ComPro is celebrating its 30th anniversary this month. How did ComPro get its start? It’s one of those stories that literally began with a phone book and a desk in the corner. Chris and I moved to Lincoln in 1986, primarily due to a job offer for Chris. I had begun my insurance career in Missouri and was eager to get started in Lincoln as a health insurance specialist but did not know anyone in the area. My strategy was to meet with managers of larger agencies that worked in the life insurance or property and casualty insurance lines to see if they would consider adding health insurance to their portfolio.
Jack Campbell, a great man and General Agent for the Mass Mutual Life Insurance agency, offered me the opportunity to become the health insurance specialist for Mass Mutual in 1987. This was a thriving agency with a solid reputation. My job was to offer my help to the Mass Mutual life insurance agents when there was an interest in health insurance for their clients.
Jack showed me a very small room with four desks in it and said that I could use one of them along with the phone and phone book that came with it. The business was very slow-going at first. It took time for me to build relationships with the agents at Mass Mutual that could refer business to me. I had to prove that I was going to stick around and be successful.
Patience, persistence, and excellent work paid off. My book of business began to grow. In 1991, Jack offered to incorporate with me and so Compensation Programs, Inc. (dba ComPro) began! As I gained continuous experience and my reputation became more well known, I started to receive referrals from a growing number of agents and was successfully cultivating my own list of clients.
In 2000, I decided to leave the Mass Mutual offi ce and set up a ComPro office. It was a good decision that led to more growth and expanding my staff. My wife, Chris, left her job in broadcasting and joined ComPro with me. I focused on the Employee Benefits lines of business and Chris began building the Individual Health Insurance products. In 2011, ComPro moved to its present location at 1040 N Cotner Blvd. The success that ComPro experienced led to being awarded General Agency contracts with several health insurance companies and the responsibility for supporting many independent agents. The subsequent strategic move was adding Medicare products to ComPro’s lines of business. New agents and support staff continue to be added to our operation. Credit to our success may have started with me at a desk with a phone book, but ComPro has truly prospered because of our tremendous staff and the core values we implement as a team: Integrity, Expertise, Ridiculous Responsiveness, & Work Hard Play Hard. We are grateful for 30 amazing years of helping our clients with their health insurance needs. Cheers to 30 years!
Learn more at comproins.com or call (402) 488-5100.