Who are the people that our clients talk to, trust, and work with year after year? Get to know more about our agency by getting to know the people through our Employee Spotlight Series.
What do you do here at Wells, what's your background, and how long have you been here?
I've been in commercial insurance for 34 years now. I started in Cleveland, Ohio. It was 10 years ago when another Wells employee, Tony Pagrabs, reached out to me and asked if I would be interested in working in the Myrtle Beach office. It wasn't too much of a decision when you were coming from Cleveland, Ohio, especially in December.
I'm a commercial producer, so I do insurance for businesses: workers comp, general liability, commercial auto, those types of coverages. Being in Myrtle Beach, my area of focus is in habitational hospitality, and I also handle a lot of golf courses, country clubs, as well as construction. On top of that I also write quite a few public transportation entities.
Why Wells? What brought you here?
I started in working at Liberty Mutual Insurance in Cleveland, Ohio in 1990. At that time, Tony Pagrabs also worked at Liberty Mutual. So we knew each other, and then we kept in touch through LinkedIn mostly for a number of years. While I was working at Liberty Mutual they disbanded the whole commercial side of my department. So I was working at a couple of different agencies, and then I went to work for a carrier up in Cleveland. That carrier did nothing but busing and trucking companies, and my job as an agent for the insurance company was to travel across the country making sure that the brokers were using National Interstate, which was the company at the time.
Well, I was literally iced in in Fargo, North Dakota when Tony called me, and I had hours to talk. So that's what started the whole conversation. There was a phone call to my wife after my phone call with Tony. It was a hard decision to make because at the time because I had two kids in high school, and one in college, but it was the right decision. Eventually we wanted to retire to this area, so why not get here a decade or so beforehand? Probably four months later, I was the new head of the Myrtle Beach office.
What do you like most about it?
What I like most about Wells is the team environment that Hal and Steve have fostered. Not only that, but I can give you one instance where my car caught on fire in Columbia, South Carolina. I called Hal to let him know that, "Hey, I'm not going to make it to the sales meeting tomorrow." He literally offered to hop in his car and drive from Wilmington, North Carolina, to Columbia, South Carolina, to pick me up, and not to bring me back to a meeting, but to drive me home. I already had an Uber taken care of, but that just spoke volumes.
What's the best lesson you've learned throughout your career?
I think the best lesson that I've learned throughout my career in insurance is don't take "no" personally. I'm a sales guy, and if somebody tells you "no", hangs up the phone on you, and that bothers you for the rest of the day, don't get into sales.
What's the biggest challenge you've had to overcome in your career?
I feel the biggest challenge that I have had to overcome throughout my 34-year career in insurance has been the changing market cycles. Hard market to soft market. Low pricing, giving away insurance to high pricing where people can't afford insurance. Learning how to deal with that with your various clients, as well as the various brokers and carriers that you're working with has been the biggest challenge.
What's the first job you ever had?
I was about 13 or 14. I was the paper boy. My first job out of college, I worked at GMAC, which is the finance arm for General Motors. But yeah, my very, very first job, I got on my bicycle, got up in the morning, picked up the newspapers, folded them up, and then rode my bike and threw them on everybody's porch.
What's the weirdest job you ever had?
GMAC hired me as an auditor. I would go to car dealerships and do floor plan audits which took maybe 10% of my time and the other 90% of my time was collections. I was out knocking on people's doors asking for their past due car payments. If they couldn't come up with the money, I was the repo man. I survived. It was not fun. Rarely was there a good day. You're not liked by the dealers because you're doing the audits. You're not liked by anybody else because you're calling them about their car payments. The only people that liked me were the tow truck drivers.
If you could do anything for a living, what would it be?
This is going too sound corny, but if I could do anything for a living, I'd stay in insurance. This past 34 years, it's been a pretty good gig. I've learned a lot. I've met a lot of awesome people. I've made a good living. I don't think I would change it.
What do you like to do when you're not working?
I started swimming about six or seven years ago. It's really helped control the weight and the health issues and all that. I'd say that one of my hobbies now is I hop in the pool and swim laps.
What’s volunteer activity/non-profit do you like to work with/support and why?
Swimming has been really good to my family. I got started swimming because my son came home one day and said, "Dad, I want to join a master swimming program and I want you to do it with me." He's 18 years old. When your 18-year-old son comes home and tells you that he wants to hang out with his dad...yeah, I'll give this a shot. I thought it would last maybe a month or so, and seven years later I'm still doing it and got involved with the board at USA Master Swimming.
Now I'm on the board of South Carolina Masters, which promotes learning how to swim and teaching people who live by water how to swim. I think it's very important. Most of the people that take advantage of it are disadvantaged people who don't know how to swim. I had one kid that came up and said, "My grandma told me, "Never get near the water because you will die."" The kid has been terrified of water his whole life. We actually taught him how to swim.
I'm also helping out with the little kids swimming program where they have swim meets. I've been working as their starter and their meet official. It's kind of my way of giving back to swimming because swimming has been pretty good to my family. My daughter got a full scholarship for swimming at South Carolina, and my son was a great high school swimmer. Could have gone to college if he wanted to swim. He decided not to. My oldest daughter swam club swimming up in Ohio.
What's on your bucket list?
I want to do some traveling. I'd love to see some places in Europe, but I'd also love to see some places in the United States. I've never been to Mount Rushmore, never been to the Grand Canyon. I would love to do Yellowstone, but I also would love to see some of Europe. My wife's family is from Germany. I'd love to see some of where her family came from. My family is from Scotland and Ireland. I'd love to see some of them...Nobody would know me, but great-grandparents grew up there.
What's your secret super power no one knows about?
My secret talent is...I am a true insurance nerd. I read insurance forms all day long and pick them apart and put them back together and find the holes and find the gaps.
What's your greatest weakness?
My greatest weakness would be my breaststroke and swimming. It is really bad. Ask any of my teammates, they'll tell you.
What accomplishment are you most proud of?
By far I'm most proud of raising three amazing kids. My oldest daughter graduated with her architecture degree from Miami of Ohio. My youngest daughter is at Northwestern working on her master's degree. My son is a fireman. I've raised three great, responsible kids.
Favorite Book?
My favorite book is because I watched a movie recently called "The Boys in the Boat." It had such a great story, but it didn't really delve into the characters. So I got the book and read it and it became my new favorite book.
Favorite TV Show?
Whatever show my wife is watching at the time...
Favorite Movie?
Any action movie...Jason Bourne, Mission Impossible, etc.
Favorite Band?
Steely Dan
How do you define success?
I define success by my happiness. If I am happy at what I'm doing, I'm successful at it. It has nothing to do with income. It has nothing to do with status. If I'm doing it and I'm happy doing it, then I'm successful at.
What's the best advice you've been given?
The best advice I've ever been given would be take note of the little things that happen, because those little things turn out to be the big things ten years down the road. Don't forget those little things.
Jeff covers much of our Commercial clients in the Myrtle Beach, SC area. If you have a commercial insurance need, please reach out to him and he would be happy to help you.
843-353-0286
