Is Bolton & Co.’s Success Genetic’

The Insurance Journal is launching a new feature in this issue called Agency Insights. We are going to write about independent agencies that have done something unique, innovative or unusual that resulted in success for the agency, it’s clients and employees. The first agency we profile (pg. 35) is Bolton & Company; a Pasadena-based agency managed by Jim and Bill Bolton. Bill and Jim Bolton have taken the firm, started by their father Dorance, from $280,000 in annual premium to close to $200 million in premium today. Now, that is growth! In our question and answer interview format senior staff writer Dave Thomas explores with Jim and Bill Bolton just how they did it.

Not to embarrass Jim and Bill, but I’ve known them for almost 50 years! You see, their father Dorance and his wife Helen, and their uncle John Bolton were very close friends with my father and mother. Both families had cabins in Big Bear Lake, a Southern California resort community. We would spend summers in Big Bear and of course all the kids would hang out together. I think I was 10 when we first met. Dorance Bolton was a pioneer Southern California broker and early member of the Western Association of Insurance Brokers. Bill and Jim’s uncle, John Bolton, was the premier insurance attorney in Los Angeles. So when Jim and Bill Bolton took over Bolton & Company from their father, they had some very savvy insurance people as role models.

Now, don’t think for a minute that’s the reason for their amazing success. They spent years of hard work getting to where they are today. But I do think genes played a big part in their success. And I want to make sure we give some credit to their parents Helen and Dorance and their uncle John. By the way, my younger brother John Wells was named after John Bolton, not that the families were close or anything!

This month, Jim and Bill Bolton are turning the firm over to their employees. A smooth and successful continuation plan that many independent agencies can learn from. So congratulations to Jim and Bill Bolton on an incredibly successful career. (In case any of you are aghast at my ending a sentence with a preposition, I can only respond with Sir Winston Churchill’s reply in a similar situation: “That is nonsense up with which I will not put.”)

We hope you enjoy our new feature, Agency Insights, and ask that you send us your comments and suggestions for other agencies we should profile. You can reach me at: mwells@insurancejournal.com

Topics Agencies