Background
Dr. Brenda Wells writes the risk
and insurance higher education scene column for IRMI.com.
Brenda Powell Wells holds both a bachelor of business administration and a
Ph.D. in Risk Management and Insurance from the University of Georgia. She also
holds the Charter Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and Accredited
Advisor of Insurance (AAI) designations.
Dr. Wells completed her Ph.D. in 1992 and joined the faculty of University
of North Texas in September of that year as an assistant professor. In 1998,
she was granted tenure and promoted to associate professor. In 2009, she moved
to East Carolina University to build a new risk management and insurance
program.
During her career, she has taught "Principles of Insurance,"
"Risk Management," "Commercial Liability Insurance,"
"Commercial Property Insurance," "Insurance Company
Operations," "Employee Benefits and Retirement Planning," and
"Senior Topics in Finance." She has also supervised countless
internships and independent study projects.
She is the faculty advisor to the East Carolina University Society of Risk
Management and Insurance, as well as the ECU Chapter of the National Alliance
on Mental Illness. She has a long history of forming, supporting, and mentoring
student organizations and has a wide range of experience in public relations
and fund-raising. She is the founder of the Texas Risk and Insurance
Professional Society (TRIPS), a nonprofit entity that supports insurance
education. She has a career fund-raising total of well over $1 million.
Also at ECU, Dr. Wells has been a member of the Professional Sports Advisory
Committee, which advises NCAA-eligible athletes on their future professional
sports careers.
Dr. Wells has published articles in Journal
of Risk and Insurance, Journal of
Insurance Regulation, Journal of
Insurance Issues, CPCU Journal,
Risk Management, Journal of Services Marketing, Small Business Institute Journal, and Journal of Applied Business Research. Her current
research interests include business ethics, mass tort litigation in the
pharmaceutical industry, the effect of marijuana legalization on the insurance
industry, personnel risk management, social media, and how insurance education
impacts public attitudes toward the insurance industry.
Outside of her duties in academia, Dr. Wells serves as a private consultant
and corporate trainer to the insurance and risk management industry. She has
also served as an expert witness and consultant on several court cases. Her
consulting firm offers social media consulting, custom seminar delivery,
preparation of expert opinions and testimony, continuing education course
delivery, agency valuation, risk management audits, and intellectual patent
application review.
Nationally, Dr. Wells is member of the Western Risk and Insurance
Association (WRIA) and the Southern Risk and Insurance Association (SRIA). She
is a past-president of SRIA and the 2012 president of WRIA.
Dr. Wells is a mixed media artist as well as a jewelry artist. A
do-it-yourselfer, she enjoys decorating, home repair, and gardening. She has
performed as a stand-up comic at the Addison Improv in Dallas, Texas, and at
Hyena's Comedy Club in Arlington. She won the "Bodacious Crowd
Pleaser" award at the Blue Night of the Stars Talent Show at UNT in 2007.
Dr. Wells resides in Greenville, North Carolina, with her teenage son and three
dogs.