Agency Advisor
cclinton@siaofnc.com
513-218-5801
Chris was born for the Insurance business. He grew up in an Independent Insurance Agency family and at a young age was shown how to fill out insurance forms and service policies. Chris also had his own license plate route for his parents’ customers where he would deliver plates and registrations.
Chris graduated high school and attended Bowling Green State University in Ohio majoring in Insurance. Since graduation, he has spent his entire career in the Insurance industry.
After graduation, Chris accepted a position with Amerisure Companies where he spent four years of training in all the major departments of the company, including Personal & Commercial Lines Underwriting, Policy Services, Reinsurance, Claims, Products, and Billing and Collections. He became the Branch Manager of the New England Regional Office and remained there until the office was closed by Amerisure during a reorganization of the Company. This position allowed Chris to interact with over 300 Independent Agencies where he was able to study and learn about what made agencies successful.
Chris then took a position with Merchants Insurance Group out of Buffalo, New York. He was hired as the Regional Manager for their New England full-service office. During his tenure, the New England office was consistently the most profitable office in the Company, which Chris attributes to strong agency relationships and solid underwriting on a case-by-case basis. Chris was there for 6 years before moving on to the Liberty Mutual Regional Agency Markets Profit Center.
As the Vice President of Marketing for Indiana Insurance, a Liberty Mutual owned Independent Agency company, Chris was responsible for agency relations, training and development of Territory Managers, contracts, profit sharing, and incentive programs. He was also heavily involved with business & premium planning for the Midwest Region. As part of his professional development, Chris completed several courses from the Wharton Executive School. Chris was a member of 3 acquisition teams during his time with Liberty Mutual because of his knowledge and experience. He also became a member of IIABA Best Practices Committee where he learned about what made agencies the best in the industry and applied those concepts to Indiana’s agency network.
Once Liberty Mutual Agency Markets acquired Ohio Casualty, Chris left the company to take a lateral position with Great American Insurance where he performed in a similar role as he had at Indiana Insurance.
Chris was recruited for the SVP of Commercial Lines position for Fremont Insurance, a small Michigan company owned by Triple A Insurance. He was responsible for all the commercial line’s operations along with products, pricing, and loss prevention. He used his knowledge and skills to profitably double the size of the premium in a span of four years. Chris was able to do this by combining his knowledge of marketing and underwriting to create a responsive environment for agents to earn their trust. During his time at Fremont, The IIABA of Michigan awarded Fremont the Company of the Year Award based on the strength of the commercial line’s operations.
Chris has also been an agency producer for a few years before joining SIA of NC. He enjoys the thrill of the hunt and has developed a training series that focuses on a tactical approach to insurance sales for producers. He has successfully conducted his training with several of the member agencies.
Chris has a real passion for working with Agency Owners to help them build their business and prepare for the future of the Insurance Industry.
