Doing what’s right is the watch-phrase
for this women-owned agency
By Dennis H. Pillsbury
In 1950, Ed and Eleanor “Ellie” Boniakowski started EA Boniakowski Insurance Services in recognition of the need for reputable insurance products and service that would benefit the community, particularly the immigrant population from Eastern Europe that had come into New Jersey and its various neighborhoods.
The decision to create the insurance operation came about when Ellie, who was then handling real estate closings as part of her work at an attorney’s office, noticed that many people from that population had inferior insurance coverage with high premiums, and they also weren’t getting the advice they needed about proper insurance coverage, due in large part to a language barrier.
Contractors are one of EAB Insurance Group’s specialties. Agency team members visit a job site of Flanagan Construction, Inc., a client for over 30 years. From left: Jon Kowal, 212 Risk Architect; Yvette Boniakowski, 212 Commercial Risk Engineer; Jackie Zampella, Vice President of New Business and Risk Architect; and Dee Zampella, Chief Everything Officer.
“I noticed that we were getting a lot of phone calls citing our Google reviews, but our people were a little shy about asking for reviews. So, we instituted a campaign last year to encourage staff by offering an extra day of PTO for every 10 Google reviews. They got over the shyness … .”
—Jacqueline “Jackie” Zampella
Vice President of New Business/Risk Architect
Ed and Ellie operated their business from the first floor of their home in Bound Brook, with Ed providing real estate services and Ellie running the insurance operation. Along the way, their daughter, Doris “Dee” Zampella, nee Boniakowski, came on board while still in high school; her first job at the agency was cleaning the bathrooms.
Dee opted to join the family business on the real estate side, because, as she admits, that “seemed sexy to me.” After a few years as a real estate agent, she got her insurance license to help her mom in the insurance division, as Mom had some health issues.
Before long, Dee says, she was “learning how to handle claims” and “studying the financials” to support her mom. It turned out Dee “became hooked. I loved being an agent.” Today, she leads what is now EAB Insurance Group, carrying the title “chief everything officer.”
Good karma
“I just followed Mom and Dad’s footsteps,” Dee says, in describing her leadership style. “We are focused on treating people right and doing the right thing. We’re just good Christians who have karmic considerations when we deal with people.”
And that does not just apply to the way her agency does business, but to her personal life as well. For instance, Dee serves as a nonprofit advisor and was honored in 2015 as the Somerset County Citizen of the Year. She also serves on two nonprofit boards and volunteers on the Martinsville Rescue Squad as an emergency medical technician.
In the agency, she has focused on developing full risk management capabilities that allow her to really become a partner with every client she serves, able to provide advice that helps to enhance and protect each client’s bottom line. This effort has led to the agency moving from principally focusing on personal lines to one where commercial lines business represents more than 65% of the agency’s revenue.
When she was looking for support in bringing a robust risk management program to clients, she searched for advisors and met Scott Addis, the founder of Beyond Insurance Global Network® (BIGN). She decided to join after Scott told her that she already had the right approach to risk management and was already reaching deeply into each client’s business to determine the best way to respond to each client’s needs, but that the agency would benefit by offering a more systemized approach.
Nonprofits are another agency specialty. Dee and Jackie visit the Food Bank Network of Somerset County—not only a client but one of the twenty-some nonprofits the agency supports.
The agency proudly promotes its affiliation with BIGN, offering clients its four-step process to (1) identify exposures, (2) develop strategies, (3) implement a program, and (4) continually monitor the program. The agency also uses the network’s 20 IQRM quantifiable risk assessment tools. “Using them enables us to discover and mitigate risk, synthesize knowledge, and communicate opportunities for our clients to improve their risk profiles,” Dee explains.
“They are great tools that supplement our own knowledge and help make certain that we don’t miss any risk management opportunities that could help a client,” she points out.
Selfless giving
In 2017, Dee’s daughter, Jacquelyn “Jackie” Zampella, joined the agency. While Jackie readily admits that “I never thought that I would be in insurance,” the reason for joining is interesting. And it says a lot about how deep the spirit of giving is in this family: It started with Jackie offering to donate a kidney if someone needed it.
The first call she got for a donation proved to be a disappointment when the potential recipient experienced health problems that precluded undergoing a transplant. The next opportunity was a go, and in 2017 she donated a kidney to a 20-year-old in Oregon. That donation triggered a chain of other donations that resulted in Jackie’s helping to save several additional lives.
