Michael Walsh has resigned as non-executive chairman of the board of directors, Kingsway Financial Services Inc. announced Wednesday.

Walsh resigned for health reasons, the company said. He will continue as a director of Kingsway.

Following Walsh’s resignation, the company’s directors of unanimously elected Davi Atkins to the position of non-executive chairman of Kingsway effective immediately.

Commenting on Walsh’s departure, Atkins stated: “He has presided over the recent transformation of the company, involving changes in management, management practices and business operations. Our thanks go to him and we are delighted that he has decided to remain on the board.”

Atkins has been a director of Kingsway since June 1999 and the chairman of the audit committee for nine years. Atkins is a graduate in law from Oxford University and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario. He was previously involved with Lang Michener’s corporate insurance group as a senior advisor and prior to that was the senior partner of Coopers & Lybrand’s financial services practice.

Atkins is currently the chairman of the Swiss Reinsurance group in Canada and has several other directorships of publicly listed companies.

IE