By Dennis Pillsbury
(From left) David Brantlinger, vice president; Susan Kahn, CIC, AAI, vice president; and Richard Bourne, Jr., CPCU, vice president, are with Corporate Insurance Management, Inc., CIMA's largest subsidiary.
The CIMA Companies, Inc., Alexandria, Virginia, traces its roots back to 1949 when Jay Jagoe set up the agency to represent The Hartford. "He was an independent agent who only represented Hartford, but a lot has changed since then," notes William R. Henry, Jr., ABC, vice president, communications, for CIMA. "Today, we're the largest independently owned agency in the Baltimore/Washington area with more than $10 million in revenues."
In addition to the main office in Alexandria, CIMA also has offices in Baltimore and Atlanta. It provides insurance services to more than 14,000 customers in every state in the nation and in Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The Companies include its largest subsidiary, Corporate Insurance Management, Inc., and CIMA Risk Control Services, which provides fee-based loss control and other risk management services. Within CIM are Atlanta-based XS/Group, Inc., a wholesale facility that places property and casualty business in both the traditional and excess market; CIMA International, which coordinates insurance programs for U.S.-based and Europe-based firms with operations on both sides of the Atlantic; Association Insurance Management, which designs, markets and administers nationwide programs; and a construction and bond department.
Bill Henry continues by pointing out that the agency's success is based on its ability to "take advantage of opportunities to grow. We look for strategic alliances with other agencies that can be beneficial to both sides. We also have a history of developing and administering insurance programs for classes of business that have problems obtaining coverage."
He continues: "We recognize that there are many ways to be successful. Each agency decides what is the best way to grow. In our case, one of the ways we have chosen to grow is by making ourselves available to agencies that may have impediments to growth. These impediments can include the fact that the principals don't have time to spend both on management of the agency and also being outside, meeting with customers and prospects. Another problem can be that they just don't have a sufficient number of markets available to them. We can help those agencies solve those problems. We can supplement their talents in whatever way will be most helpful. At the same time, we offer access to most of the major insurance companies, including some special and unique wholesale and specialty company arrangements. For the agent without a perpetuation plan, who wants to keep the agency intact with its own identity, we believe we represent a great alternative to the prospect of being acquired by a national broker or a bank."
Bill says that part of CIMA's strategy for the next two to five years is to expand into the Southeast, which is an area that is enjoying both good economic growth and growth in population. "We're just at the acquaintance stage in this process," he says. "We plan to form a strategic alliance with one independent agency in each of several southeastern cities. We talk to everyone whom we know in a particular city, including agents, company representatives, personal acquaintances and other business people to help determine which agencies make the best candidates. Our goal is to help each one of those agencies become one of the top two or three in its metropolitan area."
Program business
CIMA acquired much of its expertise by developing insurance programs for groups that had insurance problems. "We're very proud of the fact that every insured program we've ever begun continues today," Laurie S. Coleman, vice president, observes proudly.
(From left) Laurie Coleman, vice president, Association Insurance Management; William Henry, Jr., ABC, vice president, Corporate Insurance Management, Inc.; and William Groves, CIC, senior vice president, Corporate Insurance Management, Inc.
Some of the earliest programs involved nonprofits. Laurie says: "Virtually no insurance carriers were interested in social service nonprofit organizations 30 years ago, particularly those providing services to developmentally disabled people. We worked to develop viable insurance alternatives for these organizations and today, we believe we serve more nonprofit organizations than any other broker in the nation." In addition to providing property/casualty insurance to a large number of nonprofit clients, CIMA also assisted in setting up a risk purchasing group to offer accident and liability coverage to volunteers.
Another example, Laurie says, is the pension actuary market. "These actuaries were having a very difficult time obtaining professional liability insurance 12 years ago. We built a program, working with insurers in the London market. The program today includes pension actuaries from all over the country." That program, despite numerous program enhancements that CIMA was able to negotiate has never experienced an increase in rates.
CIMA executives include (front row, from left) Susan Kahn, David Brantlinger and Richard Bourne; and (back row, from left) William Henry, Jr., Laurie Coleman, and William Groves. 
"Seven years ago, attorneys representing the indigent had only one market for professional liability insurance," Laurie continues. "Rates had been increasing steadily. We were asked to investigate whether those rates were justified. CIMA surveyed the claims experience, found that the rates were not justified and developed an alternative program. Today we are a leading writer of legal services organizations nationwide, and our customers have saved millions of dollars in premium."
Laurie says these are just a few examples, adding that CIMA recently developed a professional liability program for corporate training consultants that is growing rapidly. She concludes that CIMA's consistency of coverage has been an important selling point. "When we offer customers a program, they know it's for the long term, not just a stop-gap solution."
Team approach to service
Of course, successful programs and acquisitions are only part of the picture. Service to clients is what keeps those clients. CIMA uses a team approach that includes account executives who must learn about the particular niche, as well as support staff. This approach "streamlines handling and allows us to operate very efficiently," notes Susan Kahn, vice president, Commercial Group. "The approach takes advantage of specialized skills and experience. Each person in the team has intimate knowledge of the market."
This efficiency allows CIMA to enjoy revenue of more than $150,000 per employee, putting it near the top of agencies nationwide.
Rick Bourne, vice president, Metro Department, says that department "uses the same approach. Accounts are assigned to a team that knows their needs." He adds that "automation has been key in enhancing our ability to serve our clients. It provides added flexibility in responding. But we don't just rely on automation. That is just another avenue for communication. Whenever we respond to customers, we include our e-mail and phone number. Clients can always reach their account executive via e-mail, but they also can use any of the other communications channels as well."
Senior Vice President Bill Groves, who operates out of the Baltimore office which serves as the headquarters for the international business, as well as construction and bond department, says he has found that the "team approach is much more responsive. In CIMA International, for example, we are able to put knowledgeable people together with those clients who have overseas operations. In addition, our network of European brokers affords us the opportunity to provide information and coverage to those European companies that are looking to start operations here."
Cross-pollination
Employee benefits has grown to become a key area of opportunity for CIMA as well as being one more "foot in the door" at key accounts. David Brantlinger, vice president, employee benefits, says CIMA "avoids offering off-the-shelf products. With any client that has 50 or more employees, we explain self-insurance or partial self-insurance, including stop loss, TPA involvement and so on. We help them set up a plan that works for them and brings those customers that are interested together so they can take advantage of their large size in the aggregate. We've never had a client go back to an insured product once we've set them up with this alternative. We help them protect their bottom line."
The first and last ingredient--people
"The most important part of all this is our employees," says Bill Groves. "We offer them opportunities to grow and everyone of our officers is an example. Everyone mentioned in this article came up through the ranks. There are no guarantees, but we've shown that sweat equity does pay off. Every employee has the opportunity to become an officer and an owner. There are no barriers here." *