Don’t let the name fool you. Carey, Richmond & Viking, an insurance agency based in Middletown, is a family business.
It has been, in theory, since the first Andrade to enter the business arrived in the United States from Portugal and founded the John Andrade Insurance Agency in the 1930s in Bristol.
His two sons, Victor, and John Paul, eventually came onboard. When each brother wanted to go it on his own, Victor Andrade purchased the Pierce Agency in Portsmouth in 1961 and then in the early 1970s acquired Carey, Richmond & Viking.
That was right around the same time that insurance regulations, which prevented branch offices, eased enough to allow him to incorporate both agencies under one name.
“That really was the beginning of the agency that we run today,” said David Andrade, Victor’s son, who now owns and runs the agency. “My uncle had taken ownership of [family] agencies in Bristol County [in Rhode Island], so it was only natural for him to maintain that name. My father was creating a brand identity.”
John Andrade Insurance Agency, still based in Bristol, is run by David’s cousin’s family and celebrating its 75th anniversary.
Carey, Richmond & Viking operates offices in Middletown, East Providence and New Bedford.
David Andrade, 46, has worked there for 21 years, taking over leader responsibilities from Victor, now 73, about a decade ago.
“He’s still in the business with us, fortunately,” Andrade said.
“It isn’t me running this business exclusively by any means. My first role within the company was an insurance agent,” he said. “It really still is my first role.”
Joking that he had a childhood dream of one day selling insurance – he didn’t – Andrade originally set his professional sites on the hospitality field, studying hotel administration at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., and working in hotels in Newport during summer vacations.
He kept his career there after college, working first in Houston and then in Phoenix, Ariz., with the Four Seasons and then with a consulting firm among other companies.
“Always in the back of my mind I had it that I would like to run my own business and control my own destiny,” Andrade said. “I got to a point where I had to explore the opportunity within this family business [before I got] too deep in my career. … Sure enough, it’s 21 years later, just like that.”
At the time, somewhere between 1990 and 1991, he said, the company had just over a dozen employees.
CRV expanded through acquisitions in 2000, 2003 and 2008, gaining the East Providence and New Bedford offices.
Those additions have helped Andrade build a team nearing 40 insurance professionals. As such, he said he is able to avoid being tied down by “managerial issues.”
“I’ve been fortunate to build a team that can handle that, so I’m free to focus on customers, which is what I like doing,” he said. “We have some really great people working for us.”
In its 51 years, the agency has not only grown but been able to remain an independent agency and to adjust to changing times.
As an independent agency, CRV sells packages from some 20 different carriers which, Andrade said, allows the company to advocate and negotiate “efficiently” for its clients.
CRV’s customer base is roughly 70 percent business, and the balance is individuals and families.
“Independent insurance agents are trusted advisers to Main Street businesses here in Rhode Island,” Andrade said. “I’m a small-business owner myself. I need to be surrounded by trusted advisers and [I think] we’ve been able to maintain our independence because of the high level of service we’re providing.”
The company rebranded a few years ago with a new website, bluebanket.com, to help compensate for the popularity of online consumer research.
“We wanted them to start their research with us,” Andrade said. “Get to our website and spend 15 minutes, you’ll get seven instant quotes and shortly after, we’re going to follow up with five [more]. We’re trying to take things to the next level on the personal side.”
Andrade said CRV “would love” additional opportunities to grow and hopes his two children, now in high school, one day share in the business.
“It [sounds] crazy, but insurance can be really exciting,” Andrade said. ‘It’s all about the people we work with.” •
COMPANY PROFILE
Carey, Richmond & Viking
OWNER: David Andrade
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Independent insurance agency
LOCATION: Two Corporate Place, Middletown, 1009 Waterman Ave., East Providence and 700 Pleasant St., New Bedford
EMPLOYEES: 37
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 1961
ANNUAL SALES: WND
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