Succeeding as an employer of choice

A multifamily and real estate expert, Acentria Insurance CEO Kendall McEachern shares how the market is changing in 2018 and how his agency evolved into an award-winning employer

Succeeding as an employer of choice

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IBA: How did you get into the multi­family and real estate space?
Kendall McEachern:
In the early 1990s when I became a risk management consultant, I had a family member who was in a senior-level position at a multifamily company, who asked me to come into their organization and help them get their arms around some risk management issues and insurance costs.

I started doing that on a consulting basis until the owner of a large company encouraged me to start a business doing risk management strictly for multifamily businesses. I did that and grew that business to a substantial size. At one time, I was handling the risk management and insurance for about 450,000 apartments across the US.

IBA: What are the biggest challenges in the multifamily and real estate market today?
KM:
The biggest challenge right now is the changing of the marketplace. We have been in a soft market for quite some time. With the number and magnitude of the natural disas­ters in 2017 – from the fires in California and the hurricanes to the earthquakes and floods – the catastrophic losses in 2017 have had a direct effect on the marketplace today.

We are really starting to see the markets harden and premium increase in property & casualty lines of coverage. Whether or not you have claims, you can see increases upwards of 25% to 50%. On the multifamily side, on average, we are seeing premium increases somewhere between 10% and 25%. With that recent hurricane activity, reinsurance costs to carriers may continue to rise, resulting in increased premiums being passed on to consumers.

In addition to the hardening from the natural disasters, some of the insurance carriers that typically write those coverages are pulling out of the marketplace, which leaves holes and gaps for other carriers to fill. In November, I was in London negotiating renewals for two of my largest clients, and while I was there, the industry was on the leading edge of all the changes that we are seeing now.

IBA: What strategies have you used to grow Acentria and your multifamily/ real estate business?
KM:
For the first seven years that Acentria was in business, the partners did not take any profits out of the company except to pay taxes. We needed those profits to perpetuate the company and spend the money on hiring the right people in the right seats, and we really focused on growing our commercial, personal and employee benefits lines of coverage.

To grow our multifamily and real estate businesses, we stay active and engaged with several chapters of the Community Associations Institute, an organization that serves community associations and home­owners. I have had the pleasure and honor to speak on topics concerning these areas to boards of directors, property managers, and more on the local, state, and regional levels. In addition, we leverage sponsorship opportuni­ties at trade shows, serve on discussion panels and more.

Lastly, our in-house marketing department works with clients to develop and co-brand materials for their clients – for example, safety newsletters for property residents or presen­tations and collateral to promote the master program to attract additional properties to join a client’s portfolio. Multifamily clients with multiple properties enjoy the benefits of a master program that is created specifically for their portfolio.

IBA: Acentria was named Insurance Industry Employer of Choice at the 2017 Insurance Business America Awards. In your opinion, what makes an employer of choice in this industry?
KM:
In my opinion, it starts at the top and trickles down to how you treat your employees. I personally like to refer to our company team as our work family. Having compassion and empathy, asking for advice and not just receiving it, but also acting on that advice – that’s what helps grow a better organization.

I make it a habit to speak with every person in the office every day, and on Mondays, I like to ask every person how their weekend was or something about their family. That really goes a long way in showing employees that we care about them and we care about their families. It truly starts at the top, and it is a require­ment for those top people to treat employees with dignity and respect and listen to what they have to say.

 

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