Word & Brown General Agency (developer/distributor of health benefit/insurance plans)
Jessica Word is chief executive officer of Word & Brown General Agency, a leader in developing and distributing comprehensive health benefit plan models and insurance solutions through licensed brokers.
Word was named CEO in December 2021, after serving more than eight years as general agency president. Word’s broad experience working across The Word & Brown Companies has given her great insight into different facets of the insurance industry. After working in several departments across the organization while in high school and college, she began her professional career as a renewal specialist with Word & Brown’s sister company, CHOICE Administrators, in 2000. Her work highlights include executive management, sales, claims, benefits administration, and broker services. Her thorough understanding of the business led to the implementation of many process improvements to enhance both the broker and consumer experience in the past two decades.
Prior to being named president in 2013, she was executive vice president of operations for Word & Brown, managing small- and mid-sized Group Underwriting, Individual and Family Plan Underwriting, Product Management, Broker Services, Customer Care, and Plan Maintenance.
Word has served on the California Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors since January 2020. She also is a member of the board of directors at the Center for Leadership, California State University, Fullerton (CSUF), and an active member of the Orange County Chapter of the Connected Women of Influence. She previously served as vice president of communications and public affairs for the Orange County chapter of the California Association of Health Insurance Professionals (CAHIP), previously known as OCAHU.
Word was selected by the Orange County Business Journal as one of its six 2022 honorees in the 28th Annual Women in Business Awards and is regularly listed as one of their top 500 influencers in Orange County. In 2022, she also was acknowledged by the National Association of Health Underwriters (now the National Association of Benefits and Insurance Professionals, NABIP) with the J.A. “Jack” Ferguson Associate Company award for her outstanding support of the association, including service as lead for its first-ever Technology Committee.
Word was an Excellence in Leadership Development Honoree (for Innovation) in 2020 by the CSUF College of Business and Economics. She served as a mentor for the CSUF Titan Women’s Collective for the Center for Entrepreneurship, serving women in their senior year.
Word’s contributions to the insurance industry led to recognition by CEO Today magazine in 2019 as a health care CEO award winner. She was named in 2018 one of the “Top Women in Benefit Advising” by the editors of Employee Benefit Adviser. She was recipient of a Bronze Stevie® Award for Women in Business in 2015. Word regularly contributes to industry publications, including California Broker, Employee Benefit News, and American Benefit Specialist published by NABIP, as well as the Orange County Business Journal.
Word earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from California State University, Fullerton. She has a registered health underwriter (RHU) designation.