Capricorn Research was founded in February 2004 and is actively providing regulatory and XBRL support.
Gary Wicklund is Executive Director of Capricorn Research, a computer consulting company. Gary is one of the original founders of Eagle Technology Management that was formed in November of 2001 to advance compliance efficiencies in the insurance industry including statutory reporting. He retired from Eagle Technology Management in February, 2004, to extend his research interests. He was also one of the original founders of The FREEDOM Group formed in 1986 and was employed with them up through early November, 2001.
Gary was co-chairman of the Insurance GAAP and Insurance Statutory (IGIS) Group of the US-XBRL Domain Working Group. The IGIS Group developed the insurance GAAP taxonomy that was released for internal XBRL revue on June 1, 2004. The relationship between GAAP and statutory financial reporting within the insurance industry is of high priority to Gary. He solicits input from insurance companies, software vendors, regulators, auditors, trade associations, and insurance consumers. He was working with the IASA in the development of the X-Fire database.
As an Associate Member of the Insurance Accounting and Systems Administration (IASA) organization, Gary has been active in IASA annual meetings as a speaker, industry exhibitor, advisor, and attendee. He has spoken on insurance regulation and XBRL at several of the regional chapters of the IASA.
Gary has over forty years of experience in systems analysis and design in the insurance industry. He has consulted in the insurance industry and conducted training programs for accountants and systems programmers. His recent responsibilities have been in regulatory compliance with the state insurance departments, the federal government, and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC.) He has attended the quarterly meetings of the NAIC and the NAIC Blanks Task Force. Gary was active in several of the Interested Persons (IP) working groups of the NAIC, in particular the Information Resources Committee and XML. He has twenty years experience with the NAIC requirements for both printed and electronic filings – from early diskette filing to current internet filing.
Prior to his business career, Gary taught computer science and statistics in the College of Business Administration at the University of Iowa. Gary earned his undergraduate degree in engineering at Iowa State University, and completed his graduate studies at the University of Denver and Northwestern University. He has helped bridge the academic and business worlds through his consulting work and current involvement with several universities. Gary keeps busy by being challenged - he enjoys skiing, domestic and international travel, supporting the arts, and voluntary community activities.