Jeff strolls along the oceanfront with his wife, Corey, and daughter, Kelsey. Jeff is a producer with Gelfand Newman Wasserman in Los Angeles and Corey is the agency's underwriting manager. Jeff and Corey also enjoy spending time rollerblading and bicycling with Kelsey.
Put it this way. If the category were "Insurance," the clue for Final Jeopardy might be: dynamic young independent agent, articulate advocate for the system, with a vision for the new millennium. For young agents in California, the response would be a no-brainer: Who is Jeff Newman? The quick and easy recognition would reflect the impressive resume Newman has built since joining Gelfand Newman Wasserman, a leading insurance agency in Los Angeles for nearly 70 years.
In the arc of a short but notable career, Newman has established himself as a savvy and solid producer, able to tiptoe across the risk-laden L.A. landscape with more wins than losses. And he has become a champion of young agents-- seeking to tap this rich resource of talent and enthusiasm to help the independent agency system stake out its territory in the fast-changing financial services marketplace.
"It's not just a question of letting youth be served but of letting youth serve the industry," says Newman, whose efforts on behalf of his fellow young agents have involved the IBA West Young Brokers and Agents. As the association prepares for its 24th annual conference later this month, Newman reflected on his career as an agent and as an advocate.
While Newman may have been destined to become an agent--his father, Mike Newman, is a partner at GNW--he wasn't pushed and didn't jump into the business. "When I graduated from college--University of Colorado--I knew only that I wanted to get into sales; the chance to control my own destiny has always appealed to me," says Newman. "I had an open invitation to join GNW but I wasn't sure that I wanted to sell insurance. In fact, I first considered taking a crack at real estate until the market took a nosedive."
Still uncertain about insurance, Newman decided to put his yen to sell on hold and learn about the industry from the inside--taking a job at State Farm Insurance Company. It was a fortuitous decision and an approach which might serve as a blueprint for other young would-be agents. Assigned to the claims department, Newman got hands-on experience in the claims settling process, the give-and-take dealing with lawyers, and spotting padded and fraudulent claims. Leaving State Farm after two years, he added another layer of expertise--underwriting--in a cluster training program sponsored by The Hartford. He then headed to GNW and began to build a book of business and eventually to build a new life through marriage to a colleague and daughter of one of the firm's partners.
When you come right down to it, few sections of the country can compare with the risks faced by residents and businesses in California. Earthquakes, brush fires, mudslides, floods, 70-car pileups on fog- and smog-shrouded freeways plus the usual suspects in crime. Now comes word of a new "blind " fault that is sitting under downtown Los Angeles and is believed to be more potent than the San Andreas Fault. If this "blind" fault gets restless and yawns, scientists say it could swallow the entire downtown area. Talk about living on the edge. Or, in Newman's case, writing on the edge. Not to worry. "It challenges us to be more creative in trying to find markets to place these risks," says Newman, who sees an agent's life as an adventure.
"I like the continuing challenge to build my book of business which actually becomes my own business ..."
--Jeff Newman
At a time when more and more Americans come up empty in job satisfaction, Newman thoroughly enjoys being an agent. And in a world that grows increasingly impersonal, Newman cherishes the chance to be more personal--dealing with clients face-to-face and on a first-name basis. "I like the continuing challenge to build my book of business which actually becomes my own business, the challenge to keep my book diversified to avoid the big hit, and the ongoing learning process--going to school, so to speak, on each account--so I can tailor coverages to the specific needs of my clients."
No business like show business
Then there's the chance to carve out interesting niches. With GNW a big player in insurance for the entertainment industry (it handled coverage for, among other things, the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta), Newman is excited about developing this specialty, which can bring him up close and personal with showbiz's biggest names. Anybody we know? He says he could drop a few names but he prefers to protect their privacy as he does with all of his clients. Suffice it to say that one of his new clients was an Oscar nominee this year.
But it's not all glitz and glamour, he adds, with a lot of the business consisting of nuts and bolts stuff in production and post-production houses. While the line can be lucrative, there is also a high possibility for losses, he says, adding that even smooth-running productions can be chaotic. With only about eight markets, the competition is fierce: "It's usually a case of the one who is the fastest to get to the market is the one who will write the business."
But as was mentioned, there's much more to Newman than selling and servicing policies. "I believe that all agents should give something back to the independent agency system, to see that the system, in the face of tough competition from banks and other new players, not only survives but prospers in the new millennium," says Newman. "And young agents who stand to gain (or lose) the most should lead the way." His give-backs have included three years as chairman of the Young Agents Committee of IBA West and six years as chairman of the Young Agents Committee of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of Los Angeles (IIABLA). He is currently serving on the IIABLA board of directors as treasurer. In these efforts Newman found young agents like himself eager to answer a call to action--a call to be agents of change. He counts the ways:
Jeff's father, Mike Newman (far right), and Corey's father, Harmon Wasserman (second from right), are principals in the agency. Jeff started his insurance career at State Farm, and then joined Gelfand Newman Wasserman, where he met Corey.
* "In a media role, young agents are using their communications skills to improve the industry's public image, to see that industry positions on the issues are presented fully and fairly, and that information they provide for all buyers of insurance is reported on a regular basis."
* "In a public relations role, young agents are using their youth as an asset in contacts with high school
and college students, changing misconceptions about the business that may have been handed down, and encouraging young people to pursue careers in insurance."
* "In their own agencies, young agents are changing management systems, bringing in fresh marketing ideas and using their technological understanding and technological skills to make the agencies more efficient and more profitable."
"It remains for more and more agency managements to encourage their young agents in these extended roles, to let their other-than-sales talents surface and use them for the benefit of all," says Newman.
In his role as an agent and advocate, Newman draws his strongest support from his wife, Corey, who is also the underwriting manager at GNW and the daughter of one of the agency's partners, Harmon Wasserman. Theirs was a true office romance. "After I started at the agency in 1991 we became friends and it stayed that way for awhile," recalls Newman. "But gradually our business life led to a social life and we fell in love."
Away from the agency, they enjoy quality playtime with their daughter, Kelsey, at their home in Hermosa Beach. For Jeff it can be two-man volley ball and for all three bicycling, rollerblading and strolls on the beach. But if truth be told, Jeff and Corey are never far from the agency. They know they are the anointed successors to their fathers and are well aware of the responsibility that entails--continually expanding their expertise for the time when they manage the agency and its 30-person staff.
Chuck Gelfand, the only partner without an offspring at the agency, has watched their progress from the beginning. "They were given no special privileges, they worked hard, they earned their CPCU designations and became top performers," says Gelfand. "One day they will run the agency. They're our future."
Young agents raised on the soft market
Jeff and Corey will attend the IBA West Young Brokers and Agents Conference May 13-15 in Napa Valley. It's a chance to network with other young agents and agency professionals and to make contacts with company representatives to hear about new coverages and new markets. What they probably won't hear is the question: "When is the hard market returning?" "What's a hard market?" asks Newman, laughing. "Young agents aren't waiting around for something they've never experienced; they only know about life in a soft market." He chuckles about seeing a cartoon recently that shows a bunch of people, holding up papers, running toward a burning building. The caption reads: "The soft market: Underwriters rush to insure a burning building."
"That's us, that's life in a soft market," says Newman. "If the soft market shows anything," he adds, "it's that young agents can adapt to any conditions and to any competition." And it's that ability to adapt that will drive the independent agency system in the years to come.
Bring on the banks. Bring on the Internet. Bring on the new millennium. *
The author
Edward O'Hare is a New York-based freelance writer.
©COPYRIGHT: The Rough Notes Magazine, 1999