An award-winning broker recognized for his brokerage’s community involvement says he would like to see the industry’s charitable achievements more widely recognized as a whole.
“We need to get the idea across that we are doing things like this as an industry, and not just individually,” said Danny Craig, past president of the Insurance Brokers Association of Canada (IBAC) and the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario (IBAO).
Craig spoke to Insurance Business after the Hanover Chamber of Commerce presented his brokerage with its ‘Business Citizen of the Year’ award. The honour recognizes Craig’s brokerage, Craig, McDonald, Reddon (CMR) Insurance Brokers Ltd., for a number of community and volunteer initiatives. CMR has five offices in Ontario, including Durham, Hanover, Mildmay, Walkerton, and Collingwood.
CMR Insurance sponsors a number of local causes, including the Grey Bruce Literacy Council, Big Brothers Big Sisters and the Parkinson Society. It supports a child identification program, which uses DNA, fingerprinting and photographs, and has sponsored a new community centre.
“It’s just little things,” said Craig. (continued.)
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“The Literacy Council lost its funding because of all of the cutbacks of grants to charities, so they were going to have to close down," he said. "They rent a unit from our building here so we just said, ‘Don’t pay us rent for a year if that helps you to stay in business.’
“Little things like that all add up.”
Craig became president of the IBAO in 2001-02, seeking to promote a positive image of the broker community. One of his proudest achievements during his tenure with IBAO was forging a relationship between the association and the Ontario Students Against Impaired Driving (OSAID), an organization IBAO has proudly supported for more than a decade.
“Danny is an exceptional insurance broker and community leader,” said Randy Carroll, IBAO CEO. “His tireless commitment to his clients and community are what makes an association like ours so proud to call him one of our own.”
He began his career when he started his own brokerage in 1977. Since then, his brokerage has grown to become Craig, McDonald, Reddon (CMR) Insurance Brokers Ltd. He said he’s always been of the belief that since the community has been good to his brokerage, it’s important to give back to the community.
“There was a slogan that caught my eye that we sometimes use on stationary,” he said. “It’s pretty straightforward. It says, ‘Because we live here.’
“Those four words say a lot. They mean feeling good about ourselves and what we do as brokers and helping people in the community.”
