Brady and Company.

• Author: KANE, ROGER
• Position: Brief Article

2000 Top 49ers Ranking: 7

Position Last Year: 8

1999 Revenue: $146 million

Number of Employees: 50

Ask the president of Anchorage's largest insurance brokerage what the key to the company's success is and his answer might surprise you.

"People," he answers unequivocally. "The firm is only going to do as well as the associates working for us."

Since taking the helm of Brady and Company in 1994, President Fred Chadwick has seen the company's revenues dip from $83 million that year, into the high $70-million range in the mid-'90s, then climb to more than $130 million in 1998. Last year, the company's revenues climbed 9.5 percent and topped $146 million.

Rather than crediting last year's climbing revenues to new management practices, Wall Street's Bull market or business strategy, Chadwick lays the credit at the feet of his company's sales staff--as most revenue increases came from getting new accounts from existing businesses in Alaska.

Brady and Company's Chairman of the Board, Carl Brady, also credits the company's employees for making the brokerage successful.

"The most important assets we have go down the elevator every night," he said. "Unlike most companies, we do not have things and stuff that create value. Our assets are our people."

Brady said those employees are what give the company the edge it needs to outdo its competition.

"The way I see it is we make our own luck, through timing and preparation," he said. "And we're better prepared to achieve our customers' needs."

Chadwick and Brady said the company has gone to great lengths to recruit the best employees and to provide them with the best training possible. Judging by the growth the company has experienced in recent years, both men agree those efforts have paid off.

The largest area of growth in the insurance industry in 1999 came from providing commercial benefit management services. This includes assessing risk and managing 401K services, health benefits and life insurance policies.

This is an area where Brady and Company shines. The brokerage already derives 75 percent of its business from risk management services, which involves identifying a company's risks, including life, safety issues, fire and health hazards; assessing them; and determining how best to handle them.

The remaining 25 percent of Brady and Company's business comes from selling commercial insurance policies.

Unlike most insurance companies that put policies before people, Chad-wick prefers to put people...