NU Online News Service, May 1, 12:07 p.m. EDT
New York's troubled state-run workers' compensation insurer, the New State Insurance Fund, has announced the appointment of James J. Wrynn, an insurance and personal injury attorney, as its new executive director.
NYSIF accepted the resignation of David Wehner as executive director on March 5 as the New York Inspector General began investigating a whistleblower's allegations of widespread management misconduct including questionable spending for lavish wining and dining, sex-related hiring, and a payroll packed with underqualified, politically connected staff.
The probe was kicked off by a letter and affidavit from Edward Obertubbesing, a NYSIF legal department associate attorney who accused the executive staff, Mr. Wehner and Deputy Executive Director Chris Barclay of acting in "bad faith and with malice and discrimination in violation of various state and federal laws."
The NYSIF Board of Commissioners said Mr. Wrynn's appointment was approved April 22 and became effective immediately.
NYSIF's new executive is a partner in the law firm of MacKay, Wrynn & Brady, LLP, with offices in New York City and Hoboken, N.J.
The announcement of his appointment said Mr. Wrynn has an extensive legal background in insurance, counseling agents, brokers, risk retention groups and insurance companies in most lines of insurance and excess insurance, reinsurance, self-insurance and captive insurance. His experience includes knowledge of insurance, accounting and tax issues affecting entities doing business both on and offshore.
A resident of the New York City borough of Queens, Mr. Wrynn is a former Little Neck-Douglaston Parade "Man of the Year." According to the Parade Web site, his political activities have included membership in a 2000 delegation that visited Ireland with President William Clinton and accompanying New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer on a 2005 visit to Ireland.
Among his professional affiliations, Mr. Wrynn serves on the Board of Managers and the Grievance Committee of the Queens County Bar Association, and is a member of the New York and New Jersey State Bar Associations, the New York State Trial Lawyers Association and the Network of Bar Leaders. He is a past-president of the Brehon Law Society and serves as a board member of both the St. John's University School of Law Alumni Association and the Catholic Lawyers Guild-Queens County.
He also served as a board member of the New York City Economic Development Corporation and the New York City Business Relocation Assistance Corporation.
The NYSIF board thanked Deputy Executive Directors Thomas Gleason and Shirley Stark, who have been performing the duties of executive director following Mr. Wehner's resignation.
NYSIF said it insures approximately 185,000 employers, or 37 percent of the market.
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