Sowards elected chairman of public employee benefit board

John Sowards has been elected chairman of the board of directors for the South Carolina Public Employee Benefit Authority. Sowards is a partner in the Nexsen Pruet law firm and its immediate past president. The authority manages retirement plans and pension trusts for more than a half million state workers as well as the State Health Plan. Sowards’ election is for a two-year term that ends June 30, 2018. He is a 1982 graduate of the University of South Carolina School of Law.