While other insurance brokers nationwide have stumbled, East Providence-based Starkweather & Shepley Insurance Brokerage Inc. has seen its stock rise.
The firm recently jumped 18 spots on Business Insurance Magazine’s Top 100 list, coming in at No. 74, based on 2009 revenue. Natale P. Calamis, Starkweather’s president and CEO, recently answered five questions about the improved ranking.
PBN: You were able to jump 18 spots on the Insurance Business Magazine top 100. Is that more a function of others withering away in a tough economy, or Starkweather flourishing in difficult circumstances?
CALAMIS: It’s a little bit of both. It’s the first time that I can remember that you would see the majority of the insurance agencies have negative growth around the country. On the other hand, we were able to hold our own and grow in this dismal economy. I credit our hardworking employees and loyal customers for making it happen.
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PBN: You had a pretty sizable increase in revenue in 2009. What was the cause?
CALAMIS: Our revenue grew by acquisitions, but we had an aggressive organic growth plan in place, and retention of our book of business. We were also able to streamline operations here, becoming more efficient on the way we do business, mostly through technology. The main acquisition we had in 2009 was the Preston Insurance Agency and the CO Agency, also.
PBN: When you spoke with Providence Business News in early 2009, you talked about the agency’s desire to look at mergers and acquisitions. Is that still in the plans?
CALAMIS: Basically, I would say our strategy is to grow through organic sales and through acquisitions and to keep the retention levels high. And we feel over the next few years will be a good time to do all of that. We think acquisitions should start heating up in a year or two because of the economy. Agency values are falling; companies are cutting back how they pay agents. You’re seeing a lot of fallout because of the economy.
PBN: There was also talk about expanding into Connecticut. Did that every happen?
CALAMIS: We didn’t do that by acquisitions. We’re doing it with our young producers going down there and trying to write business. That’s starting to pay off dividends. The last six months, we’ve been making headway down there. We’re going to stay aggressive down there, and hopeful we can get an acquisition and open up an office in Connecticut. I would say 3 to 4 percent of our revenues are coming out of Connecticut right now. It was 1 percent before.
PBN: The last time you spoke with us, you said the business makeup was this: 65 percent in commercial lines; 25 percent in personal lines; and roughly 10 percent in benefits. How has that changed since early 2009?
CALAMIS: The only thing I would say right now is that we’ve grown our benefit business by about 4 percent. We’ve had great opportunities. We purchased an agency back in 2007 that’s really helped us. We were able to piggyback on that acquisition to really grow the benefits business with the personnel we brought in. With the health bill in play right now, we see the landscape changing. But we see a lot of opportunity to grow it.
