Headquarters: Daytona Beach, FL
Years in business: 77
Leadership: J. Powell Brown, president and CEO

Brown & Brown came in seventh on the Insurance Information Institute’s list of top global insurance brokers for 2015. The company prides itself on having the most efficient operating platform in the brokerage business, with 195 decentralized profit centers in 41 states and three foreign countries. Each office is entrepreneurially oriented and localized in a way that allows it to respond efficiently to the needs of local clients, and thus maintain a customer retention rate in the mid-90% range.

The company’s meritocratic culture also empowers employees to introduce new initiatives and address clients’ concerns more effectively. B&B has a strong M&A strategy: More than 250 agencies have joined the company since 2000; in September, a B&B subsidiary acquired a provider of professional liability insurance solutions.