Joel Wood

Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers

Mr. Wood is presenting Wednesday’s Hot Topic Breakfast, “Federal Regulation—Vote Yes!” He is Senior Vice President of Government Affairs for the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers, a position he has held since January 1993. The Council represents 270 of the nation’s largest commercial property/casualty insurance agencies and brokerage firms. Council members conduct business in 3,000 locations, employ more than 140,000 people, and annually place 80 percent—more than $140 billion—of commercial p/c insurance premiums in the United States. In addition, Council members specialize in a wide range of insurance products and risk management services for business, industry, government, and the public. Council members, who operate nationally and internationally, also administer billions of dollars in employee benefits.

As the Council’s government affairs director, Mr. Wood is the association’s top lobbyist on Capitol Hill and administers the trade group’s political action committee. Prior to joining the Council, he served 4 years as the Assistant Vice President for Government Affairs of the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents. In 2002, he was named by Business Insurance magazine as one of the insurance industry’s “35 Rising Stars.” In 2006, 2007, and 2008, The Hill newspaper named him as one of the top trade association lobbyists in Washington.

In 2001, following the diagnosis of his son James (now 9 years old) with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, he and his wife Dana started the Foundation to Eradicate Duchenne, a 501(c)3 organization that has raised several million dollars in funding for research into the deadly disorder, primarily through Children’s National Medical Center (CNMC) and its clinical trials network. Additionally, Mr. Wood was the driving force behind passage of the Muscular Dystrophy CARE Act of 2001, a bill that has increased funding for MD research by tens of millions of dollars. He also has successfully sought more than $25 million in other funding for research through various other departments of the federal government. He sits on the Board of Directors of Children’s Research Institute at CNMC, which has grown dramatically in recent years to be the nation’s sixth largest pediatric medical research center.

Mr. Wood came to Washington to work for Rep. Don Sundquist (R-TN) following his election to the House of Representatives in 1982. During his 6 years as a congressional staffer, he served as Sundquist’s press secretary and legislative director. In 1981 and 1982, he was a political reporter for The Jackson Sun, a (now-) Gannett-owned, 40,000 circulation daily.

Along with two friends in 1988, he cofounded Red Hot & Blue, a barbecue restaurant that has grown to 32 locations in 11 states. The company was sold in 2006. Mr. Wood is a founder and principal in Johnny’s Half Shell, a 320-seat seafood restaurant opened in 2006 in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol.

He is a 1981 graduate of the journalism school at the University of Mississippi.