In a lobby area of Clark Insurance sits a small wood desk, circa 1930s, with two ink wells and a top that pulls open like the hood of a car. A wrought-iron attachment under the fixture carries the Metropolitan Life logo.
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In a lobby area of Clark Insurance sits a small wood desk, circa 1930s, with two ink wells and a top that pulls open like the hood of a car. A wrought-iron attachment under the fixture carries the Metropolitan Life logo.
The desk belonged to Jim Clark, a Simsbury tobacco farmer and accomplished trumpeter, who worked 46 years as a MetLife insurance salesman. He died in 1998 at age 96.
Clark's son, Tom, and grandson, Dan, are carrying on the family insurance legacy. The father-and-son duo opened Clark Insurance on Lewis Street in Hartford two years ago. Every day, Jim Clark's desk serves as a reminder as to how they want to conduct business.
“Everything comes back to my father's character,” said Tom Clark, who has extensive experience as an entrepreneur and Wall Street investor; his education pedigree includes Harvard College and the Wharton School of Business. “He was a guy who worked hard, was a great person, who loved insurance, and was great at it. The quality of his character is an inspiration to us today.”
Jim Clark's simple philosophy about life was to treat people the way you want to be treated, and don't sweat the things you can't control.
“He used to say there is no point in worrying about anything,'' Tom recalled. “Because there are only two scenarios. Either it is something you can control. And if you can control it, then do something about it. If you can't control it, then don't worry about it.”
Or, of course, you can try to insure against it.
The nature of the insurance business is to protect people from things they cannot control, specifically property loss, injuries or death. It's a highly competitive multi-billion dollar industry. The Clarks are carving their niche serving small to mid-size businesses, a sector often ignored by the mammoth insurance companies that fish in the ponds home to Fortune 100 firms.
Dan Clark, 36, said he always wanted to run a business with his dad, Tom. Dan saw his father grow a municipal bond company from three employees to 50 and successfully invest in other companies.
Similar to his grandfather and an uncle, Dan's background was in insurance. A licensed property and casualty agent, he is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross. Before Dan and Tom co-founded Clark Insurance, Dan had worked eight years in the insurance sector.
He focuses on business development and sales at the agency. Tom concentrates on day-to-day operations and marketing.
“I had the experience on the insurance side and my dad had the experience running a business,'' said Dan about his first foray into entrepreneurship. “What we needed to figure out was how to get carrier access; how to be a legitimate firm with the right markets, so we could do a really good job for people.”
Through its connections, the firm has a network of over 100 carriers that can offer competitive insurance packages to prospective clients.
“Win them on price, keep them on service,” said Dan of the company's strategy to attract and retain clients. “Integrity and honesty. That's really the pillar of this place. No cutting corners. Our people here are not policy numbers to us. If they go through us, we want to do everything to come through for them when they need it.”
The firm has six employees, many in their 30s. Teamwork, the Clarks said, is an essential element to increasing market share. Both are former college football players. Dad was a running back before an injury curtailed his athletic career at Harvard. Dan cracks that he was recruited as a quarterback to Holy Cross until they saw him throw, and “they converted me to wide receiver.”
Being athletes prepared each for the rigors and discipline of business. A family point of pride is that Dan Clark's maternal grandfather is Bob Wolff, the Hall of Fame sportscaster.
“It's a competitive business,” Tom, 65, said of the insurance world. He awakes daily at 4 a.m. and is usually first in the office at 6:45 a.m. “You've got to be focused and active, and go after business. You can't sit back and hope it comes to you. We have to get out there and hustle for it — and deliver.”
Family and service — both Clarks are active volunteers in Greater Hartford — are priorities passed on from Jim and wife Bridie Clark, who had seven children, Tom being the youngest.
Dan is the second of Tom and wife Margy's three children. Dan has two children — and one on the way.
Tom and Margy have 5 grandkids — and two more on the way. The Clark family is growing.
Clark Insurance hopes to do the same.
Stan Simpson is the principal of Stan Simpson Enterprises LLC, a strategic communications consulting firm. He is also host of “The Stan Simpson Show” which airs Saturday, 5:30 a.m., on Fox CT — and online at www.fox61.com/stan.
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