Virtus LLC: Courage, virtue and the insurance business

Any business owner will tell you that it’s no small thing to start and run your own enterprise, much less make it fly in a challenging industry and environment. Those who do it well often make it look easy, when the fact is that creating something from nothing is anything but easy.

The resilience and creativity required to build a successful insurance business are on display amongst the winners of the 2022 NU Agency of the Year Award, which is sponsored by 

“There has been this tremendous consolidation in the industry into these massive brokers, and although that’s re­ally good for investors, we think in a lot of cases the clients get left behind,” Gray says. “We think there’s a lot of green space to grow a big brokerage over time by doing what’s right by our clients.”

Virtus’ insurance brokerage and consulting business is largely focused on the middle market in five verticals: real estate, private equity, construction, restaurant groups and hotels/hospital­ity. The firm puts people at the center of everything it does and operates accord­ing to its tagline “Push forward… We’ve got your back.” The firm’s leaders say this slogan emphasizes their respon­sibility and enthusiasm for its team, clients and partners to take confident, calculated risks that result in progress in business and in life.

Growth strategy

From the start, Virtus’ growth plan has rebelled against the ‘roll-up’ trend of acquiring revenue, creating value through acquisition and building massive organizations only to sell to the next private-equity firm. Instead, Virtus’ long-term view is on organic growth through specialization, thoughtful acquisition and innovation.

Eight years ago, Virtus recorded $320,000 in annual revenue. In 2022, it is on track to do more than $25 million. The firm now has more than 100 employees and offices in Kansas City; Fort Collins, Colorado; Chicago; St. Louis; Austin; Dallas; and Memphis.

Its five-year plan is to achieve $100 million in top-line revenue. Virtus also wants to be acquisitive, attempting to buy one to two firms per year and then focus on thoughtfully integrat­ing those firms from a strategic and cultural perspective.

“We don’t want to do it at a pace that doesn’t enable us to really make them feel part of the company and part of the family,” says Gray.

While focused on growth, the firm also works to retain its entrepreneurial culture, which it does by leaning on its core values, continually pushing the envelope, and being willing to take risks that benefit the firm and customers.

Gray says its entrepreneurial culture and focus on specific verticals helps it understand its clients’ businesses, nuances and challenges. Whereas big­ger brokers may be too big or bureau­cratic to adjust to the marketplace, Virtus is able to solve problems for customers and design unique service models and solutions to quickly accommodate their needs. Each vertical operates as a business-within-a-business at Virtus, which allows it to care for customers like a small broker­age with the backing of a large firm.

Technology is another area of focus for Virtus. Recently, the firm surveyed its team and confirmed something it already knew: Its agency management system wasn’t doing a good job. Rather than transitioning to a different AMS, Virtus took a year to build its own system called Embark, which enhances its team’s ability to execute and further provides data and analytics to support client outcomes and overall experience. The goal was to build a system that allows employees to do their jobs more efficiently and effectively, so that they can spend more time with customers, solving their problems, says Gray.

With a self-described maniacal client focus, Virtus also goes beyond business to meet its clients in the community. For example, one of its clients, a large quick-serve restaurant franchisee in Uvalde, Texas, experienced tragedy when two of its employees had children killed during the school shooting there earlier this year. Acknowledging there is little that can be done to comfort families in these situations, Virtus nevertheless held a fundraiser and donated money to the families that were impacted, arranged for employee assistance programs and shared its message of support.

Youth movement

Like Gray, many of the firm’s employees come from big jobs and big firms, which can make taking the leap to join a scrappy, entrepreneurial upstart a risky move. Gray says his pitch to prospective employers is borrowed from Jeff Bezos’ ‘regret minimization framework,’ which challenges people to make decisions from the perspective of their future self. Sometimes there is more risk in not taking a risk, he says.

“A lot of times the people that are attracted to come work here are people that want to build,” Gray says. “Here they get the opportunity to maybe take on a little bit more and accelerate a little faster. I think it attracts a certain type of person, but it certainly is not right for everybody.”

The average age of Virtus’ employ­ees is mid-30s, compared with an industry average that trends more toward the mid-50s. Virtus is even planning to reach into colleges and high schools to recruit young people to the industry and to combat the TV-driven perspective of the insurance business as boring and stale.

“Our business is much more dynamic than they think,” says Gray. “Our clients are incredibly dynamic and exciting, and you get exposure to a bunch of different industries, people and things.”

Despite its success and growth, Virtus still prides itself on its entrepre­neurial spirit that embraces risk-taking focused on building something better for its client and its employees.

“I’m a glass completely full person,” says Gray. “I think you can have your cake and eat it too. My be­lief and our belief is that we can work really hard and be successful, but we can also take care of each other and treat each other very well. We can have fun when it’s time to have fun, be serious when it’s time to be serious and have great work-life balance, great family life and still accomplish a tremendous amount.”

Kirsten Beckman is a Colorado-based freelance journalist.

See also:

• 2022 Agency of the Year Award honors insurance excellence
• Agency of the Year: What are the characteristics of champions?