Pennsylvania’s KMRD Partners Works Hard to Never Stop Improving
One of the first messages that appears on KMRD Partners Inc.’s website is a slogan that says, “We never stop improving for you.”
The Warrington, Penn.-headquartered, boutique risk management and human capital solutions firm works hard to take that idea seriously, according to President Kevin McPoyle, in a recent interview with Insurance Journal.
“We are full-on insurance nerds,” he said. “We love to look at coverage, understand coverage, talk about coverage, and ultimately, negotiate coverage for the benefit of our clients. We won’t send out a policy until it’s been read and signed off on by our team as being consistent with what we negotiated.”
KMRD Partners was nominated by its staff and won this year’s Best Agency to Work For Silver Award in Insurance Journal‘s East region. To nominate the agency, its staff members filled out anonymous survey questions.
We are full-on insurance nerds.
As one employee wrote in the survey, the constant desire to learn and improve at KMRD Partners seems to pay off.
“For only being in the industry for a short period of time, I feel as though I am more knowledgeable, prepared and technically savvy than most others in my industry due to the training and leadership KMRD Partners Inc. provides on a regular basis,” the employee said.
Another employee added that each staff member truly understands the insurance products KMRD provides for its clients.
“As owners, we take great pride in the development of our team,” McPoyle says. “That pride is not a feeling, but an activity-based trait shown in the efforts of our team doing more for our clients, being a better partner for our carriers and working hard on positive outcomes in each transaction and in each communication we have with others. It’s great because we all approach the process of supporting our clients the same way albeit with different skills, experience and functional responsibilities. But we remain consistent in our desire to exceed expectations.”
Also See: Spotlight Interview with Kevin McPoyle on Leading in the Insurance Industry
Indeed, KMRD Partners was founded with the goal of helping clients understand their risk and provide products and services to help reduce the cost of risk, an employee wrote in the survey.
McPoyle gave an example of one highlight that stands out for the firm, in which it was able to go above and beyond in serving a client.
“A highlight is the positive feedback we received from a client who was unsure about having us involved — it took two years of discussion — but after our proposal, we improved coverage, added coverage and saved them in excess of 24 percent, or over $400,000,” he said. “We created believers in our process that day.”
During its 12 years in business, KMRD has worked to operate and serve clients with a process involving three core values — discipline, integrity and care — according to its company website.
“[KMRD’s] roots began as a family company, and that atmosphere has not changed as the company has grown and developed throughout the years,” one employee wrote.
The family atmosphere at KMRD is particularly evident in the way it partners with the community and promotes work/life balance within the firm, according to surveyed employees.
“Events such as Feed My Starving Children and the “Stomp Cancer” Swamp Stomp 5K show the commitment KMRD has to its involvement in the community and charitable causes,” one employee said. “KMRD also has a commitment to employee work/life balance, which is evident from the many company picnics and holiday parties.”
Every year from November through Christmas, the employees at KMRD make weekly deliveries of hams to a local shelter. KMRD also hosts a yearly event, Feed My Starving Children, where members of the office and the community package meals to send to countries in need. The amount of meals produced increases yearly, with this years’ goal being to package 1,000,000 meals in a four-day span, one employee wrote. Events like this can not only serve to demonstrate KMRD’s commitment to its clients and the community it serves, but also create a stronger company culture — something McPoyle says KMRD Partners is always working to do.
“We want to continue to grow organically and [through] potential acquisitions of firms which fit our culture, our philosophy and our work ethic,” he said. “We also want to continue to encourage, support and enable every person here to reach their best self in the profession.”
