Brenda Wells

Brenda P. Wells, PhD., CPCU, AAI,
Chair, Department of Finance & Insurance
Robert F. Bird Distinguished Professor of Risk Management and Insurance
Director, Risk Management & Insurance Program
Department of Finance
College of Business
East Carolina University
3417 Bate Building
Greenville, NC  27858-4353
252-328-6372
wellsbr@ecu.edu
www.ecurmi.com

Brenda Powell Wells holds both a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Ph.D. in Risk Management and Insurance from the University of Georgia.  She also holds the Charter Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and Accredited Advisor of Insurance (AAI) designations.

Brenda completed her Ph.D. in 1992, and spent 17 years teaching risk management and insurance in Texas.   In 2009 she moved to East Carolina University (ECU) to build a new risk management and insurance program.  She presently serves as the director of that program and is the Robert F. Bird Distinguished Professor of Risk and Insurance.

During her career she has taught Principles of Insurance, Risk Management, Commercial Liability Insurance, Commercial Property Insurance, Insurance Company operations, Employee Benefits and Retirement Planning, and Senior Topics in Finance.  She has also supervised countless internships and independent study projects.

She is the faculty advisor to ECU’s Gamma Iota Sigma – Beta Theta Chapter.  She has a long history of forming, supporting, and mentoring student organizations and has a wide range of experience in public relations and fundraising.  She is the founder of the Texas Risk and Insurance Professional Society (TRIPS), a non-profit entity that supports insurance education.  She has a career fundraising total of well-over $2 million.

Brenda has published articles in Journal of Risk and Insurance, Journal of Insurance Regulation, Journal of Insurance Issues, CPCU Journal, Risk Management, Journal of Services Marketing, Small Business Institute Journal, Journal of Applied Business Research and Journal of Risk Education.  Her current research interests include business ethics, mass tort litigation in the pharmaceutical industry, the effect of marijuana legalization on the insurance industry, personnel risk management, social media, cyber liability and how insurance education impacts public attitudes towards the insurance industry.

Outside of her duties in academia, Brenda serves as a private consultant and corporate trainer to the insurance and risk management industry.  She specializes in agency management and operations, and has also served as an expert witness and consultant on several court cases.  Her consulting firm—Risk Education Strategies–offers social media consulting, custom seminar delivery, preparation of expert opinions and testimony, continuing education course delivery, agency valuation, risk management audits, and intellectual patent application review. More information about her firm can be found at www.riskedstrategies.com

Nationally, Brenda is member of the American Risk and Insurance Association (ARIA), Western Risk and Insurance Association (WRIA) and the Southern Risk and Insurance Association (SRIA).  She is a past-president of SRIA and WRIA.

Brenda is an acrylic painter, a mixed media artist and a jewelry artist.  A do-it-yourselfer, she enjoys gourmet cooking and decorating her home with handmade art objects.  She has performed as a stand-up comic at the Addison Improv in Dallas, Texas, and at Hyena’s Comedy Club in Arlington, and won the “Bodacious Crowd Pleaser” award at the Blue Night of the Stars Talent Show at UNT.  Brenda resides in Greenville, NC, with her son.