News

By Steven J. Smith

Stephen Klingel, president and CEO of the National Council on Compensation Insurance, says corporations should always be good citizens in whatever community they are located, as his is in Boca Raton.
“That can be measured in the number of executives that have served on boards, whether it’s the United Way, the Red Cross, the South County YMCA, the Literacy Coalition or the Chamber of Commerce,” he said. “Secondly, the employees themselves. There are rarely any kinds of charitable activities where you won’t see NCCI employees participating. We support that by giving them paid time off to support the charity or community issue of their choice.”
He practices what he preaches, sitting on two boards himself: the Economic Council of the Palm Beaches, which promotes an open and collaborative relationship between the public and private sectors; and the Business Development Board of Palm Beach, the official public/private economic development organization for Palm Beach County and Enterprise Florida.
On May 8, the Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce will honor Klingel, 64, as Business Leader of the Year.
He has helmed NCCI for the last 12 years and said the honor came “as a complete surprise,” although he and his company have been very active with the Boca chamber over that time.
NCCI is one of the nation’s most comprehensive sources of workers compensation insurance information. The company gathers data, analyzes industry trends and prepares objective insurance rate and loss cost recommendations to its clients.  
Klingel came to the company in 2002 from an insurance company in St. Paul, Minn., for which he had worked for 29 years before moving to Boca Raton to head up NCCI.  
“I love what NCCI does and was well aware of the company, so it was an easy decision to move here,” Klingel said. “I love the whole Florida lifestyle, the business climate and everything else. It’s been a great opportunity to try something different.”
Under his stewardship, NCCI has focused more intently on what Klingel called the company’s core deliverables: accuracy in its data analysis and listening to its customers.
“We tend to serve two distinct constituencies — state governments and insurance companies who write workers compensation,” he said. “Those two constituencies don’t always agree, but we have worked on meeting both of their expectations at the same time and we’ve been very successful.”
Klingel plans to retire next year and looks forward to this next phase of his life.
“I want to spend more time with our children and grandchildren, who are spread all over the country,” he said. “Also my wife, Sally, and I are relative newlyweds.              

We got married last September, and retirement is going to offer us a chance to explore the world. And who knows? Maybe I’ll find my way on to a corporate board of directors. I would enjoy doing that. I’d also like to do some ad hoc teaching, instructing high school or college kids on what the business world is really like.”

If You Go
The Boca chamber hosts its annual Business Awards Luncheon on May 8 at the Boca Raton Resort & Club, 501 E. Camino Real.
This year’s honorees are Capitol Lighting’s CEO, Ken Lebersfeld, Small Business Leader of the Year; Stephen Klingel, president and CEO of NCCI, Business Leader of the Year; and The ADT Corp., Business of the Year. Approximately 300 guests are expected to attend. For information or to purchase tickets, call 395-4433, Ext. 233.