Brightway Insurance names Max Staplin In-House Counsel, announces executive and director promotions

JACKSONVILLE, FLA. — Jacksonville, Fla.-based Brightway Insurance, now in its 10th year in business, has grown into one of the largest personal lines agencies in the United States. To meet the company’s growing business needs, Brightway announced today a new member of its Executive Leadership Team. Brightway has hired Max Staplin as its In-house Counsel. In this new role, Staplin will oversee all legal and compliance matters for the company.

“While Max is new to Jacksonville, he is incredibly well-versed in our company. As an Associate at the law firm that provides our legal counsel for all franchise-related matters, Max was our go-to attorney for six years,” said Brightway Co-Founder and CEO, Michael Miller. “We’re thrilled he has made the decision to move to Jacksonville and join Brightway as our full-time attorney.”

Staplin earned a law degree from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Pennsylvania State University in State College, Pa. He comes to Brightway with eight years of legal experience, much of which is in franchise law.

In addition to welcoming Max to the Brightway family, Brightway also announced two promotions today.

Chinikqua Maddox, who joined Brightway a year ago as the company’s Strategic Initiatives Leader, has been promoted to Vice President of Strategic Initiatives. Maddox has led development and execution of the highest-priority strategic initiatives across Brightway and supervised Brightway’s Information Technology, Systems Administration and Business Analytics teams. In this new position, she has joined the Brightway Executive Leadership Team and will expand her responsibilities directing key initiatives that advance the company’s long-term growth plans and profitability.

“Chinikqua Maddox is uniquely qualified to oversee and facilitate Brightway’s long-range goals, and we’re pleased to have her on our executive team,” said Brightway President, Talman Howard. “The work she is leading will help us make our systems even better for our users, and the end result will be a superior customer experience.”

Prior to joining Brightway, Maddox was an Independent Insurance Consultant who performed product development, project management and general consulting services for clients, such as Brightway. She held senior management roles at Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, The Hanover Insurance Group, The Hartford and IBM. Maddox earned her bachelor’s degrees in Electrical and Biomedical Engineering and master’s degrees in Engineering Management and Business Administration from Duke University in Durham, N.C.

Scott Pollard, who joined Brightway in September 2018 as an Agency Development Consultant, has been named Director of Agency Development. In this role, Pollard will focus on building and executing sales best practices with a focus on franchisee profitability.

“When we started, our focus was on sales—helping our Agency Owners grow their books of business. While that remains a key focus, the objective of the Agency Development group is to provide holistic business support designed to increase our franchisees’ efficiency and profitability, especially as our Franchise Owners build enterprises made up of multiple franchises. Holistic business support has always been an offering that differentiates the level of service we provide to Franchise Owners and others,” added Howard.

As a national property/casualty insurance distribution company, Brightway is focused on providing a platform that helps business people become insurance entrepreneurs. In turn, they build their local brand and serve people in their communities by offering an unparalleled combination of choice in insurance companies coupled with local, in-person expert counsel.

Pollard brings with him to this role 30 years’ property/casualty insurance management experience, starting as a Personal Lines Customer Service Representative and later Manager in an agency in Darien, Conn. He has held a wide variety of sales process, management and executive roles at Safeco for 16 years, and executive roles at Kemper, Citizens/Hanover and UPC Insurance. He replaces industry veteran, Mike Gleghorn, who previously held the role until his retirement in December 2018.

About Brightway Insurance Brightway Insurance is a national property/casualty insurance retailer selling through a network of franchised independent stores throughout the country. With more than $559 million in annualized written premium, the company is one of the largest personal lines agencies in the United States.

Brightway began franchising operations in 2008 and has since grown to nearly 900 people in 21 states serving customers in all 50 states. Forbes has recognized the company as America’s No. 1 Franchise to Buy. Additionally, the company was named a top franchise three years in a row by Entrepreneur magazine and one of the fastest-growing private companies in America nine consecutive years by Inc. 5000. People wishing to learn more about franchise ownership with Brightway may visit Brightway.com and find us on LinkedIn. Consumers seeking a better insurance buying experience may visit our franchise page and find us on Facebook.