Declaration of Independents: Kelley Carter

• By: AnneMarie McPherson Spears
• December 1, 2025

Kelley Carter

President

Choice Insurance Agency, Member of Choice Financial Group

Virginia Beach, Virginia

Communication is the name of the game in the challenging coastal insurance
market—and Carter, a communication and business major, has applied that wholeheartedly.

“We’ve leaned into trying to find the right balance between utilizing technology and applying a human touch with our clients,” she says. “Artificial intelligence (AI) is a huge conversation in the insurance space right now, and we are very tech-focused, but are adding in that empathetic human touch: Why are these changes happening? How are they impacting you? What resources can we offer you?”

In October, she stepped into the role of division president for Choice Insurance Agency in Virginia Beach, where she looks forward to continuing its success as one
of the top-growing brokerages in the country.

Agency growth?

Mergers & acquisitions are a really big part of our culture and growth plan and we also have a huge focus on new organic growth, so everything we do is with growth in mind. I moved into the vice president of personal lines role with Choice Insurance Agency in 2020 and oversaw the integration of more than 14 different agency mergers throughout the Eastern Seaboard, which was a great learning opportunity for agency integrations, carrier partnerships and creating overall agency-level operational overhauls.

Coastal challenges?

East Coast exposure is our niche. There’s been some major changes over the last two or three years in the property & casualty industry as a whole, but especially in the coastal markets. One thing that’s stood out is the carrier partners who were there for us when the markets were the toughest. Those are the relationships that are forged in the fire and that we seek to grow with in the future.

Marketing advice?

I spent several years in agency marketing roles and believe that a solid marketing strategy can accelerate agency growth. In my experience, successful agency marketing requires a clear vision of what you want your marketing strategy to accomplish.

How did you get started in insurance?  

I was a communications and business major. I graduated from college and took a project role based in Oaxaca, Mexico, and Bogota, Colombia. I wanted to travel and get a break from studying, and figure out what I wanted to do. After about five months, I came back and I was faced with the inevitable decision: Do I want to go into graduate school or do I want to start working?  

I started with a Fortune 500 company in the Virginia Beach area, and I got my personal lines license. I started in their sales division, but it was very corporate and cookie-cutter with no entrepreneurial opportunity. I segued over to a Nationwide exclusive agency in Virginia Beach and progressed into various opportunities within commercial lines, marketing, and the life, health and finance spaces.   

When Nationwide exited the exclusive model, the CEO of that agency merged with Choice Insurance Agency, and I came over with him as the vice president of marketing. Doing all the branding efforts and integration with mergers was a fantastic experience. In 2020, I moved into the vice president of personal lines role leading all of our East Coast locations. In 2024, I moved into the senior vice president of operations role at Choice Insurance Agency, leading all P&C operations and integrations. I’m honored to share that I moved into the president role for Choice Insurance Agency, as of October 2025.   

What’s your favorite part of your job?  

Two things: One is the people. We have a fantastic team. Working with team members who are committed to what they do and who are invested in not just the success of the agency but also in serving our clients—especially in a challenging market—is very rewarding. The other thing is that it’s never boring. We’re growing so fast and we have so many new growth opportunities within Choice. We’re building an amazing not only company but group of people all working towards a common goal.  

What’s your leadership philosophy?  

Take care of the people who are aligned with your vision, the people who are bought in and invested. They’re stepping up, they’re raising their hand and they see the vision of where you’re taking a company. Stand in the gap for those people—support them, get them resources, have their back, create as much flexibility and growth for them as possible. Because at the end of the day, insurance is a people business. If you take care of your team, they take care of your clients.  

I would say another part of my leadership philosophy is not to lead with ego. When you are part of a growing company, we’re getting a lot of awards, our name is out there a lot. I’ve seen the fallacies of leadership where ego gets involved and you think that you don’t have things to learn, or you think that you can’t be open to insight. When you put yourself in that position, you don’t set your team up for success, and you don’t set yourself up for success either. Lead with humility and recognize there’s always more that can be learned.  

Advantages of offering health and benefits insurance along with personal and commercial lines?  

From the agency perspective, it’s great to diversify what you’re able to do. When the p&c market takes a hit, you’re able to balance out your growth strategy and vice versa; balance and diversification are key to sustained growth. Our employee benefits division has been extremely strong and is led by a very talented team who genuinely care about the people we serve.  

I’ve been with smaller agencies and I’ve personally been the jack of all trades—you wear all the hats and you’re running through everything in one meeting with a client. That certainly has a place, but our approach has been to add a different level of expertise to our advisement. We really focus on having teams who specialize in what they do and they go deep in their knowledge. We’re able to provide expert advisement for their home, business, life, etc. but they’re paired with advisors who have specialized expertise. It’s a holistic approach to advisement. 

Approach to customer education and communication? 

We try to be conscientious about not just blasting out information, but to actually add value that is specific to the needs of the client. We do offer text, we have apps, we have portals. We have client account managers, so they have a specific person to reach out to, but we also have general phone queues.   

We do a lot of our advising and our educating when we’re touching accounts during the renewal process. We’re asking about life changes, we’re asking about updates to the home. Then we educate them on what additional exposures they could have, what coverages they need and then help them ensure that there are no gaps in their protection. 

What recent accomplishments are you most proud of? 

Our steep and continuous growth path as a company, not just for my division, but for Choice Financial Group as a whole. We have exceptional leadership at our corporate level, and they have been leading and growing our company exponentially. For me, having been with some branch or division of this company for 12 years, it’s been incredible to see the growth that’s come from how hard we’ve worked. I’ve never worked this hard at anything ever, but I’ve also never seen something be quite this awesome.  
 
In hand with that, seeing the leadership and team that we’re building at my division and watching them step into these leadership roles and have positive impacts has been immensely fulfilling. 

Goals for the next five years?  

The big vision in the president role is that we’re continuing to grow and progress as best in class at what we do. We’re expanding our geographical footprint, we are continuing to scale—bring on strong producers, continue expanding our account managers, and add to our strategic carrier partnerships. Our focus is on scaling growth into 2026 and beyond.  

AnneMarie McPherson Spears is IA news editor.