Declaration of Independents: Doris Zampella

• By: Will Jones
• August 1, 2026

Doris Zampella

President & Chief Everything Officer

EAB Insurance Group

Green Brook, New Jersey

Relationships have always been at the heart of Doris Zampella’s approach to insurance. As president of EAB Insurance Group, she has built her agency around personalized service and community ties.

Now, with her daughter joining the leadership team, Zampella is helping shape the next generation of the family business while remaining committed to the values that have guided the agency for decades.

“I tell our team that every client should feel like they’re our most important client,” she says. “If we take care of people, growth follows.”

Best decisions?

Hiring my daughter. She brings a wealth of information I don’t have. Different ideas, different ways to run things, different training. She went to college more than 30 years after I did, so her perspective is different. She brings a lot to the table.

Experience as a woman in insurance?

I never really thought of it as being different because I grew up watching my mother lead our agency. To me, that was simply normal. It’s been rewarding to see more women enter the industry and succeed in leadership roles over the years.

Working with family?

Of the 18 insurance employees, six are family. Our family members want to prove they are not getting any special treatment, so we come in early, stay late and work weekends if needed. We are very fortunate that it’s a good dynamic. We all work well together.

Watching your parents build the agency?

There was no way I ever imagined I’d end up in the insurance business. Growing up, I was one of seven children. My mother founded our insurance agency, while my father started a real estate business. Eventually, they combined the two into the corporation we have today.

In college, I majored in art, and after graduating, I began selling real estate. I sold my first house, earned a nice commission, and thought I had found my career. Around the same time, I also obtained my insurance license—more as a backup than a career plan.

Shortly afterward, my mother began experiencing health issues. At the time, the insurance agency had six employees.   What I expected to be a temporary opportunity to help the family business turned into a career I never saw coming.

What drew you into insurance?

As I became more involved in the agency, I discovered I truly enjoyed the work. I helped with bookkeeping and learned the claims process. My first sales role was writing homeowners insurance for clients buying homes through our real estate company.

What drew me to insurance was the opportunity to understand each client’s unique needs and provide solutions.  I also appreciated the stability of the business, the long-term relationships with clients, and the opportunity to build a successful career.

Watching what my parents accomplished through the agency—raising seven children and putting us all through private college—showed me what was possible. That’s when I realized insurance wasn’t just a job; it was the career I wanted to pursue.

Advice?

Treat everyone with respect. Assume they’re just as smart as you—or smarter. Listen to their ideas and earn their buy-in. Running an agency from the top down doesn’t work. I’m not in the trenches every day doing what they do, so if they tell me there’s a better way, I listen.  We all run the agency together. Every member of the team is essential, and I never lose sight of the fact that they’re the reason we succeed.

Will Jones is IA editor-in-chief.