IBA: Tell us a little bit about Rutherfoord/Marsh & McLennan Agency.
John Stanchina: This is actually the 100
th anniversary of Rutherfoord, which started in Roanoke, Virginia. We have third- and fourth-generation descendants of the founders still involved in leadership and working in the business today. By the time we sold to Marsh & McLennan Agency [MMA] in March 2010, Rutherfoord was an $81 million diversified broker, operating from nine locations in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States. We even had an international operation.
Rutherfoord was the third acquisition by MMA. Today, MMA has over 4,000 colleagues operating from more than 70 locations throughout the United States. The Rutherfoord acquisition in 2010 actually created what is called the Mid-Atlantic hub, which today is a partnership of 10 agencies with over 600 employees generating over $150 million from 17 locations.
IBA: What is your agency doing to grow talent?
Kim Enochs: This is a strategic initiative and strong area of focus for us. It is something we are very passionate about. We not only want to attract new talent, but we also want to develop and retain the talent we have.
We launched a new program called GROW, which stands for Growth in Relationships and Opportunities for our Workforce. A large part of the initiative is a mentoring program where individuals are paired with mentors so they can grow their careers. There are also two key focus areas within GROW – our Women’s Initiative and Rising Professionals.
We also have a well-being program in place, which focuses our colleagues on five key areas: career well-being, social wellbeing, financial well-being, physical wellbeing and community well-being. As we move our organization forward, we try to ensure there are initiatives and learning activities under each of these key areas so that our colleagues are truly focusing on their overall well-being. We believe if we take care of our colleagues and they take care of themselves, they will take care of our clients, and that is very important to us.
IBA: Can you tell us more about your community involvement?
KE: Collectively as a company, we all participate in the United Way campaign. Another effort occurs every Friday called Jeans for Charity. Our colleagues nominate charities and can pay to wear jeans on Fridays.
The proceeds go to a different charity every week. Each office has a charitable giving committee that puts together a calendar stating which organization will benefit each week. Our company also provides eight hours of community service time off to further encourage community involvement.
IBA: What makes Rutherfoord/MMA stand out in the middle-market sector?
JS: The middle market is different from jumbo companies. The owners are sophisticated buyers, but they typically don’t have a risk management staff, and that means they don’t have the resources that jumbo companies have internally. They can’t necessarily do all the data analytics with all the technology and tools needed to support their own analysis of their various insurance programs, whether it’s benefits or insurance and risk management.
One of the big advantages of MMA is that we have built and invested in the people and the technologies and processes to deliver these analytics and technological tools to a middle-market buyer who expects a lot of information and data and wants to make informed decisions but can’t afford the people or resources to do it on their own.
Guy Morrison: I think that is spot on. The key point is that middle-market employers have every desire to manage their insurance programs effectively and really appreciate having the tools and resources that have historically only been available to jumbo accounts.
Our agency model allows our team members to grab anything that is deployed in the jumbo sector and apply it to these middle-market companies, if it’ll help them manage their business. That in itself is significantly unique and empowers MMA colleagues to deliver optimal results for their customers.
IBA: What are the future goals and plans for Rutherfoord/MMA?
KE: Our vision is to be a world-class leader in our industry, revolutionizing our clients’ experiences. We all focus on passionately delivering value-added services to our clients and providing world-class resources with a local touch. Developing our colleagues and serving our carrier partners and communities is our mission. Those relationships are incredibly important to us.
