Press Releases

Risk Strategies Company Boosts Higher Education Reach With Acquisition of Maggs & Associates

Insurance Brokerage Firm Brings Focused Specialists in Key Market Segment, Strong Client Base to Growing Practice Area

BOSTON, April 05, 2016 -- Risk Strategies, a leading national specialty insurance brokerage and risk management and consulting firm, today announced its acquisition of Maggs & Associates, a Schenectady, New York-based brokerage, specializing in serving the complex insurance placement and risk mitigation needs of colleges and universities.

Founded in 1987 as Maggs & Zack Business Insurance Brokerage, the firm has been run since 2003 as Maggs & Associates Business Insurance Brokers, Inc. by owner and principal, Thomas Maggs. In joining the higher education practice of Risk Strategies Company, Maggs brings with him unique professional qualifications including a nine year stint as a high-level college administrator at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, one of upstate New York's most prestigious educational institutions.

Maggs, along with his staff at Maggs & Associates, will join Risk Strategies Company and continue to operate from its Schenectady, New York offices.

"Risk Strategies' success rests on our professionals having a deep, specialized understanding of their client's terrain and the issues they face," said Jane Dickerson, Risk Strategies senior vice president and higher education practice leader. "Thomas and his team clearly fit this model and we see Maggs & Associates as poised to help us accomplish great things in the higher education practice."

Maggs' experience as a college administrator and the relationships he established within the higher education space allowed him to successfully build a specialized brokerage that not only attracted major colleges and universities as clients, but also retained them for years, in some cases, over 25 years. The firm has also built a client base in educational institutions below the secondary level, as well as in commercial lines such as finance, technology and healthcare. These are complementary to Risk Strategies' current lines of business.

"It's gratifying and energizing to be joining an organization with a specialty focus that so strongly matches the way we operate," said Maggs. "Risk Strategies clearly understands clients are gravitating to partners who know their world and can employ that knowledge to help solve difficult problems, even beyond insurance issues."

As the market for secondary education evolves and competition for tuition tightens, institutions of higher education are relying on expert advisors to develop programs for insurance that not only lessen loss and liability risks, but also reduce their overall cost of operation without impairing competitiveness.

The higher education practice's specialized focus, combined with expertise integration from other relevant practice groups within the organization, allows Risk Strategies to craft custom programs addressing complex risk and insurance challenges for a broad cross section of higher education clients. The practice counts large public and private university systems as well as mid-sized institutions and community colleges among its client base, addressing everything from builders risk, property and casualty, to employee benefits, athletic programs and international travel and operations.

To learn more about Risk Strategies, please visit www.riskstrategies.com

About Risk Strategies

Risk Strategies is the 9th largest privately held US brokerage firm offering comprehensive risk management advice, insurance and reinsurance placement for property & casualty, employee benefits, private client services, as well as consulting services and financial & wealth solutions. With more than 30 specialty practices, Risk Strategies serves commercial companies, nonprofits, public entities, and individuals, and has access to all major insurance markets. Risk Strategies has over 100 offices including Boston, New York City, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Grand Cayman, Miami, Atlanta, Dallas, Nashville, Washington DC, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. RiskStrategies.com.