Mann chosen to lead insurance trust at SCSBA
April 21, 2015
COLUMBIA, SC – Steven Mann, executive director of finance for Sumter School District, will join the South Carolina School Boards Association (SCBA) as director of insurance services for the South Carolina School Boards Insurance Trust (SCSBIT). Mann will follow Dr. Frank Vail, who is retiring on June 30 after seven years of leading SCSBA insurance services and programs.
A past president of the South Carolina Association of School Business Officials (SCASBO), Mann has more than 30 years of experience in school finance, business and operations for various school districts including Richland Two, Lexington Four and Aiken County and with the State Department of Education. He received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Presbyterian College in 1982 and became a certified public accountant in 1989. In 2015, he received the SCASBO Outstanding School Business Official award.
Pictured: Steve Mann and Dr. Frank Vail
“Steve Mann is the right person to maintain the high standard of personal service that our member school districts have come to expect from the insurance trust,” said SCSBA Executive Director-elect Scott Price. “The breadth of relationships that Steve has with the districts, coupled with a deep knowledge of district operations, is a real asset to the association and SCSBIT.”
The insurance trust was established in 1984 through a partnership between SCSBA and local school districts. Since then, SCSBIT has become the largest provider of risk control services, workers’ compensation insurance and property and casualty insurance for districts in the state.
Mann noted that he has worked with SCSBIT as a school district official “in several school districts, and the level of service provided has always been exceptional. I am humbled to be selected as the new director of insurance services and to follow in the footsteps of Dr. Vail.”
To prepare for his new role, Mann will be working in transition with Vail, who was a retired district superintendent before leading SCSBIT. During Vail’s tenure, SCSBIT has provide more efficient services to districts by moving claims management and other key operations online and has, during the past five years, seen a 17 percent decrease in workers compensation claims. Vail has also overseen improvement in the fund balances of both the workers compensation and the property and casualty insurance pools.
“As a former superintendent, I depended on SCSBA to provide training for board members, board policy updates and revisions, insurance services, lobbying services and much more,” Vail said. “Now, having worked with the association directing the insurance trust, I know without a doubt that SCSBA services are the best option for school districts. It has been an honor and privilege to be a part of SCSBA in providing insurance services to school districts across the state.”
Mann and Vail both live in the Columbia area.
From 1992 to 2008, Vail worked as superintendent of Lexington County School District Four.
