Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Resigns to Work for New York Firm

Connecticut’s insurance commissioner is resigning to take a job with a New York investment banking advisory company.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced Wednesday that Commissioner Thomas Leonardi will be a senior adviser to Evercore, which advises companies on mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, public offerings and other financing methods and sales and research. Malloy begins his second term in January.

Leonardi, appointed in 2011, was previously chief executive of an Avon investment banking, venture capital and private equity firm.

Among his accomplishments were reaching agreement with the Connecticut Health Insurance Exchange to provide legal, actuarial and technical assistance, and pitching Connecticut for captive insurance companies, which are subsidiaries set up by large companies to insure risks.

Leonardi is set to leave state government Dec. 11.