Agency Profile: Zap the Gap

Charles Leach

New Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Founded: 1936
Employees: 15

Overcoming generation gaps is among the rewarding results of a rebranding initiative at this family-owned independent agency northeast of Pittsburgh.

Third-generation owner and agency president Lisa Leach Goth, 50, belongs to the middle generation working in the business that her grandfather started. Goth’s father, Charles P. Leach Jr. (Chuck), 72, is CEO; employees like executive vice president Dalena G. Rupp, 51, have been with the agency for 33 years. But other staffers, like Nate Snyder, 26, were born in the online age.

Soul-searching and rebranding was “painful and tiring,” says Goth, but the process reinvigorated the business. Now, the agency is cultivating customers in up-and-coming urban areas of Pittsburgh where young people are starting new businesses.

NATE SNYDER, FINANCIAL SERVICES EXECUTIVE

“I grew up around here, so I saw the Leach image as always staying the same. When I joined the firm, I wanted to see something fresher to help expand our client base to people my age.”

LISA LEACH GOTH, OWNER

“We were sensitive to the generation that’s closer to retirement but still vital and productive, and maybe not so locked in to technology. Yet we needed to engage the generation that’s accustomed to technology and craves it. We needed to plan for perpetuating the agency—to attract younger employees and appeal to younger customers. We wanted to truly understand how we function internally so we could carry that attitude into the marketplace.”

DaLENA G. RUPP, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT

“Our experience with an automated agency management system gives everyone a certain technology comfort level. Beyond that, employees have latitude to engage with new technologies as their comfort level grows.”