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2014 40 Under 40 Broker Awards: Chris Connelly

South Region

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2014 40 Under 40 Broker Awards: Chris Connelly

Area senior vice president

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Age: 31

Chris Connelly says his toughest professional challenge has been establishing himself in an industry where youth is generally not a producer's most valuable asset.

“People assume that because you're young, you don't know as much or aren't able to deliver the same level of service as someone 20 years your senior,” said Mr. Connelly, who was promoted in January to area senior vice president of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s risk management services practice in Orlando, Florida. “The only way I'm going to be able to compete is to be more knowledgeable, more agile, more active and more persistent than a senior broker.”

Pushing himself to provide clients with the same level of service and expertise has earned Mr. Connelly a reputation for his creative ways of addressing clients' most complex risk management and insurance needs.

“He never hesitates to tap all the resources available to him, if he believes it adds value for us,” said Lauren DeRidder, risk manager of the Lake County Public School District in Tavares, Florida. “He's great at working directly with carriers and (third-party administrators) and even at times with competitors in order to gain access to a particular market, all because it was our best interest to do it.”

She said Mr. Connelly's efforts were instrumental in the school district's transition to a self-funded casualty insurance program in 2013, with a $3.5 million self-insured retention and $1 million in excess aggregate coverage.

“He did such a great job presenting the strategy to our school board in a way that they'd be able to understand it and feel comfortable enough to move forward with it,” Ms. DeRidder said. “He put us in a position to take control of our insurance program.”

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