Thompson Insurance Group Breaks Ground for Expansion
GIRARD, Ohio -- Growth in all business lines, including 100% annual growth in private-client and companies in pet-related industries, is driving the need for a 5,500-square-foot expansion for Thompson Insurance Group LLC, parent company of The Gibson Agency.
“We need to add up to 15 people over the next few years to keep up with our growth,” said Andrew Thompson, vice president of Thompson Insurance Group.
Ground was broken Monday to expand the agency's 3,500-square-foot building on Tibbetts-Wick Road in Liberty Township. Work on the addition should be completed by the holidays.
Rien Construction Co., Brookfield, is the contractor for the project. The addition was designed by DPH Architecture LLC. Canfield.
Thompson Insurance Group, which has been in business since 1947, has three divisions in addition to the Gibson Insurance Agency, which specializes in personal and business insurance, Thompson said.
They include Gibson Agra and Equine, which specializes in horse and farm insurance in 48 of the 50 states; PetBizInsurance.com, a national company that provides insurance for pet-related businesses such as groomers and kennels across the county, and Thompson Private Client Services, which specializes in insuring those “with a lot to protect,” such as customers with large homes and large valuable schedules, Thompson said.
Gibson entered the pet-business insurance market in 1986, developing a product at the behest of the National Dog Groomers Association of America. That line, along with the private-client business, has seen triple-digit growth in recent years, he said. “We’ve developed a project that’s unique to the industry,” Thompson remarked. “It’s competitive and it’s the product that they need.”
The agency’s other lines are experiencing double-digit annual growth as well, he added.
On hand for the groundbreaking was Pat Ungaro, Liberty Township administrator. “These are the kinds of things that are really helping Liberty,” not “massive projects” but “a lot of little ones” that “create the attitude you need” to build momentum in the township, he said.
“During the last four years, we took the time to put in water lines and sewer lines all the way out to Vienna on Belmont Avenue because we feel that’s the [next] high growth area,” he said. “So we’re ready for the future.”
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
CLICK HERE to subscribe to our free daily email headlines and to our twice-monthly print edition.