Brown & Brown commits $1M for sponsorship of FSU Wertheim College Living-Learning Community

Brown & Brown, the first organization to sponsor a Living-Learning Community at Florida State University, participates in various FSU career fairs throughout the academic year and remains a devoted sponsor of the Wertheim College's Insurance Days.
Photo by Kallen M. Lunt Click to enlarge

Brown & Brown Inc., a leading global insurance brokerage with a robust record of hiring Florida State University graduates, has strengthened its steadfast alliance with FSU’s Herbert Wertheim College of Business.

The company recently committed $1 million to sponsor the college’s Living-Learning Community, or LLC, which engages FSU’s business-intent freshmen from the moment they arrive on campus and connects them with like-minded students and business faculty members. The sponsorship is for five years.

Wertheim College officials tout Brown & Brown’s investment for its emphasis on student professional development – a college hallmark – including sponsoring visits to major companies throughout the country. Brown & Brown’s commitment also includes funding for programs that help first-time-in-college students build a foundation for success in business.

“Brown & Brown’s latest investment in our college reaffirms the company’s commitment to our thriving partnership in support of student success,” said Michael D. Hartline, dean of the Wertheim College. “This remarkable and historic sponsorship will help our Business Living-Learning Community achieve our mission of inspiring and educating the business leaders of tomorrow.”

Brown & Brown becomes the first organization to sponsor a Living-Learning Community at FSU, which offers LLCs for 11 disciplines and interests, including engineering, music, nursing and ROTC. Each LLC's select group of students takes three classes together and establishes a supportive network during their first fall and spring semesters. Students apply for acceptance, which is competitive.

With its LLC sponsorship, Brown & Brown adds to multiple sustained investments in the Wertheim College. For example:

• The company continues to fund the Brown & Brown Speaker Series, a biannual event featuring discussions on issues relevant to risk management and insurance practitioners and researchers.
• Brown & Brown remains a devoted sponsor of Insurance Days, a biannual career placement event for the Wertheim College’s risk management/insurance majors. 
• The company participates in various FSU career fairs throughout the academic year, and leaders and other members of their team, including FSU alumni, regularly serve as classroom speakers and student mentors.

Andy Watts, executive vice president and chief financial officer at Brown & Brown, says the LLC sponsorship gives the company increased opportunities “to engage more closely with the Wertheim College and FSU, connect with strong talent, and identify students who we believe will be successful in our company.”

“We are extremely honored and pleased to be an exclusive sponsor and investor in Florida State University and to deepen our relationship with the Herbert Wertheim College of Business,” said Andy Watts, executive vice president and chief financial officer at Brown & Brown. “We share the Wertheim College’s pride in helping students launch meaningful careers, and in watching them grow, succeed, and make an impact.

Watts noted the company’s record of hiring FSU graduates. That currently includes about 200 of Brown & Brown’s approximately 23,000 “teammates” in more than 700 global locations. The company has hired 13 FSU graduates, including two as interns, in the last 10 months alone.

Watts cites the strength of the Dr. William T. Hold/The Alliance’s Program in Risk Management and Insurance, which U.S. News & World Report ranks No. 2 in the nation, and the college’s multiple other Top 25 undergraduate and graduate programs. He also touted the profile of the typical FSU student, which he describes as bright, disciplined and driven.

He said the LLC sponsorship gives Brown & Brown increased opportunities “to engage more closely with the Wertheim College and FSU, connect with strong talent, and identify students who we believe will be successful in our company.”

‘Best and brightest' students

FSU alumnus Steve Farmer, regional managing director, retail segment, at Brown & Brown and a member of the Wertheim College's RMI Executive Council, considers the company's partnerships with the college "key to bringing the best and brightest FSU students to the Brown & Brown team."

Steve Farmer, regional managing director, retail segment, at Brown & Brown, said the company has worked long and hard to increase its presence on campus and deepen its relationship with the Wertheim College.

“We believe it is the key to bringing the best and brightest FSU students to the Brown & Brown team,” he said.

Farmer, an FSU alumnus, spoke last month to students in the Business LLC, sharing insights from his more than 30 years at Brown & Brown and encouraging freshmen to start exploring careers early. He’s a member of the Wertheim College’s RMI Executive Council advisory board and a regular speaker at FSU, giving back to the university that means so much to him and his family. His wife, Carol, and eldest son, Ryan, also graduated from FSU.

“To recruit successfully, you must be consistent in your effort,” he said. “My love for FSU makes that very easy.”

Founded in 1939 in Daytona Beach, Brown & Brown embraces the cheetah as its symbol, representing vision, swiftness, strength and agility. The company champions a “people first” culture that emphasizes honesty, integrity, teamwork and grit, all Wertheim College values as well. Since 2019, it has received repeated annual certification from Great Place to Work™, a company that aims to create more resilient, successful and sustainable businesses.

Brown & Brown does not refer to its team members as employees but as “teammates” to foster a culture of teamwork, collaboration, meritocracy and shared responsibility. Also, company leaders reiterate their commitment to being a “big company that doesn’t act like one,” where teammates have access to all the capabilities of a large organization while “keeping the heart of a small company that truly cares.” 

Julie Turpin, Brown & Brown's chief people officer, says she's “one of thousands of individuals who started at Brown & Brown and had the opportunity to grow and develop, and to move, and to shift, and to do something completely different."

“We want all our teammates, students and interns to experience every aspect of who we are,” said Julie Turpin, Brown & Brown’s chief people officer.

Turpin presents herself as an example of what’s possible at the company. She led a successful Brown & Brown business before CEO Powell Brown promoted her to chief people officer in early 2020. In most other large companies, the CEO wouldn’t have known her, she said.

“I'm one of thousands of individuals who started at Brown & Brown and had the opportunity to grow and develop, and to move, and to shift, and to do something completely different,” Turpin said. “So many of our leaders and teammates have their own Brown & Brown story.

Turpin said the company hires from an array of disciplines, writing in a 2025 Fast Company article that “insurance companies need HR leaders, marketing strategists, IT specialists, data analysts, cybersecurity professionals, and even event coordinators to support their operations.”

“Insurance is such a great place to build a career,” she said recently. Brown & Brown’s latest investment in FSU ensures the company will live up to “our responsibility to continue to develop incredible insurance professionals,” she added.

‘A transformational gift’

Jared Miller, director of professional and first-year experience programs at the Wertheim College, said Brown & Brown’s sponsorship will allow the college “to take our professional development opportunities to the next level, both in the classroom and outside the classroom,” including trips to various corporate headquarters. Business students otherwise typically wait until their junior or senior year to participate in such activities.

Now, the Business LLC could even fund professional development opportunities that students propose themselves, such as industry badges or credentials, Miller said. Also, the sponsorship will help fund networking events and additional programming and tools, including personality assessments that could help students better identify career paths.

“It’s a transformational gift for the Business LLC,” Miller said.

Based at Azaela Hall, one of the most desirable residential facilities on campus, the Business LLC launched two years ago with 76 students and doubled that to 152 students for the academic year that just ended. 

The priority application deadline for the 2026-2027 school year has passed, but the college will consider applications on a space-availability basis until late August. Any incoming freshmen with a Fall-Spring housing contract can apply. Visit University Housing’s website to learn how. 

Miller says the college doesn’t aim to steer LLC students toward any one major.  

“We are trying to allow students to make informed decisions on what is the best fit for them and for their career goals,” he said.

Regardless of their career path, students will leave the Business LLC “with a positive association with Brown & Brown for helping to make a great experience possible for them,” Miller said. “And that's a great thing for Brown & Brown, the broader business community and for us. Everybody wins.”

-- Pete Reinwald