Insurance 2024: TOM BROWN

In 1916, Thomas Rutherfoord launched an insurance agency in Roanoke. Flash forward to 1979: Brown, Rutherfoord’s grandson, started his own insurance career at the family business.

In 1983, Brown moved from the Star City to Richmond to open a Rutherfoord office there with one employee. Brown became president of the company in 1998 and CEO in 2004.

In 2010, Brown helped to guide the company’s acquisition by Marsh McLennan. Brown became chairman of Marsh’s mid-Atlantic operations six years later. 

Marsh McLennan, which provides business insurance, employee health and benefits, retirement and private client insurance solutions, has more than 180 offices in North America and in 2023 reported $22.7 billion in revenue. The company has 336 employees in Virginia. 

With his sons Tucker and Thomas, Tom Brown purchased Yellow Umbrella Provisions, a Richmond specialty grocer of fresh seafood, in 2020. In March, Yellow Umbrella opened another location in the Libbie Mill shopping center, and the Browns are also working to develop an operation in Scott’s Addition that will include a Yellow Umbrella market and restaurant, as well as a Cirrus Vodka tasting room. They hope to open it this year.