St. Petersburg, FL (May 20, 2011) - The St. Petersburg Times recently named American Strategic Insurance (ASI) as the top mid-size company in its Tampa Bay's Top Work Places 2011 survey. The company is proud to obtain the number one designation in this category for the second year in a row.

ASI's President and Chief Executive Officer, John Auer, said, "We try to fill our company with people who tend to be happy, and then try to give them reasons to stay that way. We have an incredible team of employees who work hard to make this company a success.  Our people are the best."

ASI, which has an AM Best rating of A- (Excellent) with a "positive" outlook, specializes in personal lines residential property insurance, commercial lines residential property insurance, personal umbrella insurance, and primary and excess flood insurance.   The company currently writes more than $600 million of business in 14 states and has an aggressive plan to offer coverage and service to residents in 26 states over the next few years. ASI maintains nearly $325 million in surplus.

In the Tampa Bay region, 70 leading employers were nominated by their employees. The employees completed a survey on several topics, including practices and policies that make these companies the top places to work. To be considered for participation, companies or government entities had to employ at least 50 workers in Florida and be at least a year old.

The companies were ranked based on leadership, compensation and training, workplace flexibility, and diversity. The rankings were published on TampaBay.com, in the April 17 edition of the St. Petersburg Times and on April 18 in tbt* Tampa Bay Times.

The Top Work Places 2011 in Tampa Bay program was created by the St. Petersburg Times and WorkplaceDynamics.

"Readers have a good sense of what truly makes these Tampa Bay companies special places to work. We have captured and shared the stories of the employees and trends in the workplace. It's a great combination," said Neil Brown, Times editor and vice president.

For a complete list of the 2011 Top Work Places in Tampa Bay, go to www.tampabay.com/topworkplaces2011.

About the St. Petersburg Times

The St. Petersburg Times is widely considered one of the Top Ten newspapers in America. The Times has won eight Pulitzer Prizes and is produced by the Times Publishing Company, which also publishes TampaBay.com - Tampa Bay’s largest local news Web site with nearly 1.5 million unique visitors each month (Nielsen NetView three-month average for 10/10-12/10). Additionally, the company publishes the free daily tbt* Tampa Bay Times and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Web site, PolitiFact.com; and produces special events, specialty publications, and targeted advertising programs.