Embry-Riddle's All-Star Giving Team
Brown & Brown Insurance teams up to support Embry-Riddle Athletics
For several years, Brown & Brown Insurance and its leadership have been key players in the success of Embry-Riddle’s athletics program. Now, Brown & Brown execs both past and present are upping their game to an all-star level, contributing, in total gifts and pledges, nearly $700,000 in support of Embry-Riddle student-athletes.
This “All-Star Giving Team”—which includes former Brown & Brown executives Jay Adams and Jim Henderson and current executives Linda Downs, Powell Brown and founder Hyatt Brown—has joined forces to support the Champions of Character Scholarship program, a fund for Embry-Riddle athletes who exhibit the five core values of respect, integrity, responsibility, servant leadership and sportsmanship.
Brown & Brown’s recent show of support is the culmination of an evolving, multifaceted relationship between the company and Embry-Riddle. What began years ago with Embry-Riddle as a Brown & Brown client has now transformed into a “win-win” relationship for both university and company.
“It’s just developed into a nice two-way street,” says Jay Adams, former Brown & Brown executive and Embry-Riddle Trustee Emeritus. “Over the years, Brown & Brown has seen what Embry-Riddle has become and their interest just started to escalate.”
All-Star Teambuilding
The story of how this “All-Star Giving Team” came together begins with its “captain”: Jay Adams. “It all starts with Jay Adams,” says Steve Ridder, Embry-Riddle athletic director. “Everything we’ve been able to achieve begins with him.”
While Adams’ efforts to help bring Embry-Riddle to Daytona Beach in the early days are well documented, his role in engaging Brown & Brown is less publicized. When he joined the board of Brown & Brown in 1999, he knew it was in both institutions’ best interests to work together, so he began making his case immediately.
“I had always supported the university, and I thought that it would be good for everyone if someone in Brown & Brown got involved,” he says.
That first someone was Jim Henderson. “I picked on Jim,” Adams recalls wryly. “He was a good friend, and I got him involved with the board.”
Once Jim Henderson joined the Embry-Riddle board, it was only a matter of time before the excitement set in. “It takes a while to get the blue and gold fever,” Jay Adams says, “but Jim has it big-time now.”
“Steve Ridder has done an incredible job with this program,” says Henderson. “It’s something Embry-Riddle and the community can be proud of. I know I am proud of everything they’ve accomplished.”
Henderson’s “blue and gold fever” was one factor among many that spurred Hyatt Brown’s increased interest. “Jim became a board member and ultimately became the Chairman of the board,” recalls Hyatt Brown. “Obviously, he was very gung ho and that influenced us to become more involved.”
One of the ways they upped their involvement was to honor Jim Henderson’s career at Brown & Brown and his continued leadership at Embry-Riddle. On the evening of his retirement celebration, Henderson’s friends and colleagues established the Jim Henderson Champions of Character Endowed Scholarship.
“Everybody got together and before you knew it, we had raised about $115,000 more for scholarships, just that night,” Jay Adams recalls.
“It’s a testament to his leadership and vision that so many would honor Jim Henderson with this scholarship,” says Embry-Riddle President John Johnson. “Jim has been a key advocate for Embry-Riddle in the community and among our alumni and friends.”
“I was honored to be recognized by my friends, colleagues and associates in this way,” says Jim Henderson. “The fact that so many of our best student-athletes will benefit from their generosity makes it even more special to me.”
The Ridder Factor
With any big decision, there is usually a key person who helps “seal the deal.” For the executives at Brown & Brown, that person was Steve Ridder.
Hyatt Brown’s appreciation of Embry-Riddle Athletics grew over a few years of attending basketball games with Jay Adams and seeing the good thing that Steve Ridder had going.
“Jay started getting me involved in going to a basketball game or two,” Hyatt Brown recalls. “Of course, they had a good team, and Steve Ridder was an inspirational guy.”
Hyatt Brown, who considers one of his biggest business challenges “finding high-quality people rapidly” saw a potential pool of top performers, led by a top-flight talent evaluator, right in front of him. “We started talking to Steve Ridder about the possibility of recruiting some of his players for Brown & Brown and that has worked out quite well for us. ”
The winning combination continued when Brown & Brown identified Ridder as someone who could not only help add to their roster of high-quality people, but also help motivate those high performers who already worked for Brown & Brown.
“We had him come to one of our Leadership Council meetings,” recalls Powell Brown, CEO and President of Brown & Brown. “He gave a very rousing speech. It resonated with me and with our leadership. We just flat-out identify with the guy.”
Linda Downs, senior executive vice president at Brown & Brown, credits Ridder in particular for her involvement in establishing the Linda S. Downs Champions of Character Scholarship. As a sports lover and athlete herself (she received the Intramural Athlete of the Year in 1972 at her alma mater, Birmingham Southern College), Downs made an immediate connection with Ridder.
“When Steve and I sat down and started talking, that’s when I became interested in Embry-Riddle,” she says. “His approach to having the athlete strive to be a complete person was very motivating. I was all-in at that point.”
The Best People Rise
The great teamwork between “the players” of Embry-Riddle and Brown & Brown speaks to what both institutions have known from some time: that winning, whether in the classroom, the boardroom or on the field, begins and ends with people of character.
It’s that people-centered, competitive philosophy that makes Embry-Riddle and Brown & Brown such natural partners.
“At Brown & Brown, we are a meritocracy,” Hyatt Brown says. “The best people rise, and that’s the way it is in Embry-Riddle’s athletics programs.” He also points out that both organizations are committed to what he calls “enhancing people,” which translates into “helping people be the best that they can be.”
For Linda Downs, “enhancing people” begins with attitude. “You can’t choose a lot of things in your life, but you can choose your attitude,” she says. “Every day you wake up with an attitude to better yourself and to create opportunities for others to better themselves as well.”
That approach resonates strongly with Steve Ridder. “Philosophically, we have so many similarities in how we approach people and our work,” he says. “They have built a reputation for doing things the right way, based on integrity and a strong sense of values, and that’s the same thing we are trying to emulate here at Embry-Riddle.”
It’s no surprise then that Ridder sees Embry-Riddle Athletics’ relationship with Brown & Brown as a model for partnering with other local companies.
“I think we’re just getting started. Embry-Riddle offers real value to companies looking to enhance their talent pool with high-energy, competitive people who know how to win—and how to do it the right way,” Ridder says.
For President John Johnson, the key is getting the message out to companies and industries beyond aerospace. “My hope is that the word will spread about the highly motivated and professional attitudes found in graduates from all of our degree programs,” he says. “Whatever the industry—aviation, aerospace, insurance, or any other where motivated, quality people are needed—Embry-Riddle has plenty to offer. Our relationship with Brown & Brown is a perfect example of that.”
“We feel very fortunate that we could make this kind of commitment to an institution in our community,” Powell Brown says. “This is where we were founded. This is home, so we are glad we are able to support Embry-Riddle.”
