The folks at WorkCompCentral find the most interesting stuff. Today’s edition featured an item about the new head of North Dakota’s work comp agency – here’s how they put it:
“Highway Patrol Director Bryan Klipfel [was named] as director of Workforce Safety and Insurance (WSI) and U.S. Department of Agriculture executive Clare Carlson as deputy director and public affairs officer for the agency.”
The announcement, which came from the Governor’s office, quoted the governor: “in his 30 years with the Highway Patrol, Klipfel had a strong record of accomplishments and was highly regarded for his knowledge and integrity in both the Highway Patrol agency and law enforcement statewide.”
WorkCompCentral noted “Klipfel currently is the human resources manager for Job Service North Dakota. He has a degree in public administration from the University of North Dakota.”
Is it just me, or does this look like political patronage?
What does a former patrolman know about workers comp? Turns out he admittedly doesn’t know anything.
According to a local paper in ND, “Bryan Klipfel says he knows little about workers compensation, but the former state Highway Patrol commander believes his management and listening skills will help him do well as director of North Dakota’s Workforce Safety and Insurance agency…”I’m going to work with Bruce (Furness) for a couple of weeks, and I’ll just have to learn some of that information as time goes on,” Klipfel said. “My strong points are that I have leadership ability, and I understand human resources, how to deal with people. And I think that’s the big part (of the job) right now.”
Huh?
He’s going to learn on the job? While getting mentoring for a ‘couple of weeks”? In a business that is incredibly complex? At a time when investments and reserving practices are critically important?
And his qualifications are his understanding of human resources and leadership ability?
Yikes. This bears further investigation.
Mar
11
Patronage in politics? Who knew?
What I find funny is that you seem concerned about his qualifications; however, many states’ WC programs are in a mess and the qualifications of their respected leadership would seem to be sterling.
I have a grand nephew (age 12, going on 13), that might have about the same qualifications. He should have applied for the job.He does leadership abilities.
Joe, there is a long sad story behind this headline. Thirteen years ago the ND state fund was deeply in the red and in crisis, due in large part to leaders who were political appointees lacking relevant experience. A law was then enacted creating a Board of Directors that would appoint senior leadership rather than the Governor. In the late 90’s the fund was restored to excellent financial health and made huge improvements in its operations. I was part of that turnaround and to this day am extremely proud of what we accomplished for the people of North Dakota. Unfortunately, in the years since then the Board made a series of poor decisions and continuing damage was inflicted by the fund’s self-appointed foes. So now the new “solution” is to return to the days of inexperienced political appointees running the place, which is what almost destroyed it in the 80’s and early 90’s. The terrible irony is that for many years now North Dakota has had what is almost certainly the best and most efficient workers compensation system in the country. But no one in the state knows it, because all the stakeholders are committed to savagely attacking and undermining each other rather than protecting and further improving a remarkably good system. For the sake of the many good people who still work at the fund and for everyone in the state, I sincerely hope that the new leaders will prove successful in spite of their inexperience, and I hope the gossipmongers and Monday morning quarterbacks can put away their vitriol long enough to give them a fair chance.
Joe, this Nodak person implies that North Dakota’s Worker’s Comp was “in the red” and only got into the black after the appointment of an independent board. This is patently false. The WSI board was first authorized during the 1997 legislative session and was formed in early 1998. According to WSI’s website — available online but summarized here https://www.workforcesafety.com/about-us/history.asp — WSI was “in the black.” If you look around at the WSI website, you’ll find it was in the black by June of 1997. In fact, Nodak’s “political appointees lacking relevant experience” had taken WSI from being insolvent to being $1,000,000 in the black.
You should consider the rest of Nodak’s comment to be as accurate as his recollection of the chronology of WSI’s history.