While a growing number of independent agencies are moving beyond the sale of insurance to become true risk managers for their clients, the road to implement a consultative brokerage approach can be a bumpy one, as Universal Insurance Services can testify first hand.
Indeed, it was the effort to overcome internal resistance and integrate risk management fully into its standard operating procedure that helped earn the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Universal an Honorable Mention in the 2006 National Underwriter Commercial Insurance Agency of the Year award program.
Universal recognized early on in its history that "resting on our laurels or the whims of the pricing cycle would not guarantee any long-term or lasting success," according to William Rothwell, the firm's president and managing partner. "We realized that we needed to move beyond the transaction-based commercial insurance marketplace."
Recommended For You
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
