By Jennifer McDaniel business founded in 1982. The agency offers nearly all forms of insurance, and has grown to nearly 12 times its original size since Davidson purchased the business from his father 17 years ago.
Today, his agency boasts repeated nominations as one of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America’ s Best Practices agencies. Of the more than 1,100 companies nominated, the agency is only one of 216 independent businesses selected in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
Making a Choice
As a senior at Minneapolis High School, Davidson excelled academically, earning several honors including being recognized as a Coca- Cola Scholar – designating him as one of the top 150 students in the nation.
A few years later, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in secondary math education from Bethany College. But after six years spent working as a math teacher and football coach at both the college and high-school levels, he decided to make a change and came home to carry on his family’ s farming tradition.
“ Eventually, I was at a point when I had to decide if I wanted to get back into coaching college football, which could involve moving my family around the country, or did I want to raise my children in a solid, stable environment,” he said.
Eventually, Davidson began working at his father’ s independent insurance agency in 1999. Later that year, he purchased the business, which his father started 17 years earlier. Soon, The Davidson Agency expanded, adding offices in Bennington, Glasco and Minneapolis.
Through the Years
“ When you volunteer, you share ideas; it’ s certainly helped me learn and grow my business.”
Looking back, Davidson said he’ s seen several changes not only within his agency, but in the insurance industry itself.
“ When I first started, we mainly dealt with farm, auto, home and crop insurance,” he said.“ But in 2013, we entered the Combined Agents of America, which allowed us access to many markets, and so we had the ability to write anything.”
Based in Austin, Texas, the network is comprised of 53 independent insurance agencies located throughout Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. In 2015, CAA generated more than $ 738.5 million in property and casualty premiums, and currently works with 18 of the largest insurance companies in the nation, company officials said.
“ If I continued in what I had, I would’ ve been very limited in what companies I had to offer,” Davidson said.“ But by growing, we’ ve given our client base in rural Kansas options, so they don’ t have to go to bigger cities like Wichita or Kansas City. By joining CAA, we have solid market access for our client base so they don’ t have to travel 30-40 miles or more … and, by doing this, their money is spent locally. We’ re enabling those dollars to be spent locally instead of somewhere else.”
And while technology has played a bigger role in the way business is done, Davidson said he’ s also noticed changes in how insurance companies view potential clients.
“ When I started, there was no computer … we were just purchasing one,” he said.“ In 1999, rating was
| November- December 2016 | KANSAS INSURANCE AGENT & BROKER
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