Hartford Business Journal

4 Hartford Business Journal • December 14, 2015 www.HartfordBusiness.com w w w. H a r t f o r d B u s i n e s s . c o m (860) 236-9998 E D I T O R I A L Greg Bordonaro Editor, ext. 139 gbordonaro@HartfordBusiness.com Gregory Seay News Editor, ext. 144 gseay@HartfordBusiness.com Matt Pilon News Editor, ext. 143 mpilon@HartfordBusiness.com John Stearns Staff Writer, ext. 145 jstearns@HartfordBusiness.com Keith Griffin Digital Reporter Stephanie Meagher Research Director Heide Martin Research Assistant B U S I N E S S Joe Zwiebel President and Publisher, ext. 132 jzwiebel@HartfordBusiness.com Donna Collins Associate Publisher, ext. 121 dcollins@HartfordBusiness.com Jessica Baker Office Manager, ext. 122 jbaker@HartfordBusiness.com Kristine Donahue Administrative Coordinator, Ext. 137 kdonahue@hartfordbusiness.com Amy Orsini Events Manager, ext. 134 aorsini@HartfordBusiness.com Christian J. Renstrom Advertising Director, ext. 126 crenstrom@HartfordBusiness.com David Hartley Sr. Accounts Manager, ext. 130 dhartley@HartfordBusiness.com William C. Lambot Sr. Accounts Manager, ext. 128 wlambot@HartfordBusiness.com John Vuillemot Sr. Accounts Manager, ext. 133 jvuillemot@hartfordbusiness.com Katharine Ortiz Accounts Manager, ext. 129 kortiz@hartfordbusiness.com Donna Currie Human Resource Director Raki Zwiebel Credit and Collections Manager Valerie Clark Accounting Assistant/Office Manager Gail Lebert Chair, Executive Advisory Board P R O D U C T I O N Lynn Mika Production Director/Marketing Coordinator, ext. 140 lmika@HartfordBusiness.com Christopher Wallace Art Director, ext. 147 cwallace@HartfordBusiness.com Peter Stanton CEO pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com Joseph Zwiebel President & Group Publisher, ext. 132 jzwiebel@HartfordBusiness.com Mary Rogers Chief Financial Officer mrogers@nebusinessmedia.com Subscriptions: Annual subscriptions are $84.95. To subscribe, visit HartfordBusiness.com, email hartfordbusiness@cambey- west.com, or call (845) 267-3008. Advertising: For advertising information, please call (860) 236-9998. Please address all correspondence to: Hartford Business Journal, 15 Lewis Street, Suite 200, Hart ford CT 06103. News Department: If you have a news item: Call us at (860) 236-9998, fax us at (860) 570-2493, or e-mail us at news@HartfordBusiness.com Hartford Business Journal accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or materials and in general does not return them to the sender. Hartford Business Journal (ISSN 1083-5245) is published weekly, 52 x per year — including two special issues in December — by New England Business Media LLC, 15 Lewis Street, Suite 200, Hartford CT 06103. Periodicals postage paid at Hartford, CT. Tel: (860) 236-9998 • Fax (860) 570-2493 Copyright 2015. All rights reserved. Postmaster: Please send address changes to: Hartford Business Journal P.O. Box 330, Congers, NY 10920-9894 www.copyright.com Aging Owners Our specialized business model and patent pending application procedures allow us to provide customers with top quality products as well as a safe and comfortable experience. FRANCHISE PACKAGE INCLUDES: • World-class franchise support which includes comprehensive training starting from pre-opening to ongoing support for your team using a cutting edge intranet infrastructure. • Top of the line retail products that have raised the bar on perfection and lasting beauty. • Marketing guidelines and access to the national print media library to help promote your location. • A well-recognized, proven business model concept that allows you to accurately project business volume and adapt for growth accordingly. Your Look. Your Style. 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Smith Brother's value proposition Smith Brothers, with offices across Con- necticut and one in Northampton, Mass., is one of the firms looking to take advantage of Connecticut's and the region's aging work- force. It wants to expand throughout New England if the right opportunities present themselves, Smith said. The firm has made acquisitions across the state in recent years including in Groton, Chester, Waterford, Wethersfield, Rocky Hill and Southington. Smith said his firm is attractive to sell- ers who have a niche in their community or particular business sector, but don't have the same resources to be a total risk-management company for families and businesses — what Smith calls a one-stop asset protection model that differentiates his firm in the market. The company provides insurance, surety, risk management and employee benefits to individuals and businesses, including finan- cial services through a separate limited liability company, Smith Brothers Financial. Pamela Atkins, who founded Bayberry Insur- ance in 1989, announced in October that joining Smith gave her clients access to more products and services, including health insurance, finan- cial planning, income protection and surety bonds in one place. Smith has kept the names of most of the firms it acquired while placing them under the Smith Brothers umbrella as affiliates, except the smaller Charter Oak, which rolled into Atlantic Insurance, which is now located in Niantic, and Elliott Insurance Group, which was rolled into Smith Brothers in Glastonbury. It also has kept the acquired firms' offic- es, except for Wethersfield-based Camilleri & Clarke, whose owner wanted to sell his building and relocate into Smith's nearby Glastonbury office. The acquisitions have all been positive, each having a purpose, Smith said. "If you can pick up a niche that you didn't have before or you get good people, then it kind of helps itself in the future," he said. Camilleri & Clarke, for example, special- izes in professional liability insurance and risk management for architects and engineers, a professional group Smith Brothers didn't serve before that acquisition. The deal made Smith Brothers the largest architects and engineers specialty agency in the state, Smith said. "Ninety percent of what we do is not what I would call turnaround," Smith said. "It's more buying quality organizations with good peo- ple and so we make no changes." Broadly speaking, "If you look at it across the agency, we're a generalist, but if you look at it within the divisions, we have specialties all over the place," he said. With employee benefits, for example, Smith has a staff lawyer to help clients with Employee Retirement Income Security Act or the Affordable Care Act compliance, he said. Smith said commercial business comprises the bulk of the firm's revenues, which it doesn't disclose, and personal insurance and financial services the bulk of its clients. The firm retains its family influence. Smith's uncle, Brian, is chairman emeritus, involved in promotions and community involvement. Brian Smith's son, Scott, is director of the design professional's practice and Joe Smith's sister, Kimberley Connolly, is executive vice president and the equivalent of chief operat- ing officer. n U.S. Insurance Agencies Involved in M&A Activity 2013-2014 % involved Size of firm in M&A Small 7% Small-medium 13% Medium 14% Medium-large 22% Large 34% Jumbo 48% Total 13% S O U R C E : F U T U R E O N E 2 0 1 4 A G E N C Y U N I V E R S E S T U D Y

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