Brown & Brown Names Abernathy Senior VP of Wholesale Unit

Florida-based insurance intermediary Brown & Brown Inc. has appointed J. Neal Abernathy as a senior vice president of its wholesale division.

Abernathy will continue to serve as chairman of Decus Insurance Brokers Ltd., the London brokerage operation Brown & Brown launched in 2008, and he will join Brown & Brown’s senior leadership team.

Abernathy will continue to report to Tony Strianese, wholesale division president.

Abernathy joined Brown & Brown in November of 2013, after seven years leading U.S. operations at wholesaler Cooper Gay Swett & Crawford. Abernathy’s exit was part of a management shake-up after New York private-equity firm Lightyear Capital took a controlling interest in CGSC.

Brown & Brown’s wholesale division sells excess and surplus commercial and personal insurance products to retail agencies and reinsurance to insurance companies throughout the U.S.