Jonathan Theders

CEO

RiskSOURCE Clark-Theders

Cincinnati

Joining his father, Rick Theders, in the family business in 1998, Jonathan Theders knew he had a lot to learn about insurance. So, every Wednesday at 6 a.m., father and son met for breakfast in what Jonathan describes as a coaching session, where his father taught him how to run the business and how to be a leader. Fast forward 23 years and the breakfast meetings with his father continue—but with Jonathan at the helm.

AGENCY GROWTH?

In 2010, we launched RiskSOURCE—an insurance product we created as a risk management audit tool. It's an in-depth way of getting to know your business client where we focus on risk issues in areas such as policies, procedures, work environment and company culture. When we pull all that together, we really understand the culture of an organization. This product took our local area by storm, and we grew at a very high rate. We included RiskSOURCE in our agency name from 2013.

INDUSTRY CHALLENGES?

The fact that we're laggards to the economy. You set policy premiums at payrolls and sales of today and then you audit the next year. If sales and payroll are down, you not only get a reduced renewal, but you also give back money. I'm much more concerned about 2021 than I was about 2020.

GIVING BACK?

We started the RiskSOURCE Cares program in 2007 where we give each associate 30 hours a year to donate to a nonprofit of their choice. It formed great commonalities between employees when it comes to working together to give back to the community. 

ADVICE TO ANOTHER AGENT?

Underwriters love and hate me because I'm going to fight for what's right for our customers. Salespeople struggle when it becomes just about price and the bottom line. They don't pay enough attention to know that there are some significant differences between every contract. There's value in knowing that. 

Olivia Overman is IA content editor.