J. Hyatt Brown is the chairman – and for over 50 years, the driving force behind – Brown & Brown Insurance.
B&B was founded by Brown's father and a cousin in 1939 as Brown & Owen. The name changed to Brown & Brown in 1955, and J. Hyatt Brown joined the firm in 1959 after his graduation from the University of Florida. He bought the agency in 1961 and took the company public in 1993 via a merger with William Poe's Poe & Associates of Tampa. He assumed full control of the new entity in 1993. The family lineage continues at the company's dual headquarters with son J. Powell Brown as current president and CEO, based in Daytona Beach, and son P. Barrett Brown as profit center leader of the Tampa retail operation.

Renowned for a 14-year run of double-digit bottom-line growth, successive years of increasing dividends, and customer retention rates above 90 percent, B&B ranks as one of the largest independent insurance intermediaries in the U.S. The company currently employs 5,200+ people in 180 locations.

Given his remarkable career in Florida's insurance market and the political arena (he was a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 1972 to 1980, and Speaker of the House from 1978 to 1980), Brown has a unique perspective from which to view our industry.

Q. B&B's has grown primarily through the acquisition of successful, geographically diverse, small- to mid-sized agencies throughout the country. The company spent $26.5 million on mergers and acquisitions last year, even in a universally dismal economy. What are the most important attributes you look for in a company you are considering acquiring? Do you subscribe to the Warren Buffet philosophy of “Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful?”

A. Not necessarily. We are always looking for good people who are honest, hard-working and would like to join a large firm that could help them grow financially and professionally. Brown & Brown has four divisions: retail, wholesale, programs, and services, so as opportunities become available in those areas we are always interested. Our business is primarily commission-based, as opposed to fees. Large concentrations of business in single-line or risk-type can be a matter of concern but may not be a deal breaker.

In many situations, the senior owner and largest shareholder of an agency is looking to retire, therefore opening the possibility for another leader or leaders to step up and continue to operate the business successfully. These scenarios are always difficult to analyze from the outside looking in.

Q. Although your company reported some dropping revenues in the recent past (a rarity for B&B), the last two quarters are looking up. Talk about the challenges all businesses face in today's economic environment, and internal growth versus growth by acquisition.

A. Brown & Brown recorded negative organic growth in 2008 and 2009. Never before has this happened in our 76-year history. The worst hit states were Florida, Arizona, Nevada, and California. The economy has been the largest single factor, plus declining P&C rates in the 38 states in which we do business. Our M&A activity in 2009 produced approximately $26 million of purchased revenues, which was the lowest M&A rate since 2000. The economy is starting to bottom in many of our key states, which is good news. P&C pricing will continue to be discounted over the renewal rates on most accounts. With over $500 billion of capital and surplus in the U.S. P&C industry (premiums in 2009 were approximately $490 billion) we will continue to see price erosion until 2013 — maybe! This condition makes M&A activity more risky than in the last 10 years.

Q. If you were starting out today, would you repeat the decentralized business model that allows decisions to be made by local-level managers and limits bureaucratic interference, while demanding performance-to-profit results that, while motivating, possibly resembles “tough love?”

A. Absolutely. Decentralization is the most efficient operating model, and it is very attractive to those merger candidates who want to be able to personally affect their future as opposed to being sucked up into the maw of a large, centralized company.

Q. One of B&B's subsidiaries is the reinsurance broker Axiom Re. Give us some insight into what that market looks like today nationally and in Florida.

A. Axiom Re is doing well in their reinsurance niche. Reinsurance pricing is also headed south as regards P&C business.

Q. The 2010 Legislature passed, and then Gov. Charlie Crist subsequently vetoed, the omnibus property bill SB 2044. The Florida property insurance market remains problematic, to say the least. If you could magically solve our homeowners' insurance problems, how would you go about it?

A. Time and tide have a tendency to level all playing fields. We must allow risk bearers to price their homeowners' products properly in order to survive when the wind blows. Citizens' assessments would be a tsunami to Florida policyholders if we have a bad hurricane year in 2010. Short-term solution: Pray.

Q. You have been both a participant and an observer of the political scene. Describe — from a problem-solving perspective — the kind of leaders Florida needs to deal with the significant problems we face.

A. Florida needs intelligent, hardworking problem solvers in all elected and appointed positions. A major problem facing those elected and appointed men and women is the animus created by dog-eat-dog partisanship. When I retired from the Legislature in 1980, both parties had respect for each other, and even though we had differences, they were solved in most cases with intelligent decisions that were generally accepted by most in both parties. The most important function of the two-party system is to organize elections. The gerrymandering of districts has produced a left/right polarization that exacerbates the problems in terms of bringing both parties to the middle, which is where most Floridians and Americans reside.

Q. Based on your years of experience, if there were one thing you could change in Florida's insurance universe, what would it be?

A. Insurance regulation in Florida has been pretty even handed over the last 51 years that I have been actively involved. The only real potential horror story is the huge build up of hurricane exposure in Citizens as a result of reducing rates without regard to actuarial soundness. Hopefully we will skate by (with no serious hurricanes) for 3 to 4 years and allow the private market to assume a large portion of the exposures at sustainable pricing.

Special Reports /

J. Hyatt Brown Talks About Business, Florida, and Politics

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