Brenda Powell Wells
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 holds the Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), Accredited Advisor of Insurance (AAI) and Construction Risk Insurance Specialist (CRIS) designations.
Brenda has spent over 30 years studying and teaching risk management and insurance. She presently serves as the director of that program and is the Robert F. Bird Distinguished Professor of Risk Management and Insurance.
During her career she has taught numerous risk and insurance courses. She has also supervised countless internships and independent study projects. Brenda 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, and others. Her current research interests include mass tort litigation in the pharmaceutical industry, the effect of marijuana legalization on the insurance industry, social media, cyber liability and how insurance education impacts public attitudes towards the insurance industry. Her publication in Journal of Insurance Issues on marijuana legalization and its impact on property-casualty insurance is considered the seminal paper in this field.
Outside of her duties in academia, Brenda serves as a private consultant and corporate trainer to the insurance and risk management industry. Her consulting firm—Risk Education Strategies--offers agency management consulting, 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
Cyber Liability in 2024: The Expanding Need for Coverage
Everyone needs to understand cyber liability and what it means for any size business that relies on computers. Join Dr. Wells as she discusses the various exposures to loss, as well as the coverages that are available to help with this risk.
The US Legal System and Legal Liability
The legal system is complicated and so is liability. Even the process of discovering who is liable can be complicated.
Join us as Brenda Wells gives us an overview of the US legal system and helps us understand how the law might impose liability.
Artificial Intelligence for the Insurance Industry
AI is in the news and we are being told that it will disrupt everything from the work we do to who is doing the work. Join us as Brenda Powell Wells brings us her new session all about AI and how it'll impact us humans who work in the insurance world.
Automobile Diminished Value: Is THAT Covered?
Diminution in value is the loss of value in an automobile after it has been wrecked and repaired. Very simply, it’s the decline in fair market value attributed to a vehicle having been wrecked and then repaired. In some states, it's actually a covered loss and in others, it isn't. Join us as Brenda Wells brings this session on an important topic related to auto claims and coverage.
PFAS: What's the Big Deal?
PFAS are the chemicals that are forming the next wave of major claims. They have been found around the world and we need to know about them. Join us as Brenda Wells brings us up to speed on this timely and important topic.
Cannabis 201: In the Weeds - Advanced Issues in Cannabis and Hemp
Whether you've taken our Cannabis 101 class, or this is your first foray into the world of cannabis and insurance, this class will help you. Join us as Brenda Wells brings her expertise in insurance, risk, and the emerging exposures in the cannabis space to bear in this follow-up to her class, Cannabis 101.
You can check that class out here.
Cannabis 101: A Primer
This one-hour session is a beginner's guide to understanding cannabis and hemp, with some emphasis on insurance complications that are created by the presence of cannabis. Join us as Brenda Wells guides us through the fog of this emerging and evolving risk.
Cyber Liability: What Coverages Are Available and Why Do Your Clients Need Them?
Everyone needs to understand cyber liability and what it means for any size business that relies on computers. Join Dr. Wells as she discusses the various exposures to loss, as well as the coverages that are available to help with this risk.
Autonomous Vehicles
Is it possible that there will be self-driving (autonomous) vehicles on our roads soon?
It's not only possible, it's happening now. Varying degrees of autonomous vehicles are traveling down the highways around us. From the car that can keep itself from drifting out of lanes to the car that uses radar to match the speed of the slower moving vehicle in front of it to the fully autonomous vehicles that are being tested on roads in cities all around the United States, autonomous vehicles are here.
Join us as Brenda Wells helps us to understand the state of autonomous vehicles and their insurance implications.
Our Legal System and Legal Liability
Liability is complicated. Where does the legal liability come from? How have courts handled similar situations?
Join us as Brenda Wells gives us an overview of the US legal system and helps us to understand how the law might impose liability.