Moragas to lead PIA chapter

David Moragas, a director at Galloway, Johnson, Tompkins, Burr and Smith, was installed president of the Northshore Chapter of PIA during a lunch meeting held Jan. 12 at Keith Young’s Steak House.
Moragas succeeds Stephanie Plescia, Plescia Insurance Agency, who remains on the Northshore Chapter’s board of directors.

He is a 1997 graduate of Louisiana State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in rehabilitation sciences. While he was in college, Moragas worked as a rehabilitation technician at Rehab Care. After he graduated from college, he went to work full-time for Rehab Care at West Jefferson Medical Center in Harvey as an in-patient rehabilitation case manager.

While working at Rehab Care, he decided to attend law school. “I did not like the direction that the health care industry was going, so I felt like I had to do something else. A lawyer seemed like the best choice since a rehabilitation case manager is an advocate for the patient, and an attorney is an advocate for their client,” Moragas told the Reporter.

Moragas attended law school at night while working at Rehab Care and graduated from Loyola Law School in December 2004. He passed the bar in 2005 and joined Galloway, Johnson, Tompkins, Burr and Smith a few months after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.

He is a regular speaker at the Louisiana Claims Association conferences but has not participated since the pandemic started.

As for plans for the Northshore Chapter of PIA’s year under his leadership, Moragas wants to get the participation in meetings and events back up to the pre-pandemic levels. In addition, he very much wants to hold the Northshore Chapter of PIA Poker Crawl this year. It has been two years since the Poker Crawl has been held.

The Poker Crawl is currently scheduled for Sept. 1, and the charity that will receive the proceeds for the Poker Crawl will be ACCESS (Adapting and Changing Children’s Environments with Successful Solutions) Louisiana. ACCESS Louisiana raises money to assist families of children with disabilities to help them with purchasing home or van modifications, assistive devices and adaptive equipment that have been denied by private insurance and/or Medicaid.

In Moragas’s opinion the two biggest benefits of membership in PIA are the continuing education opportunities and the networking opportunities available to members. “PIA provides the opportunity to foster relationships across the industry, from agents to company representatives to vendors,” Moragas said.

Taking office along with Moragas are, Jason Howell, Insurance Shield, president-elect, and Brian P. Cook, Cook Insurance and Notary, secretary/treasurer. Serving as directors for 2022 are Courtney Dupuis, Risk Placement Services; Nicholas A. “Nick” Farley, Ann Sagona Insurance Agency; Al Pappalardo Jr., Pappalardo Insurance Agency, and Sarah Spears McConnell, Spears Insurance.

Pappalardo, a past president of PIA of Louisiana and Northshore Chapter of PIA, installed the officers.