Dirk Bruggencate (pictured) was bartending when he was first introduced to the insurance industry. He was in college at the time and serving two employees from Alberta-based Morgex Insurance who invited him to come work for the company. After completing a practicum at Morgex, Bruggencate was offered a job in sales and eventually wrote his Level 1 licencing exam, which he failed by one mark on his first try. That didn’t stop him from taking a second run at it, however.
“I took a course after and I ended up passing, so I started off and did online sales originally with Morgex,” said Bruggencate, now partner and COO at BlueCircle Insurance Brokers. Back then, 14 years ago, the broker was doing 100 online leads a day before eventually being moved on to the phones. He later had an opportunity to go down to Calgary and work at the Morgex office in the city, which was a good choice for an avid snowboarder. Finally, the company was sold to Johnson Insurance and Bruggencate decided it was time to move on.
“I wasn’t really feeling the direct writers’ vibe, I didn’t enjoy that. I liked to have the options and I liked to think about the insurance portion, not just enter things on a computer,” he said.
An opportunity to work with Gerry Baert, BlueCircle’s president, came up and Bruggencate shed blood, sweat and tears at the company to build up his book and climb the ladder.
“Nothing got handed to me by any means,” he said. “I moved over into some management to manage the office for a while. About four years ago, I had the opportunity to become a partner, which I accepted, and that’s brought on more responsibility for me as well, and it’s been fantastic – it’s given me the title of COO,” though Bruggencate is still an insurance guy. He has a book of business and also mentors a lot of the staff at BlueCircle, besides trying to get policies and procedures enforced at the company. His favourite part of the work is the fact that it’s always challenging.
“Every situation is different. I work with commercial clients as well, which definitely is different for everything. You’re not stuck in a position where everything is the same,” said Bruggencate. “The industry is moving so fast these days, too. It can be frustrating sometimes, but I’m always forced to learn new things and challenge myself.”
The relationship aspect of the industry likewise keeps the broker engaged.
“It’s one of the only industries that you can start a relationship with a client and actually make friends with these clients, and build that relationship for years and years,” he said.
Today, Bruggencate is on the board of the Professional Young Insurance Brokers (PYIB), a subcommittee of the Insurance Brokers Association of Alberta (IBAA).
“One of the most appealing things for me about the IBAA and the PYIB is you surround yourself with really excellent people that are dedicated to the industry, and that’s one of the things I love about it – there’s people that work in the industry, but they don’t always consider that a career and there are certainly people that view the insurance industry as their career, and I really enjoy being surrounded by those people and being involved in events.”
As part of his PYIB work, Bruggencate visits high schools to tell kids about his experiences and the career opportunities that exist in insurance.
“This is a career, [but] no one ever thinks about it,” he said, adding that kids might dream of being a firefighter or a nurse, but not necessarily a broker. “I relay my experiences and important things that I think [about the industry]. A lot of them go out of there and say, ‘hey, I should start thinking about this.’”