At the time, Jackie was working for St. Jude’s Childrens Research Hospital and had a one-hour commute, but she was not able to make that trip each day while recovering. So, she talked to Dee about coming on board at the agency. (While still on staff at St. Jude’s, Jackie studied at night for and got her insurance license—just in case.)
“Mom said ‘yes,’ and started me at the bottom,” Jackie says, with a smile. “She insisted that I learn everything, basically having me work at every job in the agency, as well as pushing me to take advantage of our membership in BIGN by becoming a Certified Risk Architect.”
“Soon after Jackie came on board, “she started to systematize our marketing and worked on taking our agency to the next level,” Dee recalls. She set us up with a new website and created an online newsletter that has an 83% open rate.
“As we built this stronger online presence that helped to increase referrals significantly, we started relying less and less on outside producers,” she adds. “Jackie recognized that our inside staff was so strong at handling people sent to us through referrals,” that the agency pretty much eliminated the formal outside producer role altogether.
Today Jackie carries the dual title of vice president-new business and risk architect, but splits much of her time between helping Dee with administration and overhauling the agency. “And, oh yes, I do some producing on the side,” quips Jackie, who was named Safeco/Liberty Mutual honoree as its 2023 Agent for the Future Emerging Leader.
“One of the things that I have worked on has been increasing the recommendations we get online,” she adds. “I noticed that we were getting a lot of phone calls citing our Google reviews, but our people were a little shy about asking for reviews. So, we instituted a campaign last year to encourage staff by offering an extra day of PTO for every 10 Google reviews.
“They got over the shyness when customers almost always responded favorably when asked,” Jackie notes. “The result was an increase in 5-star reviews by 120.”
Insurance is fun
“Along my journey, I found out that I love working in insurance,” Jackie says. “Our consultative approach requires us to learn about each client’s business. I specialize in contractors, restaurants, and nonprofits and find that I really enjoy learning how people run their business.
“I also learned that you can have fun doing insurance, as long as you have the tools needed to be able to walk into a new potential client and speak intelligently about their business and how our risk management program can help them succeed. It really is very satisfying to be able to speak eloquently about the business my customer is in.
“We still have a lot of walk-in business. People know us and see that we’re an integral part of the community. We’ve developed trust with our clients that is rewarded by the fact that they gladly refer us to friends and business colleagues.”
—Doris “Dee” Zampella
Chief Everything Officer
“I also learned that you can have fun doing insurance, as long as you have the tools needed to be able to walk into a new potential client and speak intelligently about their business and how our risk management program can help them succeed. It really is very satisfying to be able to speak eloquently about the business my customer is in.
“As part of our process,” Jackie continues, “we regularly follow up with our clients to make certain that their coverage continues to reflect their business needs. We’ve worked very hard to be seen as professionals who are part of their business team. And they know we should be called at the earliest possible moment when they are considering making a change in their business so that we can advise them of the insurance consequences.
“They understand that this needs to be part of their due diligence whenever they embark on a new venture, acquisition, or any significant change,” she adds. “We make it clear that our goal is to make them best-of-class so that the insurance companies will want to do business with them and will provide them with the best possible coverage at the best rate.”
Jackie concludes by pointing out that “we have some of the best and brightest in the industry working here. They’re all insurance nerds and now, I guess I’m one as well. We have a great relationship where everyone here is willing to back up other staff members if they need time off.
“In fact, one of our newest team members found this out when we heard that she was going to miss her daughter’s first play. I made it very clear that she was expected to go to the play and that we’d pick up any work while she was gone. This is an extended family.”
Dee points to another example of how caring the people at the agency are. “Our claims person went out of her way to see a client at her home because the client couldn’t drive. She actually cut her lunch short to do so.”
The agency supports some 25 charities that support the community. Maybe that’s why “we still have a lot of walk-in business. People know us and see that we’re an integral part of the community,” Dee says proudly.
“We’ve developed a trust with our clients that is rewarded by the fact that they gladly refer us to friends and business colleagues,” she adds. “More than 80% of our business comes strictly from referrals.”
Rough Notes is pleased to recognize EAB Insurance Group as our Agency of the Month. They are true community leaders who are extending their community across the United States adhering to the motto that Dee has on her credenza. Whenever someone needs something, the motto says, “It Can Be Done.”
The author
Dennis H. Pillsbury is a Virginia-based freelance insurance writer.
