Background
Dr. Brenda Powell Wells writes the risk
and insurance higher education scene column for IRMI.com.
Dr. Wells holds both a bachelor of business administration and a doctor of
philosophy in risk management and insurance from the University of Georgia. She
also holds the Charter Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), Accredited
Advisor of Insurance, and Construction Risk Insurance Specialist
designations.
Dr. Wells has spent over 30 years studying and teaching risk management and
insurance. In 2009, she was hired to build a new risk management and insurance
program at East Carolina University (ECU). She presently serves as the director
of that program and is the Robert F. Bird Distinguished Professor of Risk
Management and Insurance.
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 ECU’s Gamma Iota Sigma—Beta Theta Chapter. 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, a nonprofit
entity that supports insurance education. She has a career fund-raising total
of well over $2 million.
Dr. Wells has published articles in the 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, Journal of Applied Business Research, Journal of
Applied Risk Management and Insurance, and Journal of Risk
Education. Her current research interests include mass tort litigation in
the pharmaceutical industry, the effect of marijuana legalization on the
insurance industry, social media, cyber liability, and how insurance education
impacts public attitudes toward the insurance industry. Her publication in the
Journal of Insurance Issues on marijuana legalization and its
impact on property and casualty insurance is considered the seminal paper in
this field.
Outside of her duties in academia, Dr. Wells serves as a private consultant
and corporate trainer to the insurance and risk management industry. A
sought-after public speaker, she can educate and entertain groups of all sizes
and backgrounds. She has also served as an expert witness and consultant on
several court cases. Her consulting firm—Risk Education Strategies—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. More
information about her firm can be found at www.riskedstrategies.com.
Nationally, Dr. Wells is a 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 an artist as well as a jewelry artist. She has created a series
of paintings for several beach houses in the Outer Banks of North Carolina and
has also developed quite a following for her custom pet portraits. A
do-it-yourselfer, she enjoys gourmet cooking and decorating her home with
handmade art objects. She has performed as a stand-up comic at the Addison
Improv in Dallas, Texas, and at Hyena's Comedy Club in Arlington, Texas.
She won the "Bodacious Crowd Pleaser" award at the Blue Night of the
Stars Talent Show at the University of North Texas. Dr. Wells resides in
Greenville, North Carolina.