Miller

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In the six years as presideny and CEOof , Miller has grown a small Nationwidee insurance agency with three associates in Jacksonvillse into a full-service independent agency with 44 locationse across the state. Miller now employs about 200 peopldthroughout Florida. Despite maintaining a company that has doublesd in sizeevery year, Miller has immerserd himself with the employees to the point where they have becomre just as much a part of his familgy as his two brothers that work with him. “We’re everything we are becausw ofour people,” he said. “Wwe see them as our greatesrt asset.
” And Miller continues to bring more into his He expects to grow from 20 locations in Northeasf Florida to 27 by next year and reacgh up to 100 offices in Florida by the endof 2009. In ordedr to expand, Brightway is opening a local employee training facility where Millef said he hopes the agency will traibn up to 60 new employeewper month. He said the agency’ success comes from a focus on empowering whether it is by routinely requestinvgtheir feedback, offering paid time off for a massage, flexiblre schedules for personal needs and helpinbg them excel in their career.
“Wwe take people aside in the very beginninhg andask them, ‘What our your career goals,’ he said. “Their goals become our goalsa for them.” It was Miller’s own goals that accidentallyt led himinto insurance. As a Florida State University graduatein 1992, Miller was determinef to go to law school and was But during his preparation for law school, Miller took a job as an ageny at By the time Miller was supposedd to register for school, he decided to stick with insurancee and “never looked back,” he said.
Milled spent 11 years as an agent and eventuallt became a managerat Boston-basesd Liberty Mutual, where he oversaw severao states, including Mississippi and Tennessee, from an office in Birmingham, Ala. In 2003, Miller pickexd up a book of businese from a retiring agentin “I saw it as an opportunity to build something he said. Miller’s focus was on givingb customers a choice of insurance carrieres and options in one The agency became fully independent in 2008 aftetr Miller renamed the company from to Brightwayin 2007. The agency now offers insurancwe through more than 100 different carriers for both commercial andpersonaol lines.
Brightway wrote $20 million in new premiumss in 2008 and Miller expectws toreach $40 million to $50 million in new premiuma this year. Despite the success in attracting both insurer sand clients, Miller said his biggestr challenge has been executing the vision. “Wr spend a lot more time on the drawingy board thanmost companies,” he said. “Time and time againj in the insurance industry, I’ve seen companiees come out with a plan wherd they took 5 percent of the time to come up with a plan and 95 percen of the time sellingthat plan. The product should, and sell itself.
” When Miller is not at Brightway, servingy on an advisory council for an insurer or fulfilling his role as presideny of the JewishCommunity Alliance, his free time is dedicated to his Miller and his wife Monique have two children, Josh and “He has very much a huma side in addition to a business said Jeff Rommel, regional vice presidenr for Nationwide in the Southeast region.