Sondregger Insurance Joins Wallace Welch & Willingham

By

Wallace Welch & Willingham BuildingWallace Welch & Willingham (W3) is pleased to announce the addition of Sondregger Insurance agency, an independent agency based in St. Petersburg, Florida. With this addition, made final on December 9, 2015, W3 continues to exceed its growth objectives.

Sondregger Insurance specialized in personal insurance and business insurance. The agency brings one employee and approximately 800 clients, increasing W3’s personal lines book of business by approximately 40%. Sondregger’s book of business consists primarily of homeowners policies with a number of commercial, auto and life as well. Clients will continue to work with their agent and will be serviced out of W3’s current Downtown St. Petersburg location.

This  was a perfect fit for W3 and Chris Sondregger, the owner of Sondregger Insurance. W3 was looking to maintain steady growth goals while maintaining its ownership model of internal perpetuation. Keith Gramling, W3’s President, stated, “Through the addition of Sondregger Insurance, we continue to achieve our agency growth goals. We are pleased to welcome each of our new customers and look forward to the next agency owner who would like to be a part of our culture. Celebrating our 91st year, we are now a composition of 27 independent agencies.”  This recent addition marks the third in three years, and includes the acquisition of Al Malin’s Insurance in 2013 and a large book of nonprofit business in 2012.

W3 Named Best Place to Work by Business Insurance

By

Best Place to Work - Wallace Welch & WillinghamWallace Welch & Willingham (W3) is pleased to announce that they have been named a Best Place to Work by
Business Insurance, a national publication for independent insurance agents and brokers. This is the tenth award that W3 employees have won or have been named as finalists for this year.

W3 employees participated in an independent, confidential survey by Best Companies Group, commissioned by Business Insurance, which was then analyzed based on the eight core areas believed to show company culture and employee engagement and satisfaction. These core areas are leadership and planning; corporate culture and communications; role satisfaction; work environment; relationship with supervisor; training, development and resources; pay and benefits; and overall engagement.  W3 placed  13th in the U.S. Small Employer Category. Walt Grayson, W3’s COO, stated, “The acknowledgement as “Best Place to Work” is the result of all 92 employees wanting to be a “Best Place”.  This couldn’t be done without the commitment from everyone.”  Business Insurance covers core risk management and insurance areas such as property/casualty insurance, health insurance, captive insurance and other risk management.

W3 Awarded Best Agency to Work For

By

Best Agency in the SoutheastW3 is pleased to announce that we have been chosen as Insurance Journal’s 2015 Best Agency to WorkFor, Gold Winner – Southeast. The Insurance Journal is a national publication that is considered the most read national property and casualty publication for independent insurance agents and brokers. They break their readership into five areas of the country and award a gold, silver and bronze winner for each division, as well as an overall winner. Read the Insurance Journal’s full article featuring the agency.

W3 employees nominated the agency back in September by answering a short, informal survey. A customer-centric focus, strong value system and a family-matters philosophy helped propel W3 to the top of the list. Scott Gramling, W3’s CEO, stated, “Over the past 90 years, W3 has been a top shelf employer, because the leadership acknowledges that constant attention is necessary to attract and retain the highest caliber professionals.” “Our goal is to actually be the best place to work. We don’t do it for the awards, it’s really about the employees,” said COO Walt Grayson.