The Florida Financial Director has appointed a Pensacola lawyer and a businessman from the Board of Governors Citizens Property Insurance.

Frank White, general advisor of one of the largest car dealers in northwest of Florida, and former state legislator and former candidate for Florida’s attorney general, will replace Scott Thomas, a Jacksonville lawyer who has served at the Board since 2020 .

“I have no doubt that Frank’s experience and insight will be an asset for the citizens of the insured throughout the state,” said Florida’s financial director Jimmy Patronis, in a statement on Monday. “Thanks to the outgoing member of the Board Scott Thomas for his years of service and hard work on behalf of the Floridans.”

White is well known in Panhandle in Florida for its political candidates and for its commercial and legal work. He is the founder of Tag Tech, which provides processing of titles and software to car dealers, fleet owners and car auction companies. Until 2010, he practiced right at the Dallas office of Akin Gump, a national law firm.

White also served in the House of Representatives of Florida, from 2016 to 2018, when he ran for the State Attorney General, but was defeated by Ashley Moody. In 2023, White ran for the state Senate.

The members of the Board of Citizens and their CEO in recent years have shown the commitment to increase citizens’ rates so that it is less attractive to consumers and to strengthen the Florida insurance market. White’s policy suggests that he will be in line with that philosophy. The Board voted last summer to seek the maximum increase in the rate allowed by law, approximately 14%. But Florida regulators fired last week, approving only an average rate increase of 6.6% for multiple house owners.

Topics Florida Automatic Legislation