Q&A with
KIM SHOFF Kim Shoff, CIC is president and owner of Miller Carlisle Insurance Associates Inc., a full-service independent insurance agency based in Carlisle, PA.
Q. When you began with the agency as a receptionist in 1982, did you aspire to stay in the insurance industry? How did your career unfold? A. I started at Gibb-Miller Insurance as the receptionist in 1982. I had no work experience, no knowledge of what insurance was or what insurance actually did, and I lacked good communication skills. I really thought my new job would just be a short-term gig. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. Gene Miller took me under his wing and gave me opportunities and lessons that I didn’t realize at the time were so valuable. I moved from the receptionist to the bookkeeper and then a licensed agent and then onto bigger and better things. Q. Agency founder Gene Miller passed away unexpectedly in 2005, leading to your purchase of the business. Was the transfer of ownership planned? And what did you learn from the experience? A. Gene offered me ownership in the agency and the title of Vice President in 1997. Then in late 2005, when Gene passed away, I had a huge decision to make. I chose to honor Gene’s wishes and take over the agency.
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It was a big growing and learning experience, and I made my share of mistakes and had doubts many times. When Gene was still living and he talked about me taking over the agency one day, he would always say to me, “I will only be a phone call away.” There were many times in those first few years that I really needed that phone call. Q. In 2018, you merged Miller Insurance Associates with Carlisle Insurance Services. What advice would you give to other agency owners who are approaching a merger or acquisition? A. From 2006 to 2017 the agency continued to grow in small numbers. I realized we were becoming stagnate and because we were a small agency, getting appointments with the larger carriers was almost impossible. Skip Hockley [a fellow independent agency owner] and I had conversations over a period of several years. Then we started serious conversations, along with Skip’s son Justin, over a merger. I had taken care of the financial obligation with the 2005 purchase of the agency, and I realized that combining efforts could be very beneficial to both agencies. I think my best advice is to look for the strengths of each
NOVEMBER 2020
