Brown & Brown Promotes Downs to EVP for Leadership Development

Linda S. Downs, a Brown & Brown regional executive vice president has been promoted to the newly formed position of executive vice president for leadership development.

According to J. Hyatt Brown, chairman and CEO of the firm, Downs will be responsible for Brown & Brown’s Benefits and 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, Fla. and St. Louis.

Downs joined Brown & Brown in 1980, when she was asked to establish and build from scratch a retail insurance operation in Orlando, Fla., 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, Downs was a commercial lines underwriter and senior account analyst for Travelers Insurance Co.