Smaller can be better when it enables a firm to quickly respond to clients’ needs and offer consistently high-quality service, the chief executive officer of Integro Ltd. says.
New York-based Integro was named as the best retail brokerage among firms with revenues of $50 million to $250 million in this year’s Business Insurance Readers Choice Awards, reflecting a combination of quality, value, service and innovation.
“We’re a small organization, very flat and nimble. Everyone is involved with clients in a meaningful way, day to day,” said Roger E. Egan. “Our minimal hierarchy means we act like a partnership, and that structure maximizes collaboration and helps keep people focused on serving clients’ needs.”
Strengths of Integro, which was founded only three years ago by Mr. Egan, a former Marsh Inc. president, Peter Garvey, who was co-president at Marsh, and founder and former CEO of MMC Capital Inc. Robert Clements, include “our service model, knowledge and analytics,” Mr. Egan said.
“Part of our service is old-fashioned standards, such as returning phone calls on the same day, for example. That kind of service can get lost sometimes in a larger organization,” he said.
Integro now has more than 360 employees and 10 offices throughout North America, Bermuda and London and “we’re growing nicely organically,” Mr. Egan said. While he doesn’t rule out an acquisition, Integro has access to the major markets its clients need so it currently has no plans to expand its footprint, he said.
“Our mantra is to be in the complex risk business. We emphasized large risks when we started, but we’ve really changed it to complex risks,“ and while many of Integro’s clients are in the Fortune 1000, the brokerage firm is able to serve smaller clients as well, Mr. Egan said.
Innovation is important to Integro, and two recent examples Mr. Egan cited are XS PLUS, a modeling product that “goes way beyond benchmarking” to test the effectiveness of layered excess liability coverage programs, and Hedge Shield, a product that protects investors in hedge funds from losses due to fraud or asset seizure.
“We get great ideas from clients on how to provide more value,” he said.
“We define value in a very simple way: value is better coverage, better claims results, better pricing, more responsive service, more knowledge. All of those things delivered to the client create that value,” Mr. Egan said.
