Ala., N.C. Agents Join Assurex Global Network

Cobbs Allen & Hall Inc. of Birmingham, Ala., and Senn Dunn, of Greensboro, N.C. have been accepted as members of Assurex Global of Columbus, Ohio, the world’s largest insurance association designed specifically to meet the needs of independent agents and brokers.

Cobbs Allen & Hall and Senn Dunn are two of five other independent affiliates from around the globe accepted by Assurex Global to unite and expand the reach of the world’s largest insurance association. Assurex Global invites only one affiliate per market to become a member. Each affiuliate is carefully selected on the basis of its market position, growth history, financial stability, quality, breadth of services and commitment to client. Assurex reevaluates members every three years.

Cobbs, Allen & Hall began serving the Birmingham community in 1887 as the John G. Smith Company, the name changed in the 1920’s to reflect the three principals in force at the time. In 1992, a new group of owners and managers took over with definitive ideas of their own on how to serve the needs of clients throughout the southeast. In 1996, the agency opened an office in Atlanta, in 1999 in Augusta, Ga. and in 2004 in Nashville, Tenn. Services offered include the commercial, benefit and personal areas of insurance, including loss control, claims, alternative risk solutions and surety expertise.

Senn Dunn is a 77-year-old independent insurance agency and one of North Carolina’s largest privately held insurance agencies with 87 employees. Services and products include property/casualty, employee benefits, personal lines and human resources consulting. Senn Dunn and Senn Dunn Corpening finished 2004 with an 18 percent revenue growth.

In the past year, Senn Dunn has hired several young producers and merged with Sterling Financial and Corpening Insurance Center in High Point.

“As we’ve grown into a one-stop shop for insurance, we have been careful to increase the amount of our value-added client services,” Senn Dunn president T. Gray McCaskill said. “By collaborating with folks just like us across the world, we gain unsurpassed access to other markets, meaning that wherever Senn Dunn clients have assets at risk, we’ll handle it.” Senn Dunn succeeds a Charlotte-based agency that was acquired by a bank in August 2002.

Assurex Global is composed of more than 130 partner offices located on six continents generating annual premiums in excess of $19 billion. James R. Hackbarth, Assurex Global president and CEO believes his alliance’s success is due to combining local access with global strength.

“With the addition of new Assurex Global members in Ireland, India, Peru, Venezuela, Chicago, Birmingham and Greensboro, we are strategically positioned in every major commercial center on the map,” Hackbarth said. “This powerhouse collection of agency owners celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2004.”

Topics Agencies North Carolina