Florida CFO Appoints Former Lawmaker, Car Dealer Attorney to Citizens’ Board

Florida’s chief financial officer has named a Pensacola lawyer and businessman to the Citizens Property Insurance Corp. Board of Governors.

Frank White, general counsel for one of northwest Florida’s largest car dealerships, and a former state legislator and former candidate for Florida attorney general, will replace Scott Thomas, a Jacksonville attorney who has served on the board since 2020.

“I have no doubt that Frank’s expertise and insight will be an asset to Citizens policyholders statewide,” Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis said in a statement Monday. “Thank you to outgoing board member Scott Thomas for his years of service and hard work on behalf of Floridians.”

White is well known in the Florida Panhandle for his political candidacies and for his business and legal work. He is the founder of Tag Tech, which provides title processing and software to auto dealers, fleet owners and automobile auction firms. Until 2010, he practiced law in the Dallas office of Akin Gump, a national law firm.

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

Citizens board members and its CEO in recent years have shown a commitment to raising Citizens’ rates to make it less attractive to consumers and to strengthen the Florida insurance market. White’s politics suggest he will be in line with that philosophy. The board voted last summer to seek the maximum rate increase allowed by law, about 14%. But Florida regulators last week shot that down, approving only a 6.6% average rate increase for homeowners’ multi-peril policies.

Topics Florida Auto Legislation