WASHINGTON, DC – John M. Howard, Vice Chairman of CRC Group, has been elected as the 2025/2026 Board Chair for The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers (The Council) during the association’s 112th annual Insurance Leadership Forum. Howard succeeds Andy Barrengos, Chairman & CEO of Woodruff Sawyer — A Gallagher Company.
As Chair of The Council, Howard will lead a team of officers including newly-elected Vice Chair Eric Leavitt, Leavitt Group Enterprises (Cedar City, UT); Treasurer J. Powell Brown, Brown & Brown, Inc. (Daytona Beach, FL); and Secretary Mike Victorson, M3 Insurance (Madison, Wis.).
“The Council leverages insights from the brokerage community to create effective training programs, in-depth research, best-in-class events and effective messaging on the Hill and with regulators,” says Howard. “I’m privileged to lead The Council Board and work alongside my fellow officers to support The Council as they continue these important efforts on behalf of our industry.”
Howard is a respected industry veteran with more than 35 years of leadership experience. He is an Independent Non-Executive Director of Everest Group and previously served as Chairman and CEO of Truist Insurance Holdings, where he spent over two decades guiding the company’s transformation into one of the largest brokerages in the world. Earlier in his career, Howard held senior executive positions at BB&T Corporation, GE Capital, Conseco and Prudential, following his service in the U.S. Navy.
Howard joined The Council’s Board of Directors in 2019. He is an overseer of the Maurice R. Greenberg School of Risk Management, Insurance, and Actuarial Science at St. John’s University, and a member of the Insurance Policy Advisory Committee of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
“John has decades of experience transforming businesses and driving growth at leading brokerage firms,” said Joel Wood, President/CEO of The Council. “With his deep understanding of the complexities of our industry, and appreciation for the value of this community, John is well-positioned to lead our Board and association to achieve our goals and advance our mission in 2026.”
In addition to Howard’s appointment, The Council welcomed seven new Board members whose terms begin on January 1, 2026:
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Trevor Baldwin, The Baldwin Group (Tampa, FL)
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Pat Donnelly, WTW (Chicago, IL)
- Thomas Leek, Foundation Risk Partners, (Ormond Beach, FL)
- John Mina, Accession Risk Management Group (Boston, MA)
- Dave Obenauer, CRC Group (Charlotte, NC)
- Ric Stoakes, UNICO Group (Lincoln, NE)
- Andy Vetor, The MJ Companies (Indianapolis, IN)
The following Board members were re-elected to new terms beginning on January 1, 2026:
- John Eltham, Miller Insurance Services (London)
- Peter Gruenberg, OneDigital (Warren, NJ)
- Doug Hammond, Aon (New York, NY)
- Tom Hughston, RHSB (Dallas, TX)
- Peter Krause, MMA Southeast (Duluth, GA)
- Kerry Morris, Morris & Garritano (San Luis Obispo, CA)
- Scott Purviance, Amwins (Charlotte, NC)
- Jeff Rodriguez, Brown & Riding Insurance Services (Los Angeles, CA)
- John Tallarida, Heffernan Group (Oakland, CA)
Founded in 1913 and based in Washington, D.C., The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers is the premier association for the top 150 commercial property/casualty insurance and employee benefits intermediaries worldwide. Council members are market leaders who annually place 90 percent of U.S. commercial P/C premiums and 70 percent of all employee benefits business. The Council’s Government Affairs team represents our member firms with a strong, unified voice on Capitol Hill and within the regulatory space. CouncilPAC, The Council’s political action committee, consistently maintains its position as the leading PAC in the insurance industry. In addition to providing best-in-class professional development resources and publishing Leader’s Edge, an award-winning industry content platform, The Council hosts four annual leadership forums: The Insurance Leadership Forum (ILF) and Employee Benefits Leadership Forum (EBLF), gathering leading brokers, carriers, and strategic partners in the commercial P/C and EB sectors respectively; the Operations & Working Groups Forum, offering leadership development opportunities for C-suite brokerage executives; and the Legislative Summit, connecting Council members with key legislators on broader issues impacting our industry.