Successful agency owners and managers exhibit a number of common traits. Probably high on any list is an ongoing willingness to explore new possibilities that may yield improved operations. Another might be industry involvement in activities that take the owner-manager out of the office. That's usually where someone can become exposed to the bigger picture issues of the industry and has opportunity to give input. These characteristics apply to Carl Gaspar, the current Chairman of the Board of Directors at ACORD.
I've met Carl on a number of occasions over the past 15 years or so, both at industry events and at his agency. Because of his new industry role at ACORD, I decided to catch up with Carl to find out what he's been up to. In particular I wanted to know how his various industry "hats" shape his agency outlook and industry input.
The agency and the man
Carl has been in the insurance business for about 30 years. He started as an underwriting manager with SAFECO. Since 1975 he has headed Gaspar-Jones & Associates, Inc. in suburban Denver, Colorado. The agency employs 20 producers and staff who take care of a business mix of about 70 percent commercial lines and 30 percent personal lines. The agency has moved to a new location and added to its staff since I first visited it.
Carl believes that he is something of an "anomaly" in that he "loves building and running an organization." In my conversations with him over the years, Carl has impressed me as naturally inquisitive, which may explain why he seems to enjoy the challenge the trying to figure out how business things work and how to improve them. Carl completed an MBA program a number of years ago and remarked that the challenge of going back to school and learning new ideas was a positive experience and satisfying accomplishment. Carl describes himself as a "professional manager," and feels that he's a "good manager of systems and processes" and adept at directing and motivating others to accomplish objectives and achieve goals. Despite that self-assessment, Carl regards his agency presence as "transparent and in the background" and encourages staff members to experiment and extend themselves.
Over the years, Carl has been active in a number of industry groups and has served in a variety of leadership roles. He was a founding member of the National Users of AGENA Systems (NUAS) and served as its president in 1993. Carl is a past chair of the National PIA Business & Technology Committee and is currently chair of the Industry Affairs Committee for the AMS Users Group (AMSUG). Prior to his current position as ACORD Board of Directors Chairman, Carl served on the organization's Operations Committee.
According to Carl, the staff at Gaspar-Jones & Associates regards his industry affiliations and involvement as an agency strength. To me, it appears that Carl's industry activities have heightened his interest in and awareness of automation and technology issues that have become standard practice within his agency. Though technically savvy, Carl doesn't think of himself as a "techie."
Agency developments
Like most successful and growing agencies, progress is the result of effective planning and management. At Gaspar-Jones & Assoc-iates, that has yielded growth through acquisition and efficiencies gained through the implementation of new technology.
Over the last few years, Gaspar-Jones has acquired three small agencies as well as several producers and their books. All this required expanded new offices to a building not too far from its previous location.
Technology-wise, agency efficiency has improved immensely as a result of T-filing (implemented in 1991) and document imaging, which Carl viewed as a natural add-on to the T-filing concept. Carl said he was so impressed with the idea of scanning papers and attaching them to client files that (at first) everyone had their own desktop scanner. But in moving the agency to its new location, Carl ran into the owner of a document imaging company in the same building. Now, since mid-2001, the agency takes its various paper files to the imaging company twice a week. Carl said that when he figured the cost of paying the imaging company versus hiring an additional person to keep up with the mountain of paper, outsourcing the task made better sense. The agency now shreds most of its paper (after it's scanned, of course) and has regained considerable floor space.
Carl takes an incremental approach to technology enhancement, realizing that you can't do everything at once. For example, the agency is quite capable of managing its own in-house AMS AfW system and sees no urgent need to migrate to the ASP version. Also, Carl knows that he needs to upgrade his agency Web site, but instead of rushing into a makeover blindly, wants to take time to rethink his Web presence.
Industry outlook
In moving back and forth between agency and industry activities, Carl gets to see some of the recurring issues in dual light. For example, he sees firsthand in his agency the effects of multiple platforms and browsers when dealing with carriers, yet knows that the larger standards effort via ACORD can be useful. On the other hand, he quickly points out that "ACORD can only develop standards," but implementing them is something that companies and vendors must do. As a result, learning the different look and feel of carrier Web sites remains a significant issue for agency personnel. In Carl's view, proprietary carrier Web sites are a "huge training issue," and "create duplicate effort," plus introduce "potential error."
In Carl's view, technology issues are only part of the mix that agents and other industry elements must deal with. Presently, the difficulty agents face due to the hard market creates its own set of problems. Carl thinks that metropolitan agencies are possibly facing more difficulty than rural agencies, but that all agencies are experiencing the effects of carrier service that he characterizes as "at a low." While some agencies have branched into other business offerings (e.g., banking and PEOs), Gaspar-Jones does not plan to make any similar move. As Carl puts it, "I think it's a good idea to stick with what you know."
Sum of many factors
Meeting with Carl reinforced my belief that successful owners and managers tend to be well-rounded and have a good grasp of a variety of issues that comes from observation and practice. I haven't known too many successful executives who were "flash-in-the-pan" dynamos who rush from one decision to the next without thought and reflection. As I listened to Carl, it was almost as if he was reflecting out loud, imparting a level of insight and wisdom from which many business people could learn.
I didn't ask Carl how much longer he plans to remain in the insurance business, but I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up in another industry position where he can put his experience and perspective to good use.
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