DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. and TAMPA, Fla., Jan 09, 2006 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ -- J. Hyatt Brown, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE: BRO), is pleased to announce that, effective immediately, Linda S. Downs, CPCU, AAI, a Regional Executive Vice President, has been promoted to the newly formed position of Executive Vice President for Leadership Development. In this new position Ms. Downs will be responsible for the Company's Benefits & Compensation Department, Quality Control Division and Security Committee, as well as the new Leadership Recruitment, Recognition and Development team responsible for the acculturation and evaluation of current and future leaders. In addition, she will continue to be responsible for the Program Business Units in Tampa and St. Louis.
Mr. Brown stated, "Brown & Brown is an American Meritocracy(R). Our continued growth, ad infinitum, requires that we place even more emphasis on the recruitment and development of leadership. Linda Downs has been chosen for promotion to this most important position in order to respond to this strategic imperative."
Mr. Brown continued, "The recruitment, recognition and development of leadership qualities is best accomplished by an individual who has been proven, by the acid test of time, as having superior leadership abilities. Linda Downs is that person."
Ms. Downs joined Brown & Brown in 1980, when she was asked to establish and build from scratch a retail insurance operation in Orlando, Florida, which subsequently became an $11 million profit center. She has not only been the leader responsible for the development of that office, but has also led other Company operations to be highly efficient and profitable. Prior to her promotion, she was the Regional Executive Vice President responsible for the Company's retail operations in Georgia, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, as well as the Program Business Units in Tampa and St. Louis. Before joining Brown & Brown, she was a Commercial Lines Underwriter and Senior Account Analyst for Travelers Insurance Company. She has earned both the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and Accredited Advisor in Insurance (AAI) designations.
Brown & Brown, Inc. and its subsidiaries offer a broad range of insurance and reinsurance products and services, as well as risk management, third-party administration, and managed health care programs. Providing service to business, public entity, individual, trade and professional association clients nationwide, the Company is ranked by Business Insurance magazine as the United States' seventh largest independent insurance intermediary. The Company's Web address is http://www.bbinsurance.com .
This press release may contain certain statements relating to future results which are forward-looking statements, including those relating to continuing our revenue, earnings and operating growth, as well as identifying and consummating attractive acquisition opportunities. These statements are not historical facts, but instead represent only the Company's current belief regarding future events, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of the Company's control. It is possible that the Company's actual results, financial condition and achievements may differ, possibly materially, from the anticipated results, financial condition and achievements contemplated by these forward-looking statements. Further information concerning the Company and its business, including factors that potentially could materially affect the Company's financial results and condition, as well as its other achievements, are contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Some factors include: general economic conditions around the country; downward commercial property and casualty premium pressures; the competitive environment; the integration of the Company's operations with those of businesses or assets the Company has acquired or may acquire in the future and the failure to realize the expected benefits of such integration; the potential occurrence of a disaster that affects certain areas of the States of Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and/or Washington, where significant portions of the Company's business are concentrated; the actual costs of resolution of contingent liabilities; those factors relevant to Brown & Brown's consummation and integration of announced acquisitions, including any matters analyzed in the due diligence process, material adverse changes in the customers of the companies whose operations are acquired, and material adverse changes in the business and financial condition of either or both companies and their respective customers; and the cost and impact on the Company of previously disclosed litigation initiated against the Company and regulatory inquiries regarding industry and Company practices with respect to compensation received from insurance carriers. All forward-looking statements made herein are made only as of the date of this release, and the Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or correct any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that subsequently occur or of which the Company hereafter becomes aware.
SOURCE Brown & Brown, Inc.
Cory T. Walker, Chief Financial Officer, Brown & Brown, Inc., +1-386-239-7250
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