford and I received my law degree at UC Berkeley.

After I lost my home in the Pacific Palisades fire, I saw my community hit by a second trauma: the trauma of dealing with insurance under an insurance system that's completely broken for consumers and insurance companies - and I jumped into the State Farm rate increase proceedings as a official consumer advocate.

Since then I've worked non-stop on solutions to our insurance crisis.

If elected Insurance Commissioner, I’ll bring the Dept of Insurance up to the customer centric standards of innovation and performance I lived every day at Disney and Amazon.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

I was motivated to enter the State Farm rate proceedings to demonstrate to my two sons that the best way to deal with tragedy is not just to survive it, but to create positive change that protects others from what you’ve just faced.

My participation in the proceedings brought me into the world of insurance problems and caused me to start working with insurance industry experts to find solutions to the insurance crisis we are in.

My plan to fix our crisis has three parts:1.

I’ll lead a technology centric reinvention of our insurance regulations to bring consumers more insurance options at prices they can afford. We need big, from the ground up reform of the kind created by the teams I was on at Amazon, including the team that launched Kindle and eBooks.

The reforms will recognize that our rules need to work for both consumers and insurers. The rules we have today don’t work for either.

2.

I’ll implement CAL Reinsure – a plan I’ve developed with insurance industry input to eliminate the need for Fair Plan.

Cal Reinsure will move community fire risk off the backs of insurers and onto a reinsurance authority organized by the State.Cal Reinsure is modeled on a program Florida implemented to address hurricane risk and a program the UK implemented to address flood risk . It will also speed payments to those who suffer a community fire loss by requiring payment of the full amount of insurance signed up for within 30 days of a total loss of a home or business structure.

3.

As Commissioner I’ll establish standards for counties and cities for fire safety to avoid a repeat of the disaster that destroyed my community and will work insurance line by insurance line in home, auto, business and health insurance to expose and attack the underlying costs that are driving insurance prices up.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I'm passionate about consumer protection and businesses that put customers first. I come from two of the world's most customer centric companies - Amazon and Disney - companies that know that the best way to do well financially is to do well by consumers. That's the mindset I'll bring to the Department of Insurance to bring insurance companies back into our state and bring consumers more insurance options at lower cost.

I'm also passionate about innovation.

California is the world’s greatest center for innovation. We need to bring the innovation our private sector companies excel at into our government sector and make California the worldwide leader in insurance thought and reform it ought to be.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

I'm an enormous fan of Abraham Lincoln, who happens to be a distant relation through the Quaker ancestors on my mother's side. I'm also a firm (if quiet) Christian (Episcopalian). The teachings of love and compassion of Jesus Christ are teachings that guide me each day.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Integrity, compassion, empathy, creativity, optimism and an enormous drive to make the world a better place are must haves for our elected officials. Equally important, and something that we tragically neglect all too often in California: the background necessary to succeed in the position sought is also a must have. My entire community burned down due to massive mistakes make by individuals who took on senior leadership positions without having the requisite experience to succeed. No matter how good someone's intentions may be, it is not realistic to believe that they will succeed if asked to function beyond their level of trained competence. For the Insurance Commissioner position, a law degree, extensive high level experience leading a legal team handling tough, high stakes matters and senior level executive experience in a demanding role in tech and innovation in private industry should be considered basic requirements. If a top flight recruiting firm were hired to staff the role, it would consider that experience essential.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

California's Insurance Commissioner must be a Consumer Advocate, above all, and also a creative driver of innovation and reform that will successfully attract insurance companies into California to bring us all better insurance options at prices we can afford.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I have a strong desire, for the sake of my two awesome sons, and for all, to leave the world, and the State I especially love - California - a better place.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My first job, which I started while in High School, was as a bagger (called box boy at the time) in a new grocery store that opened near my home in Woodland Hills. It was a terrific well paying union job, from which I was promoted to checker. Returning after my first year at Stanford, the store manager brought me back to work the swing shift in the same supermarket, handling restocking and cleaning from 6PM at night until 3AM in the morning. I've always liked active customer service work and have an enormous respect for those who work in our service industries.

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

I had a hard time coming to terms with being gay when I was 19, and was briefly suicidal, but fortunately found the support of loving Stanford friends early on. My parents and family were also highly supportive. I was blessed to be embraced by those close to me and I'm well aware of the degree to which California and the open mindedness and acceptance we so value as Californians protected me.

What responsibilities of this office do you personally consider the most important?

Consumer protection and reinvention of our insurance laws and regs to allow insurance companies to provide the innovation in insurance we so desperately need.

Are there any little-known powers or responsibilities held by this office that you believe more people should be aware of?

I think most Californians don't even know the office exists - even though it will likely have a bigger impact on their financial well being (for good or for bad) than any other State office.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Jefferson Club and numerous citizens who suffered losses in our recent fires.

What was the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember?

The assassination of JFK.