HOLMES MURPHY
INSURANCE brokerage BEAU REID, NEBRASKA MARKET LEADER, HOLMES MURPHY
Future Focused
HOLMES MURPHY MARKS NINE DECADES AND COUNTING The corporate karma of Holmes Murphy has always resided within a certain measured audacity, anticipating future opportunities to inform the actions of the here and now. It is, after all, a firm launched during the Great Depression, arguably the worst period in history to start an insurance company, with the undaunted vision of building something great. And build it has. Holmes Murphy is now a regional power that employs 1,000 and generates millions in top line annual revenue. Yet, as impressive as the last nine decades have been, company leadership is far more interested in where the company is going. “Our culture of leading with innovation is going to serve us well because a lot of market change is coming,” said Beau Reid, Nebraska market leader. “We’re very aware of leading-edge things that are coming to the industry and that’s going to play a big role in us remaining relevant with our customer base. “The DNA of this company has been innovation and adapting to change and embracing change before the market actually goes there, particularly on the employee benefits side. We have been on the forefront of change in the health insurance world. I like to say if you’re just looking for somebody who’s good with the status quo, we may not be
your broker. The philosophy has paid off for the Waukee, Iowa-based firm, especially as COVID-19 has rewritten everything about daily life. The insurance industry, particularly, has found itself between shifting tectonic plates of internal and external change. “Our company didn’t have a ton of remote workers [before COVID19]; we had to really figure that out in fairly short order and get proficient at it,” Reid said. “Our willingness to adapt technology and embrace it quickly enabled us to serve our customers.”
Challenges as Opportunities Rapid adaptation to uncertain market conditions has been an element of the company’s modus operandi since Max Holmes opened his insurance agency in 1932, building it through the remaining years of the Great Depression. He partnered with Raymond Murphy Jr. in 1948. Reid said the market forces and insurance trends that have followed conditioned the company for the kinds of uncertainties COVID-19 represents for the insurance industry, particularly as it applies to health insurance benefits. “That’s a question our industry is coming to grips with right now,” he
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