VWCC chairman selected as VP of association board

Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission Chairman Robert A. Rapaport has been named vice president of the Southern Association of Workers’ Compensation Administrators’ Board, according to a release from the VWCC.

Rapaport’s selection was announced during SAWCA’s annual convention in Manalapan, Florida, earlier this month.

“I am excited to embrace the opportunity to be involved with SAWCA and its members,” Rapaport said in a statement. “Being chosen to help lead this group of workers’ compensation professionals truly is an honor.”

According to the association’s website, SAWCA unites “regulatory decision makers” from 21 jurisdictions to share ideas, perspectives and common concerns in the realm of workers’ compensation. With Colorado, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania recently joining as full jurisdictional members, the association notes on its website that “Southern” is a “state of mind” rather than a regional designation.

Rapaport graduated from Virginia Tech in 1976 before earning his law degree from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary in 1979. Following law school, he worked in private practice for 35 years, specializing in workers’ compensation law.

A founding member and past president of the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Inn of Court, Rapaport was inducted as a Fellow in the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers in 2019.

Rapaport was appointed by the General Assembly to the VWCC in February 2017 and was named to a three-year term as chairman beginning July 1, 2021.