Bruce C. Wood served for 27 years with the American Insurance Association, retiring recently as Vice President & Associate General Counsel. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., AIA is a national trade association of over 300 property and casualty insurers that write a major share of workers' compensation insurance in the United States. At AIA, Mr. Wood had lead responsibility for the workers’ compensation line, developing workers' compensation legislative and regulatory policy and in developing strategies for translating those policies into AIA's state workers' compensation program. In that capacity, he also served as the Secretary to AIA’s Workers’ Compensation Committee, AIA’s policymaking committee for the line comprised of member companies’ workers’ compensation line-of-business representatives. He is now consulting for among others, AIA.
Mr. Wood began his career in the early 1970s as a legislative assistant to then-Illinois Congressman John N. Erlenborn (R-Ill.). In 1979 he joined the House Education and Labor Committee as Assistant Labor Counsel with responsibilities for a broad portfolio of labor issues, including workers' compensation and occupational disease. In 1983 he became the Committee’s Minority chief counsel for labor, and in that role represented House Republican Members on a wide array of labor legislation, including negotiating comprehensive amendments to the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act of 1984 and the Black Lung Act Amendments of 1981.
In 1985, Mr. Wood joined the Labor Department as Associate Assistant Secretary for Congressional Affairs, working under Secretary of Labor William Brock and, as the deputy in the Congressional Affairs office, promoted the Secretary's and Reagan Administration's positions before the Congress.
In 1988, and immediately prior to his arrival at AIA in early 1990, Mr. Wood served as the Executive Assistant to then-Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board, James M. Stephens.
Mr. Wood holds a bachelor's degree in political science from The George Washington University and a law degree from George Mason University. He is a member of the Virginia, District of Columbia, and U.S. Supreme Court Bars.