Florida’s insurance regulators expressed concern about recent news that Slide Insurance executives took home millions in compensation last year, suggestin
g that state agencies need new authority to limit pay packages.
“It’s super concerning but we need to have the legislative authority to look at it. We don’t have it right now and unfort
unately that was stopped,” Florida’s new chief financial officer, Blaise Ingoglia, told Tampa’s WFTS TV news last week.
Florida’s Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky also spoke out about the $21 million compensation packa
ge for Slide CEO Bruce Lucas last year and the $16.5 million deal for his wife, Chief Operating Officer Shannon Lucas.
“The OIR is very much aware of Slide’s SEC filing and the reported salaries of its CEO and his wife. These salaries are conc
erning,” Yaworsky told the TV station. “However, the OIR does not have the regulatory authority to control what they do
r do not pay their employees at any level. OIR continues to monitor
Slide and the companies’ executives closely. If we find any wrongdoing under our purview, we will take aggressive action.”
The Lucas compensation, far more than most other Florida property insurance executives’ and approaching the size of pay packages for leaders of major national i
nsurers, was widely reported in June, when St. Petersburg-based Slide filed for an initial public stock offering.
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Other insurance executives and policyholders in the state have expressed outrage at the size of the salaries, bonuse
s and stock awards granted in the wake of steep increases in property insurance premiums in the state in recent years. At a board of governors meeting for Citizens Property Insurance Corp. in late June, board me
mber Charlie Lydecker questioned the wisdom of basing Citizens rates on a market that includes insurers with such hefty pay rates.
Slide officials have declined to comment, citing the “quiet period” rule after an IPO is announced.