This article was produced in partnership with KRGinsure
Abraham Baboujian is the co-CEO and president of the RRJ Insurance Group dba KRGinsure. He comes from a banking and project finance background. He began his insurance career in 1994 as a broker with Roger R. James Insurance Brokers Ltd. (established in 1976), a multi-line general insurance brokerage. From the beginning, his focus was on commercial lines insurance business as well as brokerage acquisitions.
Recently, he assumed the role of President of RRJ. He will guide the company on its next journey by providing oversight and stewardship and undertaking a number of strategic reviews and new initiatives, all designed to enhance the positioning of the business for the future, to enable and empower its leadership, and to enhance its culture as a sales organization.
After a recent high-profile re-branding & re-organizing, KRGinsure is embarking on a new journey - to refresh its approach to management, to re-position itself in the Canadian insurance brokerage landscape and to invest heavily into new digital resources and talent attraction to become the employer of choice in the market.
Originally a collection of different brokerage brands across Ontario, KRGinsure came together as a single brand just a few years ago. Spearheaded by Abraham Baboujian and Jennifer James (co-CEOs of holding company RRJ Insurance Group), the uniting of multiple brands was a significant step in the company’s journey. Baboujian said that the consolidation was done with one key objective in mind – to create a unified and recognisable brand, and to reiterate the company’s unwavering commitment to serving the local community.
Originally a banker, Baboujian started his journey with RRJ Insurance Group by acquiring several brokerages – and over the last two decades, he’s made no fewer than 25 acquisitions. With the marketplace rapidly changing and customer expectations evolving, he said that creating a more streamlined, modern, focused and consistent service has become the clearer pathway into the future.
“Our footprint across Ontario is very wide and deep. When we started out, we wanted to make sure that we were really seen as a local firm,” Baboujian said.
“I always did my best to find suppliers from local sources, and our strategy was originally to maintain all of the brand names that we had acquired over the years. We wanted to make sure that the community saw us a continuation of the previous businesses, albeit under new ownership. This allowed our frontline staff to have access to more markets, more technical knowledge and support, and that in turn would ultimately help the consumers.”
“We lived with that model for many years, but eventually we realised that it was time to consolidate under one brand name,” he explained.
“KRG was one of the acquisitions that we made back in 2009, and we decided to maintain that name because it was a well known commercial brokerage throughout Canada, and it resonated with the region we operated in. In our roster, we have companies that date back to 1906 – so there’s a lot of history there throughout southern Ontario. That’s a past that we cherish and celebrate, and we don’t let people forget that we have deep roots in the communities that we serve.”
Today the company has nearly 200 employees spread across six offices, and writes almost $200 million in premium volume.
While KRGinsure has flourished since its re-branding, Baboujian said that now is not the time to sit still. Over the next 12-24 months, the company will be undertaking a number of strategic reviews and new initiatives, all designed to enhance the running of the business, empower its leadership, and to enhance its culture as a sales organisation, providing added value in the form of consultative service and ongoing specialized expertise to our clients.
KRGinsure will also be exploring what it means to be a ‘digital brokerage’, and will be moving to a new broker management system as part of its transformation. It will also dedicate a significant amount of resources to talent attraction, and to searching for its next generation of leaders.
“As a company, we’re going through a lot of changes right now – particularly in the management team,” Baboujian said. “The idea is to unshackle them a bit more, and to simply let them do what they do best, to let them deploy their knowledge and skills.”
“I also wanted to shift our culture, because at the end of the day, we’re a sales organisation,” he explained.
“We can be the best service providers, the most efficient processors, have the best IT systems, etc., but if we do not succeed at sales or aren’t good at building and maintaining client relationships, then we’re not going to get very far. We’re also going to do a lot of soul searching around how we can recruit next gen talent to be the future frontline staff, the specialists and leaders. That initiative will have the most resources allocated to it, and it has to go beyond simply paying more money.”
While the next 12-18 months are going to be a busy time for KRGinsure, Baboujian said that the company will not be losing sight of its roots – or of its core values as a kind, inclusive and empathetic business. With the transformation already underway, he said the business will most certainly look very different a year from now.
“There’s a lot going on at the company right now, but that’s a good thing!” Baboujian said.
“I like a bit of periodic chaos, and I like to challenge people and say ‘you go and get the answers and I’m here to help.’ It’s about empowering people, and also holding them accountable. But ultimately we’re a company of empathy, understanding and tolerance, and I’ll always be there to support our staff. We want to make sure we maintain that as we continue to grow and evolve with our employees.”
