Charlie Lydecker to help steer state’s insurer of last resort

Charlie Lydecker is the big gun to help Citizens regain its footing.

Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis has appointed the CEO and co-founder of one of the nation’s largest commercial insurance companies to the Citizens Property Insurance Corp. Board of Governors.

Charles “Charlie” Lydecker of Daytona Beach started Foundation Risk Partners in 2017. The company has since become one of the nation’s 20 largest commercial insurers with 120 locations across the country, Patronis’ office said. The company’s headquarters are in Daytona Beach.

Patronis praised the skills that Lydecker will be bringing to his new role.

“Charlie Lydecker is a consummate insurance professional with more than three decades of experience, including property and casualty,” Patronis said in a statement. “As a business owner himself, I know he will bring the utmost professionalism and work ethic to the Citizens Board. We all know the unique challenges Florida’s hardening insurance market is facing, and I believe Charlie will help the board navigate those issues including fighting fraud and protecting policyholders.”

Lydecker will be replacing Marc Dunbar of Leon County, whose term expires this year.

A release from the CFO’s office thanked Dunbar for his service.

“Marc made Citizens a more efficient operation and under his leadership, Citizens policyholders benefited,” Patronis said.

Citizens Insurance is the state-owned insurer of last resort that has been coming under increasing pressure as more commercial insurance companies have been forced to dissolve or cancel homeowner policies. Insurance Business Magazine reports that Citizens added 25,000 new policies in March. That’s in addition to 100,000 new customers that flocked to Citizens between February and May last year as private insurers looked to shed policies that were likely to generate costly claims, the Sun-Sentinel reported.

Lydecker, who’s a donor to the Friends of Ron DeSantis, has heeded the state’s call for expert advice before.

He is serving on the University of Florida Presidential Search Committee now looking to replace University of Florida President Kent Fuchs, who announced his plans to step down from the top job at UF earlier this year. The search is expected to end in the appointment of a new UF leader by early 2023.

Lydecker also served for 13 years on the governing board of Florida’s birth injury compensation fund, the Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Association. He was chairman of the association’s board when he resigned last July, according to the Miami Herald.

Lydecker’s three-year term on the Citizens Property Insurance Corp. Board of Governors will start in August, according to Patronis’ office.