Brown & Brown Elects Varner to Board

Florida’s Brown & Brown Inc. announced the election, by unanimous vote of the Board, of business defense trial lawyer and published legal expert, Chilton D. Varner, to the company’s Board of Directors, effective July 1, 2004.

Commenting on Varner’s election, J. Hyatt Brown, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer, said, “Chilton is a proven advocate of American business and has, throughout her noteworthy career, shown herself to have the same drive and dedication that is a Brown & Brown hallmark. We believe this ethic of hard work and treating people with respect makes her a very appropriate addition to our Board. We look forward to her valuable counsel as we continue our program of exceptional growth.”

Varner is a partner in the law firm of King & Spalding, LLP, in Atlanta, Ga. A graduate of Smith College, where she was named to membership in Phi Beta Kappa, and Emory University Law School, Varner was honored with Emory Law School’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 1998.

In 2001, the National Law Journal profiled Varner as one of the nation’s top ten women litigators. With more than 25 years of courtroom experience, she is considered to be among the very best in defending corporations in product liability, commercial and other civil disputes. The author of many books and papers on areas of interest in her practice, she has also served as a member of the faculty of the Trial Academy of the International Association of Defense Counsel and regularly presents at bar association meetings around the country.

She has been a trustee of Emory University since 1995 and has served on the Board of Wesley Woods Geriatric Center since 1996.

Brown & Brown and its subsidiaries offer a broad range of insurance and reinsurance products and services, as well as risk management, employee benefit administration, and managed health care programs.