Acquiring an Agency

When Michelle O’Connor and her husband started their insurance agency 25 years ago, they knew from the very beginning that joining the Independent Insurance Agents of North Carolina was a must.

Gonyo worked every role in an independent agency—from the front desk to producing—before starting her own agency at 32 years old with “minimal money in a tiny little office,” she says. Today, Blue Line Insurance has four branches and 15 employees, 14 of whom are women.

Our industry has been witnessing intense consolidation for at least the last decade, but we have never seen this type of activity at the top of the market. Will these mega deals usher in a new era of deal-making?

Gonyo has worked every role in an independent agency—from working the front desk to producing—before starting her own agency at 32 years old with “minimal money in a tiny little office,” she says. Today, Blue Line Insurance has four branches and 15 employees, 14 of whom are women.

In 2017, Carroll became a part owner and president of Stein Agency, a process in which she has stepped up professionally and grown into a leadership position while learning the ropes of agency management and p&c insurance.

​The landscape of agency acquisitions is as challenging as it is rewarding. To be successful, an acquisition requires a delicate balance between strategic alignment, financial prudence, cultural fit and more.

In 2022, Dew, then 20% owner of WinStar, learned that the other two owners would be retiring. She didn’t want to see the agency absorbed by the large buyers circling overhead and decided she would buy it herself—even if it meant mortgaging her house.

In the market right now, prospective buyers are not determining the price they will pay for an agency based on revenue alone, but instead on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA).

Growing up in a family where insurance was a topic of conversation at the dinner table, Andrews’ future in insurance was written in the stars.