The Insurance Business Hall of Fame 2023

Jump to winners | Jump to judges | Jump to methodology

Living Legends

Being inducted into IBA’s Hall of Fame is no small achievement. Only those who have an exceptional track record are considered. 

One of the judges, Bill Johnson, CEO, founder, and chairman of The Liberty Company Insurance Brokers, says, “This industry has a lot of great people, and this group was the best of the best. Their integrity led to their success over time because this is a people business, and when people are operating throughout their careers with integrity, it clearly reflects in their results and accomplishments.” 

He also listed key attributes the 2023 inductees possess: 

• vision

• creativity

• determination
   

While another of the judges focused on entrepreneurial spirit. 

“I wanted some to see somebody who had an impact on total business everywhere, meaning they may have taken a small company, decided to buy up other companies, set up new operations, and successfully expanded those businesses,” says Joe Boren, senior advisor at Synapse Services. 

Boren also mentions some other advantageous attributes: 

• community leaders

• building a business outside of their comfort zone

• training or mentoring individuals who went on to achieve greater success
   

Peter C. Foy – PCF Insurance Services 

Numbers tell part of a person’s story. In 1987, Foy founded PCF Insurance Services in Utah. Over the years, his journey reached remarkable heights:

• In 2017, the firm secured its first investor. 

• By 2018, PCF had acquired its initial agency partner. 

• The firm completed 10 acquisitions by 2018, which surged to 215 by 2022. 

• In November 2021, the firm achieved a valuation of $2.2 billion.

• PCF’s annual revenue in 2022 hit $700 million, a significant jump from $203 million in 2020. 

• By February 2023, the firm’s valuation had soared to an impressive $4.7 billion.
   

Foy says, “Back when I started, I came out of a large broker after about three or four years. I just couldn’t do that; I needed to do something on my own.” 

He recalls printing glossy maps of the US and having plans to have offices dotted across them. 

“It took a while to get to that point,” Foy says. “We kept building and realized we were just one office, and we did business all over the country and had some overseas clients too, but my goal deep down was to have offices all over the place.” 

The time to make that happen came in 2016. Foy rebuffed offers for his firm and instead made a deal with a private equity group. What impressed them was his model for growth. 

“A lot of people plan to acquire a guy who’s older and going to retire, and let’s get his book. Well, that wasn’t my thing,” Foy says. “My thing is, let’s go get a bunch of people who are still really entrepreneurial and want to grow and continue to grow.” 

The ethos was about doing more together rather than taking over. 

Foy says, “My thought is to put them on track and let them run. I want to give them the right boundaries to work within.” 

At the time of the first investment, PCF had one office with 21 team members and had revenue of around $6 million. Now, the firm has 275 offices and almost 4,000 employees. 

Due to the size of the operation, Foy has become a figurehead and stamped his policies through the entire organization. 

“I am like a sports coach. Our whole thing is to take good organizations and just give them the resources so they can be great. I couldn’t do this on my own,” he says. 

Underscoring that initiative, Foy refers to the firms that have become part of PCF as “partners”. Over 1,000 people also have equity in the company, which again was something he insisted on. 

“I want them to participate in our success, as we’re all in this together,” he says. 

Foy has set specific parameters for how he envisions the business’s performance, which include: 

• honesty 

• ethical practices

• morality
   

He also concedes that his approach of encouraging people to grow and take on challenges means that mistakes will be made. 

“Just don’t make the mistake that brings organizations down,” he jokes. “But seriously, I understand if you get the opportunity to run, and these are a bunch of entrepreneurs who are not looking for people to tell them what to do. If they have a problem, it’s how we figure it out together as a team.” 

Allowing his people to have the freedom to drive forward, make mistakes, and learn rests on Foy’s ability to understand he cannot micromanage as it would undermine the talent. 

He says, “One of the greatest assets I have is the ability to hire smarter people around me and not try to control everything. Everybody’s got an ego, but I try to check mine and make sure that these people get all the credit for what they do because that’s really what’s growing this company. 

“I believe that as the CEO of a company, your only job is to get all the obstacles out of the way so people can do their work.” 

While PCF is dispersed nationwide, it has two events per year where all the offices come together, one for employees and the other for families. Keeping a strong culture is fundamental going forward for Foy, as he is nowhere close to turning down his engine. 

“I make sure at the top I’ve hired great leaders that hire great people below them, so we’re always getting the right people,” he says. “We look to hire somebody almost overqualified for the job they’re doing now, because we know where they are going to go.” 

There are plans to take the size of the team up to 8,000 and then 12,000. No matter how big PCF becomes, Foy is sticking to his core values. 

He says, “We have so much responsibility for all those people and their careers. I take that really seriously because their livelihood is dependent on this organization. We have got to treat them right and make sure they have a future.”