Ellington

Every year, the publication Insurance Business America asks readers, brokerages, agencies and insurers to nominate 42 professionals under age 35 who have made significant contributions to the industry for its Young Guns report. This year, that list includes Jordan Bryan of Ross & Yerger Insurance in Jackson.

Bryan, 30, has been working as a personal lines producer for Ross & Yerger since 2010. Her job entails working with clients on insurance reviews of their personal portfolios for auto, home and other types of insurance. Bryan became the agency's youngest and first female producer shareholder in January 2014, and in January 2015, Ross & Yerger promoted her to vice president.

"Being named to the Young Guns list is a huge honor for me," Bryan said. "It's nice to be recognized for something you do every day. I personally don't know that I do anything spectacular, but I know I enjoy working with this group of people and am happy to see people acknowledge that work."

Currently a Madison resident, Bryan was born and raised in Jackson and attended St. Andrew's Episcopal School. She went on to earn a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Southern Mississippi in 2007. After graduating from Southern Miss, she moved to New York and spent the next two years working as a billing analyst for financial company Goldman Sachs.

Bryan moved back to Mississippi in 2009 to enroll at Millsaps College, where she graduated with a master's degree in business administration in 2010. She joined Ross & Yerger the week after graduation.

"I saw Ross & Yerger as a great opportunity to work with individual clients and help them on a personal level," Bryan said. "I appreciate the relationship-driven approach to insurance we have here. I don't think anyone really likes dealing with insurance, but when you make the effort to have a strong relationship with your clients, it helps dramatically. When you truly care about (them), it becomes a completely different experience."

Bryan also serves on Ross & Yerger's board of directors and has helped grow the personal-lines division by 40 percent since 2011. She also headed up rebranding and marketing for her division and developed a detailed, long-term plan to grow the division from a niche specialty to a true practice group within the company.

She is a Millsaps College Coggin Scholarship recipient, a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma business honor society and the Omicron Delta Kappa honor society and a recipient of the University of Southern Mississippi's HEADWAE (Higher Education Appreciation Day—Working for Academic Excellence) Award.

Bryan and her husband of eight years, Chase, have a pair of 1-year-old twins, son Carson and daughter Hailey.

Read the full Young Guns report in issue 3.8 of Insurance Business America at http://www.ibamag.com/e-magazines/.