Texas-headquartered insurance and financial services group Higginbotham has agreed to combine with McGohan Brabender (MB), a Dayton, Ohio-based employee benefits firm, in a deal that tightens its grip on the Midwest. The transaction is set to close next month.
Both firms are employee-owned. MB runs six offices across Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky, bringing scale and specialization to Higginbotham's existing Midwest footprint.
The MB tie-up caps a busy stretch for Higginbotham. The firm has previously struck deals over the past year for Cincinnati's Roehr Insurance, Indiana's Synergy Insurance, Atlanta-based specialty broker Charter Energy, high-net-worth specialist Monarch Solutions, and most recently Montgomery, Alabama-based Harmon Dennis Bradshaw in April 2026.
Backer Stone Point Capital says Higginbotham has completed more than 130 partnerships since 2009, with the firm itself citing a Hales Report ranking that places it among the 20 largest US brokers.
Chairman and chief executive Rusty Reid has framed the run as a dual-growth strategy of partnering with culturally aligned firms while building scale.
"When you get around the MB team and listen to how they talk about employees, clients, service and ownership, you realize you're not translating across cultures," Reid said of MB. "You're hearing your own language in somebody else's voice."
Founded in 1972 by Pat McGohan, MB built its business around relationships, communication, and education in a benefits market that has grown sharply more complex. The firm transitioned to employee ownership in 2021 to broaden ownership and keep decision-making close to its workforce.
The timing of the combination dovetails with a fast-shifting employer health landscape. Consultancy Mercer projects the average total health benefit cost per employee to climb 6.5% in 2026, the largest jump in 15 years even after planned cost-control measures.
The Business Group on Health flags GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, rising cancer prevalence, and higher mental health utilization as the biggest cost pressures, while broker technology firm Vertafore notes that agencies are leaning into AI and automation to modernize benefits administration and tighten compliance.
MB chief executive Erick Schmidt said the same principles that drove the 2021 ownership transition guided the search for a partner.
"As we looked at where the industry was headed, we knew we had built something strong that could weather the changes," Schmidt said, describing the Higginbotham match as the result of a needle-in-a-haystack search.
MB clients are expected to keep their existing local service teams while gaining access to a deeper bench in compliance, pharmacy, self-funded insurance, and other technical specialties, alongside Higginbotham's property and casualty, personal lines, and wealth management capabilities.
For MB staff, leadership cast the deal as continuity rather than a pivot. The transaction was unveiled internally during the firm's Employee Ownership Day.
"We want to be an asset to the communities we serve," MB president Beth Ferrin said, pointing to the Higginbotham Community Fund as another sign of shared outlook.
