Carl Brady Jr.: Brady & Company Inc.: this long-time Alaska company will sport a new name, but will keep the same faces and services. And at its helm will be JA laureate Carl Brady Jr.

• Author: Cutler, Debbie
• Position: Junior Achievement Special Section - Brady & Company Inc.

By the time this article hits the press, Brady & Company Inc., a fixture in Alaska since 1977, will no longer be in existence as we once knew it.

It will still be located on the corner of Fourth Avenue and L Street in the Brady Building, with offices that take up 1.5 floors, decorated tastefully in a navy blue and beige. And it will still employ 84. And at the helm will still be Carl Brady Jr., chairman and CEO, who this year has been named one of the Alaska Business Junior Achievement Hall of Fame laureates, following in the footsteps of his father, Carl Brady Sr., retired founder of Era Aviation Inc., who took the JA award in 1990.

So what is different?

"The big news is, we announced on Oct. 17, that Brady & Company is merging into the largest insurance broker in the world: Marsh," said Brady, in mid-November. "They have 101 offices worldwide and revenues in excess of $10 billion. We're looking to the future. We see this as a great opportunity for our clients and for our employees."

Marsh, whose parent company is Marsh & McLennan Companies, based out of New York, is more than 100 years old and is traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

So what will this mean to the state's largest commercial Alaskan-owned insurance brokerage firm? A company that has ranked high on Alaska Business Monthly's Top 49er's listing eight times in recent years, a list that recognizes the state's leading Alaskan-owned companies based on revenues?

"My duties and responsibilities won't change," said Brady. "And the other employees will continue with their present duties. We see our clients being served very well with Marsh, in part because they have operations all around the world." Of the companies most to benefit from the change, said Brady, are oil field service companies and those in the construction industry.

"We envision to continue the same way of operating as in the past or currently," he said. "We don't change much, except to get better."

Brady & Company was actually courted by a number of large publicly traded insurance companies.

"I think the motivating factor we're growing very rapidly and successfully. We've been growing the last three years at a compounded rate of 40 percent a year, including 2003," he said. "After a series of meetings with several (insurance brokerages), it became obvious to me that the best fit for us was a partnership with Marsh. It will be a transition in name, but certainly not faces. And we'll continue to have payroll and other...