When it comes to succession planning, brokerages need to have a game plan in mind long before their leadership decides to move on. One BC-based brokerage recently offered up a masterclass in creating a succession strategy that works for everyone involved and will leave the company in the best hands possible for years to come.
That brokerage is Megson FitzPatrick, which at the beginning of March introduced a new leader. Laura Bolster (pictured above) has been COO at the company for almost seven years and will now be transitioning into the president and COO role, as current CEO Jay Tuson steps down to take on a reduced work week and the position of director of sales.
This decision was initiated by Tuson, who wanted more balance in his life as he reached the 10-year milestone of being CEO as well as a personal milestone of turning 60. Meanwhile Bolster, a company veteran who has worked at Megson FitzPatrick for 30 years, was ready to take the top leadership position after working side by side with Tuson and CFO Craig Mattear during a decade that brought tons of change for the brokerage.
“When Jay decided that…it was time for him to step back, I wanted the opportunity because I worked so closely with [him] and it seemed like the right next step because of how we’ve all worked together,” said Bolster. “With that many years under my belt, I’ve been through a lot with Megson Fitzpatrick.”
This succession plan has been years in the making, and kicked off when Megson FitzPatrick announced its partnership with the Rogers Group of Companies in 2017. At that time, the leadership team put a plan in place for all of the partners – including founders David FitzPatrick and Michael Megson, who were getting ready to slow down and retire – to sell down their shares over a period of time. In 2019, Rogers Insurance became a majority shareholder in the brokerage and, on January 31, 2020, Mattear and Tuson sold the balance of their shares.
Besides the deal with Rogers Insurance, other major moves made by the brokerage over the past two decades included its purchase of Cumberbirch Insurance Agency in 2016 and Shandley Tuson Insurance in 1998. Additionally, the brokerage bought Town & Country Insurance in 2001 and picked up Merit Insurance two years later.
Along with these acquisitions, Megson FitzPatrick grew organically, doubling the size of the company over the past decade and rebranding as it evolved.
“When we looked at doing something with the organization, there were areas that we wanted to focus on and one was scale. With the mergers and acquisitions in our industry, we recognized that the days of the small local community broker were going to be challenged,” explained Tuson (pictured below). “Technology was another really important piece, so we invested five years ago in an entirely new broker management system, which was a big step for us. We made this move so that we could bring better technology to our clients.”
The brokerage also relaunched its website, with the aim of being more technology front-facing by putting products online and making them easily accessible for clients, while continuing to work on providing other services that customers expect in today’s purchasing world.
As the business grew, however, there were some challenges that needed to be addressed. When the company reached 60 employees about 10 years ago, the team realized that the brokerage needed a management team, along with HR and IT departments.
“We needed to structure our company because we realized that we were at a plateau where we’d done really well in the world of insurance, but we needed to build a better business model,” said Tuson. “We needed to create a foundation that was going to help us grow again.”
Through that restructuring process, the brokerage worked to create cohesion among the leadership team and establish clarity about its core values. Seven years ago, the team updated those values as well as its purpose statement so that they truly reflected what the company was about – “Improving the lives of our clients, team and community.” Today, employees use the values (setting the bar high, doing the right thing, and delivering results) and purpose statement as a sounding board when making decisions with clients and with each other.
A key benefit of instilling these values into the day-to-day operations of the brokerage was the fact that it became a place that attracted new talent.
“We have a great reputation here in Victoria and I think we’re well known now for our culture, which is really important to me,” said Bolster.
As Tuson steps into his new role, his goal will be to continue the brokerage’s growth. While it has been successful on the commercial side over recent years, he wants to see the brokerage get more competitive in the world of personal lines, which much like Megson FitzPatrick has gone through its own technological shift in recent years. Tuson is also looking forward to coaching and mentoring sales staff and helping them connect with the community – and he has good advice to offer, seeing as he was in a similar role at the outset of his career.
“It goes back to my roots because when I started in insurance, that’s what I was doing – I was a salesperson,” said Tuson.
As for Bolster, as she steps into the leadership position she plans to improve and strengthen the relationship with Rogers Insurance.
“It’s going to be important to me and for us as a company to elevate the relationship we have with Rogers and tap into the strengths that they can bring to our organization,” she said, adding that she also wants to develop the management group. “We’ve been a really strong leadership team – we’ve all been shareholders, we’ve all held high positions here at the company at an executive level, and we’re going to be losing that, so developing the leadership team and strengthening the people that I’m going to be working with moving forward is also really important to me, [as is] developing those new young leaders of the future.”
After all, succession planning is far from over when the current leaders of Megson FitzPatrick step down.
“What happens in seven years, eight years, nine years when I want to step back – who’s going to be coming down the line?” said Bolster. “Who are we mentoring and coaching so that they can be the next group of leaders at the company?”
