Florida Workers' Compensation Guaranty Fund Elects Directors

The Florida Workers' Compensation Insurance Guaranty Association announces its newly elected / re-elected board of directors. Terms begin Oct. 1, 2009 and run through Sept. 30, 2013.

Heading the FWCIGA board is Tom Stahl who has served as cairman of the board since 1999. He serves as the executive director of the Florida United Businesses Association (FUBA), a nonprofit trade association for small businesses.

Stahl is a partner in the law firm of Phillips & Stahl, LLC, a private firm in Tallahassee. He serves as the co-administrator for LUBA Casualty, a stock insurance company that is the second largest writer of workers' compensation insurance in the Louisiana.

Other elected FWCIGA board members are:

David Conway, vice president of finance and chief financial officer of Summit Consulting, Inc., brings to FWCIGA more than 32 years of insurance accounting and management experience.

James Costa (re-elected) has served on the FWCIGA board for the last four years. He is the regional underwriting director for the Southeast in Select Accounts with Travelers. His work covers seven states, including Florida, Georgia and North Carolina. Costa's background includes positions at Hartford Insurance Group, CNA, and Kemper.

Craig Johnson is executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer of FCCI Insurance Group. He oversees all FCCI financial, investing, treasury, reinsurance placement. Before joining FCCI, Johnson was with American Skyline Insurance Co.

Richard Palczynski (re-elected) is the founder and principal of SeaTower Consulting. Most recently he was with Towers Perrin Reinsurance, having joined that organization in 2004. Palczynski retired in 2003 from The Hartford Financial Services Group. His career spans 28 years with the Travelers Property Casualty Corp.

Brett Stiegel (re-elected) is the administrator and CEO of the Florida Roofing, Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors Self Insurers Fund. He has been with the association for more than 22 years. Stiegel has served as a board member on the Florida Bureau of Fraud Task Force for more than 15 years. In addition, he is a member of the board of governors of the Florida Workers' Compensation Joint Underwriting Association.

FWCIGA is the statutorily created guaranty association responsible for the administration of workers' compensation benefit payments incurred by insolvent insurance companies and group self-insurance funds operating in the Florida.

FWCIGA is a member of the National Conference of Insurance Guaranty Funds.