Speaker

Hon. Frank R. McKay

Judge Frank R. McKay is an Appellate Judge and Director for the Georgia State Board of Workers’ Compensation where he served as Chairman and Chief Appellate Judge for eight years.

Judge McKay received the 2019 National Judge Comp Laude Award from WorkCompCentral. He is a Past-President of the Southern Association of Workers’ Compensation Administrators (SAWCA) and Co-Dean of the 2023 Roger L. Williams National Regulators College. He served on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Workers’ Compensation Judiciary (NAWCJ). He served on the Board of Directors for the International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions (IAIABC) and serves on the Board of Advisors for the Workers’ Compensation Institute (WCI). He served on the Board of Directors of Kids’ Chance of Georgia. He served on the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute’s (WCRI) Georgia Advisory Committee. He is a Fellow in the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers (CWCL). He serves on Georgia’s Statewide Opioid Task Force. Judge McKay is a frequent speaker at the National Association of Workers’ Compensation Judiciary College and many other conferences.

He came to the Board in 2013 from private practice where he was a partner in the Stewart, Melvin and Frost law firm in Gainesville, Georgia. His practice was concentrated in workers’ compensation, and he tried and presented many cases before the Administrative Law Judges and the Appellate Division of the State Board and appeals to the Superior Courts and the Georgia Court of Appeals. He was a former Special Assistant Attorney General handling workers’ compensation claims for the State of Georgia. He was on the State Board’s Advisory Council prior to being appointed the Chairman by the Governor of Georgia in 2013 and 2017. He was reappointed a Director and Appellate Judge by Governor Brian P. Kemp in 2021.

He obtained his law degree (J.D.) from Walter F. George School of Law, Mercer University, and his undergraduate degree (B.A. Economics) from Clemson University.