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Senior Vice President, Government Affairs

Joel Kopperud is Senior Vice President, Government Affairs. He represents The Council member firms and their political interests on Capitol Hill, working closely with Members of Congress and their staff on issues impacting the commercial insurance brokerage industry. This includes issues impacting the employer-provided benefits market, property/casualty insurance regulation, and federal natural catastrophe policies. Specifically, Kopperud is working to reform the Affordable Care Act and was instrumental in The Council’s successful efforts to guide legislation through Congress that renewed TRIA and created a national broker licensing regime. He previously worked at Global USA, Inc., where he directed the group’s political, legislative and regulatory work on international trade and export control issues. Kopperud also lobbied at the Financial Services Roundtable, where he worked on a number of policy initiatives and legislative campaigns relating to insurance and financial services. Kopperud is a 2001 graduate of American University with a bachelor’s degree in political science.


First job: Paper boy, followed by pet store clerk

Last book read: In a Sun Burned Country by Bill Bryson

Favorite food: Fish

Favorite beverage: Mojito

Favorite place to travel: The Mediterranean

Three things I’d bring on a deserted island: Alcohol, food, book

Dinner party guests (dead or alive): Mozart, Churchill, Obama

Secret (well, not so secret) obsession: Amazon

Me in three words: Ambitious, energetic, provocative