Sorrell College alumnus takes helm of London-based specialty insurance distributor as CEO

Sorrell College alumnus takes helm of London-based specialty insurance distributor as CEO

Sorrell College of Business alumnus Nick Abraham has been named chief executive officer of Amwins Global Risk, the firm’s London-based specialty distributor.

He assumes the post on Jan. 1, 2025.

Abraham, originally an accounting major, switched majors his senior year to enter the Risk Management and Insurance program. Today that decision has landed him in London after having been the executive vice president and branch leader of Amwins Insurance Brokerage in Atlanta.

Nick and Melissa Abraham

“For the past 3 years, Nick has made a substantial impact across the Brokerage Division and truly embodies the Amwins servant leadership culture,” said Scott Purviance, Chief Executive Officer of Amwins Group, Inc. “His experience on the carrier side, combined with his wholesale broking knowledge, make him an ideal choice to lead the continued expansion of our London operation.” 

That “servant leadership culture” isn’t anything new to Abraham, who had previously worked in various leadership positions at insurance giant Markel for 18 years.

“TROY presented so many leadership opportunities while I was on campus. Those opportunities helped me prepare for my career,” he said. “There are a lot of leadership fundamentals that I learned at TROY.  I was exposed to servant leadership by people such as (Chancellor) Dr. (Jack) Hawkins, Col. (Dr. John) Schmidt, Ms. (Barbara) Patterson, Dean Herb Reeves and others, and I was able to see how embracing that mindset can produce results.”

As SGA President, Abraham said he was able to learn and practice servant leadership.

“That has been important as my responsibilities have grown,” he said.

Learning leadership skills weren’t the only takeaways from his time on campus, however. One of his most important: he married wife Melissa, proposing to her on the then-newly finished Quad. A brick near the fountain commemorates “The Question.”

“So much of my life story is tied to TROY,” he said.

“I first met Melissa as a tour guide when I was a Trojan Ambassador,” Abraham said. “It was my fifth year on campus due to a change in major.”

That change was prompted by a good friend and fraternity brother, Scott Smith, who was in risk management and gave him an overview of the industry. That sealed the deal for Abraham.

“I have a lot of fond memories of the professors at TROY. Carol Jordan, who was the head of the RMI program, was particularly influential in my career. She advocated for a special niche of the insurance industry, Excess & Surplus Lines, and ensured that her students had networking and learning opportunities in the specialty.”

Those opportunities included a trip to Lloyds of London, the birthplace of the formalized risk transfer mechanism.

“I’ll always remember her last piece of advice to me: ‘This is a small industry and the only thing you have is your name. Always make sure to do the right thing’,” he said.

That permeates Abraham’s professional culture today.

“I chose TROY over larger universities because it seemed that the university valued me more as a student than a number.  Culture is such an important driver of results in our business and valuing every one of our team member’s contributions helps us succeed,” he said.

Now, Abraham can share his own advice to TROY students easily.

“Get involved. TROY gives its students so many opportunities to engage.  No matter what your aspirations are, learning and experiencing the many things TROY has to offer will benefit you for the rest of your life,” he said.

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