2023 State Agencies of the Year

Congratulations to our National Agency of the Year, Arachas Insurance Group!

Keep scrolling to check out all of our State Agencies of the Year.

(L-R): Arachas agency principals accept the National Agency of the Year award at this year’s National Conference in San Antonio, TX.

Boswell Insurance Group

(L-R): Henry Persons, Carey Stephens, Randy Pearson

“We have found claims management to be a huge benefit for the agency. Being able to manage claims for larger clients is a game changer. With a knowledgeable and professional team from the risk management division, our agency has been able to assist large clients with information that many independent agents aren’t capable of. Clients that use the service have a piece of mind that they made a great decision in partnering with our agency and Keystone.”

Georgia Premier Agencies

Arachas Insurance Group

“One piece of advice to any Keystone agent seeking to amplify their agency in the industry is to balance growth with empathy, transparency, and a resolute commitment to your agency’s vision. By keeping your team at the forefront, maintaining open communication, and making decisions that align with your goals, you’ll not only enhance your agency’s industry standing but also nurture a culture of excellence and collaboration that sets you apart from the rest. Having the ability to make tough calls and not stray from the agency’s overall vision is what ultimately makes your business stronger. Your team is more important than your own personal discomfort.”

Illinois Premier Agencies

The DeHayes Group

(L to R) Top Row: Jeffrey Pikel (CEO), Kevin Pikel, Kevin Burns, and Patrick Brazill (CFO) Bottom Row: Gregory Gerbers, Nick Groves, and John Ryan

“Our success is a result of our sales-oriented and teamwork cultures. Our sales staff is supported by 40 professional administrative staff who work together to help each other achieve success.  Many of our members, producers, and employees are actively involved in serving on local charitable boards and serve as volunteers as coaches at many of the local grade and high schools that help us further build a successful agency culture.”

Indiana Premier Agencies

Kingsgate Insurance

(L to R) Front row: Ashlee Neumann, Alexis Cahalan, Sarah Sedlacek, Annie Hyink, Meghan Husske, Chelsea Heatherington, Dave Jakeman.

Back row: Nicole Clegg, Brandan Schoenfeld, Donovan Day, Carol Durbin, Ryan Smith, Kyla Lentsch, Chloe Elsbecker

“We expect our staff to go beyond basic service, and the tenacity in which we serve is top notch.  We identified our core values – one of those was ‘know the why.’ We expect our employees to see more than one step ahead to help deliver a better customer experience.”

Iowa Premier Agencies

Mt. Valley Insurance

“We have grown our agency from one location in 1976 to four locations today and are very proud of how tenured our employees are. Our turnover rate speaks for itself – we have two employees with over forty years’ service, three with over thirty, and two with over twenty.  We focus on education in our agency; all of our full-time employees have either CIC or CISR designations (or both).”

Kentucky Premier Agencies

Conner Insurance

(L-R) Jerry Conner, Beth Conner, Daniel Conner

“With a lot of hard work and perseverance, we have the successful agency it is today.  We’re very proud to say that we have customers that are still with us since we opened in 1994.”

Michigan Premier Agencies

Cartier Insurance

Back Row – Katie Jacobson, Griffin Jeannette, Brandon Owen, Ken Lippert, Jeremy Jeannette, Derek Farrell, Keith Hursey, Nate Lehmann, Jordyn Anderson, Arianna Bell

Front Row – Amy Carlson, Ann Patzen, Cory Cartier, Matt Cartier, Megan Baker, Lauren Royer

“We are in a complicated industry that many people don’t understand. Compound that with a hard market and premiums increasing on virtually every line of business can make for extremely frustrated customers. Ensuring your staff understands why premiums are increasing, why hard markets happen and giving them the tools and resources to communicate that to your customers goes a long way in keeping your customers happy or at least comfortable that they know you’re looking out for their best interest.”

Minnesota Premier Agencies

Custom Insurance Services

 (L to R): Grant Bowen, Tony Becker

“We are a significant agency in our market area, able to punch well above our weight in terms of capabilities, but we still operate in many ways like the family-owned agency that we are. We allow employees to leave a little early to get their kid to sports practices, or to work from home for a couple of days (beyond their regular schedule of one day per week) to care for an ailing parent. In many ways, this is the fulfillment of Keystone’s promise: delivering national capabilities with local ownership, and enjoying personal relationships with many of our customers.”

Missouri Premier Agencies

Granite Insurance

“We’re proud of the path our agency ownership has taken. Team members can now work toward becoming a partner within the organization in a consistent and equitable manner. We’re excited of what it will mean with respect to the financial success of our qualifying team members, our organizational recruitment and retention efforts, as well as the facilitation of our future internal perpetuation.”

North Carolina Premier Agencies

Hosket-Ulen

“We are most proud of our culture and the passion our team exhibits daily for our clients and our industry.  We have focused on people, processes, and technology to achieve double digit organic growth during a very challenging time for our industry.  We have established a greater sales culture as well as added members to our team during and post pandemic that has resulted in remarkable growth.”

Ohio Premier Agencies

Duncan Insurance Group

“We are raising a glass to four integrations completed in a 16-month period. Our team stepped up, never gave up and learned a lot in the process. We are a better agency, ready to help more people, because of this focus.

For the next year, we are going to raise the bar on the client experience and agency results. We will expand our Select Business Unit in Commercial Lines, have a dedicated claims resource in Personal Lines, improve our high net worth Personal Lines approach, and further cross-selling between departments including Financial Services.”

Pennsylvania Premier Agencies

Robins Insurance

“Right now, we’re really engaged with the IMPACT Exchange forum led by Nick Kormos. It’s given us concrete goals to pursue, metrics we can track, and accountability we need. Honorable mention to Joe Turi and the benefits division. We don’t have a benefits department, and they allow us to round out accounts in ways we otherwise wouldn’t.”

Tennessee Premier Agencies

Towe Insurance

Agency principal Beth Towe-Heck

 “We’re most proud of our agency culture and how we support each other with a good work/life balance. We have also recently encouraged several young females to get a P&C license and are helping spread the word about what a solid career in insurance can be.”

Virginia Premier Agencies

Walker Agency

“We have been able to utilize many different parts of Keystone that has given us the upper hand against our competitors. Whether it’s on the P&C side, Life, benefits…Keystone has something to offer. We have gained access to companies that we would have never been able to contract with on our own. The list goes on!”

Wisconsin Premier Agencies