Milwaukee | Founded: 1960
Industry: Insurance | Employees: 286 (419 w/agent owners)
Sales: $61.7 million (2022 projected)
Robertson Ryan & Associates offers a broad range of solutions for business, personal and benefits insurance. The company has more than 45,000 clients, from homeowners to small businesses to national accounts across all industries.
What factors have contributed the most to your growth in the past three years?
Chris Illman, chief executive officer: “First, we are a very unique insurance agency. Our tagline is, ‘We’re an agency for agents,’ and we truly mean that because all of our agents are independent business owners, and they all own their books of business. The philosophy of that is nobody cares more or takes better care of a client than an independent agent who owns that client list. They can consult and advise clients with a passion that’s more meaningful than transactional.”
Do you plan to make any changes to your company?
“You’re going to see our reach expanding out, because our value proposition is a national value proposition. We’re very different, and our uniqueness is well positioned because we sit between the big M&A folks and small one- or two-agent shops.”
