Keystone Insurers to Enter Tennessee Market

Keystone Insurers Group, with more than 215 franchise partners in six states, today announced it will expand into Tennessee early next year. The privately held company is owned by its employees and partners in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky.

Executive Vice President Colin Buzzard, in announcing Keystone’s expansion, said, “We anticipate launching Tennessee in the first quarter of 2011 with around 15 ‘pioneer’ partners. That select group will set the direction for Keystone in Tennessee and will dictate future partner opportunities. We place great confidence in that initial group. They are ultimately the ones who bring the best together.”

Every partner within the Keystone umbrella is an independent agency, individually owned and operated, but also has an enhanced array of services and support that comes with being part of the larger group.

With its model, Keystone has grown from 16 to 215 franchise partners – all, for now, in the Mid-Atlantic and Midwestern regions of the country.

Buzzard said that in anticipation of next year’s entry into Tennessee, Keystone has been in contact with insurance industry representatives there. Insurors of Tennessee, a statewide association of independent insurance agents, is key.

“We met with Chuck Bidek, executive director of the state association and its director of communications, Dan Smith, to discuss Keystone’s intentions and to answer any questions they wished to ask,” Buzzard said. “We are huge supporters of the associations. We’ve made a practice over the years of apprising them of our intentions, explaining how Keystone operates and letting them know what corporate partners can expect from Keystone.”

Topics Carriers New Markets Tennessee