2014 40 Under 40 Broker Awards: Brian Dunphy

Brian Dunphy

Senior managing director of the management and professional risk group

Crystal & Company

Age: 38

"The thing about insurance is there is always something to learn,” said Brian Dunphy, senior managing director of the management and professional risk group at Crystal & Company.

“I can always stand to better myself by having conversations with people in other departments” at the company “and by using and applying that knowledge in dealings with clients,” he said. “This creates a broader level of discourse.”

It is this constant learning as well as the ability to help other people that Mr. Dunphy has found stimulating in his 12-year career at New York-based Crystal.

Interaction with people in a variety of roles, with a variety of needs and to develop personal relationships are the drivers that have helped Mr. Dunphy to success in his career.

And now that he is in a management role, his colleagues say that an extension to his commitment to client service “is his belief that his employees are also his clients.”

Mr. Dunphy manages a group of 15 based in New York that handles directors and officers liability, employment practices liability, errors and omissions liability, cyber liability, fiduciary liability, commercial crime insurance and special coverage placements for nonfinancial institution clients.

During his five years as leader of that operation, Mr. Dunphy has reshaped it into a more dynamic, operationally efficient and cohesive unit and increased its contribution to the company's bottom line.

According to Tim Crowley, a Crystal director, Mr. Dunphy's thirst for knowledge across all sectors of insurance have helped turn his group into a well-recognized area of expertise within the firm.

The underlying mission of a broker is to help people, he said, and “in leading a group, I am helping the people that work for me get better at their jobs” by motivating them to success.