The Word & Brown Companies’ culture of giving back to the community was instilled by the health insurance agency’s founders John Word III and Edward “Rusty” Brown Jr.
Word’s daughter Jessica has since taken over in 2021, but she continues their legacy of supporting local nonprofits such as Providence Speech and Hearing Center and Orange County United Way.
“Our commitment to giving back is not just a corporate strategy,” Jessica Word told the Business Journal. “It’s a fundamental pillar of our company.”
Word & Brown, one of three companies featured in this week’s Companies that Care special report, this year donated $227,000 to organizations based in Orange County.
The Orange-based health insurance agency represents a family of companies, including Word & Brown General Agency, the oldest division established in 1985, as well as Choice Administrator and California RX Card.
It represents every high-profile carrier available in California and Nevada, such as Aetna, Blue Shield of California and Kaiser Permanente, and is looking to expand, according to Word.
History of Giving
Word & Brown Cos. has a decades-long history of supporting Providence Speech and Hearing Center, but the founder’s first donations pre-date the formation of the company nearly 40 years ago.
John first joined Providence’s board of directors in 1976.
The nonprofit clinic provides speech, audiology and occupational therapy services to low-income families across Orange County and Los Angeles.
He became involved with the nonprofit through William “Bill” Reilly, one of the founding board members, who became like a surrogate father to John and took him under his wing after his father passed away, Jessica said.
Reilly worked in the same insurance office as John in Santa Ana at the time and would invite John to the nonprofit’s annual benefit event, teaching him the importance of giving back.
“That’s how it began,” Jessica said. “He’s loved it ever since he was introduced to it.”
John and Rusty in the early 2000s made a $500,000 donation to Providence, which kicked off a $2.5 million capital campaign to fund an expansion and renovations.
In 2007, Providence opened the Word & Brown Hearing Center in its honor.
John additionally was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005 for his longstanding support of Providence Speech and Hearing Center and remains an active board member to this day.
Word & Brown is also a longtime supporter of United Way, a nonprofit aimed at improving health, education, financial stability and housing for low-income children and families.
Word & Brown has held an annual campaign every year to help raise funds for United Way for over 30 years.
Its campaign last year raised $124,000 and is estimated to exceed $150,000 for 2024. In total, Word & Brown has donated more than $2 million to United Way.
Word & Brown’s involvement with United Way has earned it several accolades from the nonprofit including the United4OC award, awarded to top companies “that embody an overall spirit of giving through time, leadership and resources,” as well as the Corporate Campaign Climber Award.
This year, Word & Brown employees assembled 500 school supply kits for students at Garfield Elementary School, a Title I school in Santa Ana.
Word personally, along with other members of the management team, has gone in-person to speak with the kids about the importance of education and her journey as CEO.
She hopes one day to build a playground for foster children to play.
“I personally would like to get more out there and build tangible things as opposed to just donating money,” Word said.
Jessica Word in 2022 was honored with a Business Journal Women in Business Award.
Employee Benefits, Work Events
The main thing that differentiates Word & Brown from other general agencies is its people, Jessica Word said.
“You’re nothing without your people,” she said.
Word credits President Marc McGinnis and Chief Financial Officer Clinton Gee, among other executive leadership, with helping create a work culture that recognizes the hard work of employees.
The company, as a result, has maintained a turnover rate of below 7% with an average employee tenure of 10 years.
Word & Brown is one of the few privately held general agencies, according to Word.
While many general agencies have been acquired, Word said that John and Rusty chose to keep Word & Brown private because they wanted it to be a family company and make sure it doesn’t change its values.
Among its many work traditions are an annual Employee Appreciation Day at Catalina, Angels baseball game outings and a multicultural day featuring food trucks serving different culture’s cuisines.
A few years ago, the firm decided to establish a new tradition of allowing employees to pick a charity of their choice and offer them up to four paid work hours every quarter to volunteer at that charity.
Word & Brown works with nearly 70,000 businesses, covering more than 800,000 individuals.
She noted that Word & Brown has one of the cleanest case submission records amongst its carriers, meaning all the necessary boxes are checked and documentation are correct during the underwriting process.
“Our carriers really appreciate the work that we do when we submit a case to them,” Word said.
More Than a Business
Jessica Word was about 7 years old when she began working at the company, dusting cabinets, sorting mail and helping staple paperwork.
“It never felt like going to work,” Word said. “I felt like it was my extended family, and it still does to this very day.”
She remembers attending a work Christmas party where an employee named Barbara Lewman was given an award for staying up until 2 a.m. to ensure that a family with a premature baby got proper insurance coverage.
Lewman worked at Word & Brown for 35 years and retired in 2019. Since retiring, the company every year donates $2,500 to a local charity of Lewman’s choice in her honor.
“To get emotional and recognize somebody that you don’t see very frequently, that’s the value that really appealed to me,” Word said.
Word now has children of her own, ages 10 and 11.
In response to whether she hopes one of them will one day take over Word & Brown, she said she tells them the same thing her father told her when she was younger: “It’s entirely up to you. I want you to follow your dreams.”
