Jeff called upon his relationships with insurance companies to start creating policies customized to the industry . One of the biggest challenges was getting the appropriate auto insurance as most companies were using independent contractors driving their own vehicles and most companies had state and / or federal motor carrier operating authority so they needed an insurance regulatory filing . Armed with courier industry knowledge , Jeff ’ s company was able to get hired / non-owned auto liability coverage for an appropriate premium and get the regulatory filings done through the hired / non-owned auto liability policy alone . At the time there were few if any other insurance brokers that were able to do this , and this really launched the standing of Jeff ’ s company with the industry .
He found himself mimicking the creativity that he so admired in the couriers as he pushed the envelope with various insurance providers . “ You ’ ve got an industry that is very creative , unusual and very misinterpreted by the insurance industry ,” he says of his persistent pursuit of products to match the needs of couriers . “ My goal was to change that . The insurance industry needed to understand what the carrier industry really was . So , a big part of my early connection with the industry was educating the insurance underwriters about this industry .”
At the time , Jeff was working as an insurance broker for the James B . Oswald Company out of Cleveland , OH . He was adding coverages and working with a variety of insurance companies as market conditions and corporate focuses changed . “ We had to change companies a lot , but we always made it happen ,” he recalls . “ We had very significant data so we continued to work with the providers , educating them with our data so they could develop an understanding of the courier sector . There were other brokers that did some courier stuff , but over the years , we were the largest provider of insurance for the courier industry .”
Catching the Entrepreneurial Spirit
The 1997 MCAA Fall Conference in Dallas was a turning point for Jeff . “ I was dealing with all these entrepreneurs and it was starting to rub off on me ,” he remembers . On the way to his hotel before the conference he overheard a conversation between two women discussing how they had left big companies to start their own businesses . “ I ’ m thinking ‘ You were meant to hear this .’ So , when I got to the hotel , I called my wife and I said , ‘ You know what ? I made the decision . I ’ m leaving Oswald . I ’ m going to start my own firm from scratch !’” he says .
The key to making this move was that Jeff had to talk Laura Krieger into leaving Oswald and joining him in the new venture . Laura came to work at Oswald in 1995 and was the Account Manager for Jeff ’ s courier accounts . “ I wouldn ’ t have made the move without Laura ,” says Jeff . “ She was ( and still is ) that good ! But she did make the move and we hooked up with an insurance agent who was a friend of mine , and we formed KIK Insurance . It officially launched January 1 , 1998 . I was 48 years old , had been working for a 100 plus year-old company , with a six-figure income and I left to start my own business . My wife thought I was nuts , but thankfully she supported the move . I had a relatively small amount of courier business that Oswald let me purchase from them , so with that as our base we were off to the races . We grew exponentially over the next several years .”
In 2005 Oswald decided they wanted to have more of a presence in the transportation arena , so they brought Jeff ’ s group back as their transportation practice . But the entrepreneurial spirit was strong and in 2010 Jeff left for a second time , merged with his biggest and most courier-knowledgeable competitor , KBS International to form Brightstone Insurance .
56 customized logistics & delivery Magazine I spring 2023