AGENCY OF THE MONTH HIGHLY EFFECTIVE SPECIALIST Missouri agency focuses on agricultural accounts By Dennis H. Pillsbury When Specialty Risk Insurance, Carthage, Missouri, opened its doors on July 13, 2012, it certainly lived up to its name. And it still does today. Founder Kevin Charleston points out that about 80% of the agency’s business comes from agribusiness. “For us, agribusiness is Main Street business,” quips Chance Morgan, one of the
From The Latest Issue

Technology THE NEW NORMAL Nationwide offers virtual support to help agents and clients navigate the challenges of COVID-I9 By Elisabeth Boone, CPCU “I can’t wait till things get back to normal.” That phrase, so casually uttered in the halcyon days before the outbreak of COVID-19, now rings hollow as we become increasingly aware that normal no longer refers to a steady state but instead means a shape-shifting phenomenon that defies

CAPITALIZING ON BENEFITS FROM MEDICARE TO MULTILINES High Desert agency builds on health and benefits business to meet overall customer needs By Len Strazewski HMOs, PPOs, ACA, HDHPs. Agents and brokers who specialize in employee benefits navigate a sea of complex terms and concepts every day, but their customers often struggle to understand what works best for them. At Armstrong-Fairway Insurance in Victorville, California, education is an important part of

CYBER INSURANCE Ransomware and the pandemic test market capacity and capabilities By Joseph S. Harrington, CPCU Now is a time of testing for cyber insurers. Just prior to the pandemic, British insurer Hiscox concluded in its Cyber Readiness Report 2020 that commercial enterprises have generally improved in their awareness of cyber threats and in their ability to prevent and repel an attack. Yet the survey report had not even been

Salute to Service A BRIGHT CAREER FOR VETERANS Focus on teamwork, discipline and assisting others preps ex-military for agency ownership By Christopher W. Cook What a strange year 2020 has been, and the bizarreness continues as we enter November. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. presidential election. The invasion of the crab people—I wouldn’t eliminate that as a possibility quite yet. While we’ll soon be starting the holiday season and