Family, flexibility and a farewell to corporate Canada

Corporate Canada and the lifestyle it entailed weren’t for me says up and coming insurance star

Family, flexibility and a farewell to corporate Canada

People

By Bethan Moorcraft

Family comes first – that’s the ethos of Insurance Business Young Gun Daniel Reid who dumped the corporate lifestyle to build a brokerage more fitting to his ideals.

Reid’s insurance career began in 2006 at Aon Reed Stenhouse in Winnipeg. After 18 months, he moved back to Ottawa to pursue his career in his hometown at Marsh, where he managed commercial clients and was responsible for the maintenance and development of business.

After spending more than 10 years working on various association insurance programs, large/mid-market commercial risks, market negotiation/product development and captive development, Reid decided to open his own brokerage firm, Reid & Bradley’s Insurance, in the nation’s capital, capitalizing on a void he felt was opening up in the market due to the trend of many independent brokerages selling to corporate Canada.

We caught with him to find out more about his path to the top:

How did you get started in the industry?

It was through a friend’s father. We were sitting on a dock at his cottage one day and I asked my friend’s dad what he did for a living. A year later I was working for him. His name is Brian Tascona and he was my true mentor. He’s the person who has really helped me to get where I am today.

I went to college and got a business diploma, but two weeks after I graduated, I got on a flight to Winnipeg to work with Brian at Aon Reed Stenhouse, now known as Aon Canada.

After 18 months in Winnipeg, I came back home to Ottawa and joined Marsh, where I worked for more than 10 years before opening Reid & Bradley’s.

What did you learn from working at Marsh Canada?

Marsh’s capabilities are next to none. I met some of the smartest people I’ve ever come across during my time at Marsh. In my opinion, Marsh is probably the top global risk firm.

Despite that, I just couldn’t help the fact that corporate Canada and the lifestyle it entailed weren’t for me. I come from an entrepreneurial family, so I decided to start my own firm based on the values I believe in most.

To me, family always comes first. Sometimes that gets lost in the corporate world. Reid & Bradley’s is based on a healthy work/life balance, where flexibility is offered as long as staff don’t take advantage of it. This flexible culture does not work for everybody, but everyone onboard with us now is definitely adapting to that culture.

What are the best parts of your role as president and partner at Reid & Bradley’s?

I love having the ability to be creative. The insurance industry’s model is very archaic and there are often lots of hoops that people have to jump through before they can make any change. At Reid & Bradley’s we’ve embraced new technology and data modelling and combined it with our flexible work model to create a really positive environment for our staff and clients. In my opinion, our model is the way of the future.

You’re a president of a brokerage at the age of 32. What’s your thoughts on the workforce age gap?

It’s a major problem. When I was working at Marsh, I was the oldest of the young. There was a 23-year age gap between me and the next person. The great thing about it was that I could go out and grab a coffee with someone who has been working in the industry for 35 years and that would set the tone for whatever deal I was working on.

Most of our staff at Reid and Bradley’s are fairly young. RB is lucky to have Bradley’s Insurance as a partner, as they have been operating in the Ottawa area for 60 years.

If you weren’t working in insurance, what would you be doing?

I would have worked for the family business. My father owned a car dealership.

What are your other interests and hobbies?

I have three kids (all boys) so we do a lot of family things together. We love going to the cottage and being at the lake – that’s our main thing. My eldest plays competitive hockey so that’s a key interest, and I’m also a keen musician.


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