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Linda S. Downs

New Position: Executive vice president, leadership development, Brown & Brown Inc., Tampa. Previous Position: Regional executive vice president, Brown & Brown Inc., Tampa

By Times Staff Writer
Published January 23, 2006

After 25 years with Brown & Brown Inc., Linda Downs has taken on a newly created role as executive vice president of leadership development for the insurance company. Her goal is to identify, retain and hire the company's next generation of leaders, she said.

Although based in Tampa, Downs will have a part-time office in Daytona Beach, and she will continue commuting to both headquarters from her home of four years in Orlando.

"That's the job," she said about the longer drive to Tampa along Interstate 4 two to three days a week. "I think, "Should I move to Tampa? Does this make sense?' I bat that around, quite honestly, pretty frequently."

In addition to developing leadership within Brown & Brown's staff, Downs will be responsible for the company's benefits and compensation department, the quality control division and the security committee. And she will continue to be responsible for the program business units in Tampa and St. Louis.

The business units include a national program for dentists and lawyers, including liability. Downs was responsible for those units before her new appointment, she said.

Brown & Brown is a fast-growing general insurance agency, acquiring lots of small agencies over the years. "We provide personal insurance, homeowners and auto insurance. We provide life insurance and benefits and also commercial insurance. We're a full-line agency."

The company operates in 30 states and has its largest presence in Florida. "We also have a pretty large concentration in New York, California and Arizona," Downs said.

One factor that Downs said has kept her enthusiastic about the company for a quarter-century is the autonomy employees are allowed. "Our company has a very decentralized environment," she said. "You don't call the corporate headquarters to say, "What do I do next?'

"There's a lot of opportunity for entrepreneurial people to grow and excel, even inside a big corporation, because we're decentralized."

A native of Orlando, Downs, 55, earned a bachelor's degree in biology from Birmingham College in Birmingham, Ala., in 1972. She started her career as a commercial underwriter for Travelers Insurance, first in Birmingham, later transferring with the company to Orlando.

In 1980, Downs joined Brown & Brown and was asked to open an insurance operation in Orlando. Prior to her recent promotion, Downs was regional executive vice president, responsible for the company's operations in Georgia, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

She has seen the company grow extensively in her 25 years. "When I started with the company, we were small. We had 30 to 40 people. We've grown quickly over the years," she said. Now the company has about 5,000 employees.

"To make the next step, we've got to start enabling our leaders to do more and we need to find more leaders," she said.

Downs, who is single, said she frequently does volunteer work and is on the governing board of the First Methodist Church of Orlando.

[Last modified January 19, 2006, 18:54:02]