Newly announced board members for the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) will begin their terms at the start of the 2010.
House Bill (HB) 4409, passed by the 81st Texas Legislature in 2009, changed the composition of the nine member TWIA board. Previously, the board was composed of five insurance company representatives, two agent representatives, and two consumer representatives. The new board, whose terms begin January 1, 2010, will be composed of four insurance company representatives, four members who reside in coastal counties (at least one of whom must be an insurance agent), and one member who resides outside of the coastal region. In addition, HB 4409 added a non-voting member who must be an engineer. The new board members are:
Insurance Industry Representative Members
Alice Hardy Gannon – USAA
Michael Frank Gerik – Texas Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance
Peter James Kelly – Liberty Mutual Insurance
Craig Peter Nadziejka – State Farm Insurance
First Tier Coastal County Resident Members
Garry P. Kaufman (Galveston County) – Jahn Galveston Insurance Agency
Joseph Edward Minor, P.E. (Aransas County) – Self Employed
Georgia Rutherford Neblett, (Nueces County) – University of Texas Marine Science Institute
Robert Ward Shepard (Cameron County) – Shepard Walton King Insurance Group
Non-Seacoast Territory Representative Member
Richard Clifton Craig, Amarillo – Neely, Craig & Walton, LLP (Randall County)
Non-voting Engineer Member
William David Franklin, Sr., P.E., LaMarque – Aran & Franklin Engineering (Galveston County)
Five of the nine members are new to the TWIA board, and four have served in the past. “There is much work to be done, and I’m excited to be able to work on the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead,” said Commissioner Geeslin. “I appreciate the willingness of the new members to step up, and value the institutional knowledge of the previous members.”
More information about TWIA can be found at www.twia.org and www.tdi.state.tx.us/wind .
