US-based property and casualty insurer CIG Insurance has launched its new office near Florida’s west coast and is planning to further expand its operations in the region.
CIG Insurance operations officer Barney Barnhard was quoted by kansas.com as saying that the new office is located at Cape Coral, north of Fort Myers.
"We hope to have three offices in three years along the west coast (of Florida), between Tampa and Naples," Barnhard told the news portal.
CIG owner Barnhard and Chock Chapple were jointly quoted by the news portal as saying that they chose Florida because of its large population and potential for growth in the next decade. Finding veteran insurance producers to staff the expansion office was a bonus.
"It was like getting a seasoned group of people you rarely encounter," Barnhard said. "Two of them had 18-plus years’ experience in Florida."
Initially, the Florida office will offer only personal-lines insurance, which includes auto, home and life insurance as its Florida staff has expertise in the same field.
Based in Wichita, CIG was set up in 2005 and mainly offers commercial insurance brokerage services to private businesses with nearly 20 and 500 employees.
In recent years, the company has expanded business offering encompassing personal-lines insurance products, safety and human resources consulting and health insurance brokerage to firms.
Unveiling the company’s expansion plans over the next three to five years, Chapple said that the company aims to grow to 50 employees working from offices in three states.