Leadership Team

J. Bruce Cochrane, CIC

President

Bruce Cochrane is President of Renaissance Group, one of the fastest growing insurance organizations in New England. His career has been marked by innovation, creativity, business success, and service to the agent and insurance industry community.

Bruce has successfully pioneered several insurance innovations, including some of the first group property/liability programs in New England, risk funding alternatives including group captives, rent-a-captives, self-insured groups and a break-through collaboration model for local independent agencies.

Prior to launching Renaissance Group, for nearly two decades Bruce served as the principal of Cochrane and Porter Insurance Agency, Inc, a highly successful independent agency founded by his father in the 1950s. Today, the agency continues as one of the member companies in Renaissance Group.

In the late 1980s, he pioneered workers' compensation group self-insurance in Massachusetts and formed and managed a successful self-insurance group (SIG) for Massachusetts union contractors. In 1991 he was instrumental in the passage of the landmark Massachusetts Workers' Compensation Reform Act of 1991, which served as a nationwide model for workers' compensation reform. He also assisted the Massachusetts Commissioner of Insurance in the establishment of SIG regulations.

Bruce created in 1994 and continues at the helm of The Renaissance Plan, a fully insured workers' compensation program with more than 300 sub-brokers and $25 million in written premium throughout New England. He also formed and is President of Minuteman Insurance Company, LTD, a Bermuda based reinsurer to the Renaissance Plan owned by 30+ independent agents throughout New England.

In 1999, he launched Renaissance Alliance, a major agency aggregation venture to revolutionize and enhance the manner in which the independent agency system typically conducts business. Today, Renaissance Alliance consists of more than 90 agencies writing more than $400 million in premium. The Renaissance Alliance business model is a one-of-its-kind organization nationwide.

Bruce is past President of the Boston Board of Fire Underwriters and past President of the Massachusetts Association of Insurance Agents, having served on its board for 16 years. He served on the Massachusetts Workers' Compensation Fraud Bureau for 10 years, the Massachusetts Workers Compensation Advisory Council for 14 years, and the Governing Committee of the Workers' Compensation Rating and Inspection Bureau of Massachusetts for 16 years, including four terms as Chairman.

Bruce is a graduate of University of Massachusetts, Amherst and holds the professional designation of Certified Insurance Counselor.