Insurance Agent E&O Expert Witness and Risk Management Cons

Brent Winans, CPCU, ARM is the Vice President and Principal Consultant at Clear Advantage Risk Management, a division of the Plastridge Insurance Agency in Delray Beach, FL. He focuses his expert witness work on insurance agent/broker errors and omissions claims, where his 35+ years of insurance experience and education make him uniquely qualified. For the entire time he has been in the insurance industry, he has been an insurance agent or has been assisting, selecting or directing insurance agents.

He serves as an expert on both sides of agent E&O cases and has been engaged to testify in state and federal courts on over 130 cases in 20 states. He also provides fee-based consulting on property and casualty insurance and risk management programs. He is an instructor, speaker, and published author on insurance agent/broker E&O risk management and other risk management issues. He is presently the President of the American Association of Insurance Management Consultants.

Mr. Winans has worked in the property and casualty insurance business for over 35 years and is presently employed as the Vice President of Clear Advantage Risk Management, a division of the Plastridge Insurance Agency, Inc. in Delray Beach, FL. During his career he has held positions as a captive insurance agent, an independent insurance agent/broker, an independent insurance agency manager, an insurance agency liaison for a service organization owned by insurance companies, a fee-based risk management consultant, and a corporate risk manager for an international company.

In the role of corporate risk manager, he oversaw the operations of eleven insurance brokerage firms which served his employer’s 30+ international subsidiaries on five continents. As a fee-based risk management consultant he has selected, rejected and given direction to scores of insurance agencies who served and are serving his risk management clients.

While employed for two years by the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI), he served as their liaison to the national headquarters of the Independent Insurance Agents’ and Brokers’ Association and the Professional Insurance Agents’ Association.

In his first two years with the Plastridge Agency he was the office manager of the home office in Delray Beach, FL and supervised the 40-person staff including the commercial and personal lines agents and service personnel. He is licensed as a resident general lines agent in Florida and as a non-resident producer in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. While today most of his work is as a fee-based (no insurance sales) risk management consultant and expert witness, he continues to serve as an agent, selling and servicing insurance, on a limited basis.

Mr. Winans have been designated by the International Risk Management Institute (IRMI.com) to serve as an “Expert Commentator” on insurance agent E&O issues, writing articles on the subject for their readers. He has taught continuing legal education classes for Florida attorneys on agent errors and omissions issues and has been an instructor for the E&O risk management classes offered by the Florida Association of Insurance Agents.

He holds the Charter Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation and the Associate in Risk Management (ARM) designation. He has published articles in several insurance and risk management publications and served as an instructor for the ARM designation for three years.

Brent is a valued member of a number of professional associations, holding positions of distinction in several.  He is also a member of community organizations, volunteering his services regularly.