The Citizens Property Insurance board of governors agreed to negotiate with Barry Gilway, the president and CEO of Mattei Insurance Services, to be the president of Florida’s insurer of last resort.

Gilway’s success as president will be judged by how well he can shrink the size of the Florida-backed company.

Gilway, whose resume includes 15 years as an executive with Zurich North America, a financial services company, and Maryland Casualty Group, a subsidiary of Zurich, was selected over Glenn Pomeroy, CEO of the California Earthquake Authority.

The board did not consider Tom Grady, the interim president and an applicant for the post, who was not included as a finalist for the job by the board’s president-search committee.

In March, Grady, a former state representative, stepped down as the commissioner of the Florida Office of Financial Regulation to take over at Citizens Property Insurance Corp., filling in for Scott Wallace who resigned in April after nearly six years at Citizen.

Grady joked that the board failed to ask Gilway an important question: “When can you start?”